Can I add more boho without adding more clutter? Living room re-do
To start, I would describe myself as a maximalist that abhors clutter and my husband as a minimalist that loves color (especially hot pink). I love color, tribal/oriental rugs, houseplants, seventies style and throw pillows. He loves the color and tolerates my houseplants and throw pillows. But I’m not big on ‘stuff’, like things lying around just to decorate. I hate gray, beige, greige. Not a big fan of black and white either. I consider gray of any shade to be particularly ugly. Also, you will never, not ever, convince me I should have a neutral sofa. Just not going to happen.
Our living room isn’t quite working for us as is. In particular, I have these green IKEA chairs that everyone hates. Not even the cat will sit in them. Seriously, I’ve had my whole family over and people were squishing themselves onto the sofa, clustered around the table and island and the dang green chairs were empty. Don’t know what it is about them, but they just don’t get used. I would love to replace them with a second small scale sofa. I would not be adverse to replacing the pink sofa and getting two new sofas as well, but that will take more time to save up for.
About the condo and the room. It’s a loft style small condo in downtown Chicago, in a converted office building. I have 11 foot ceilings and the windows you see in the picture are the only ones, so the condo is darker than I would like. The ventilation duct you see in the one picture is also a non-negotiable. From talking to other unit owners, they can be hidden, but you lose some ceiling height and it’s very expensive. As you can see, it’s open concept livingroom/kitchen/dining room, all in one space.
What we use this room for: mostly lounging on the sofa and reading, enjoying the fire place. We don’t have a TV in this room and don’t want one. We have a tv in another room. I have had my family over, but it’s not often. We don’t entertain a lot and like it that way (we are both extreme introverts). I love the pink sofa, but as you can imagine, it’s not comfortable for two adults to attempt to lie down on the one small scale sofa. So, ideally, we’d replace the two green chairs with a sofa.
The Pink sofa is the CB2 club sofa. I wish I could just buy a second one, but they’ve discontinued that color. Also, the bookcases along the wall opposite the fireplace (the things with the vintage wallpaper panels on the doors) should probably go. They’re completely empty inside and not needed, but I find it hard to imagine how to arrange the room without something on that wall. If I do anything about this now, my budget is not very large at all, but can get a bit larger if I have the patience to save up.
My questions are these:
1. Buy a second club sofa in a different color? They have a gold that I like very much. Or two club sofas in the gold and use the pink sofa in the TV room? Buy a second club sofa in any color I want and have slipcovers made for both? or buy a second sofa completely different from the first sofa, so long as it is similar scale?
2. I know the pink sofa doesn’t play well with the navy rug, but I think it would help a lot if the green chairs went away. Am I just fooling myself? I know the simple solution is to get either neutral sofas or a neutral rug, but that, honestly, isn’t going to happen. Also, if I were going to do that, I wouldn’t have to ask for advice. :). I also have another rug I could use, I’ll try and attach a picture below.
3. I do have room here for a second, small scale sofa, right? I wish the fireplace was a foot or two closer to the kitchen because there’s a pretty big chunk of dead space between the back of the sofa and the kitchen, but moving the fireplace would be a big project including significant floor repairs.
4. Do something now, because it bugs the heck out of me every time I look at the unused and unloved green chairs? Or wait until I have a bigger budget?
5. How do I up the boho without adding a bunch of stuff I don’t want or need? In some ways, I love the room (other than the chairs). In some ways, it feels very uptight and sparse. I know I could strew around a lot more plants and baskets and piles of books and gallery walls. But ugh, you know?
Comments (34)
sloedjinn
5 years agoRelated Discussions
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5 years agoIf people are avoiding the chairs, I would imagine it's because they aren't particularly comfortable. I can't imagine anyone not sitting in them because of the color.
I would replace the chairs with two really comfortable chairs and I wouldn't use another solid color.
I just finished remodeling and my fabric choices complement each other but there is only one solid color - a teal blue velvet sofa. Here are fabric choices
This is fabric I'm using for panels on my windows.
This is a MCM chair I inherited from my mother. Original fabric was a cream but I thought the paisley was unexpected and fun.
This is a chair I had reupholstered. It's a bit washed out in the photo. I the original picture it's the swatch to the extreme right and the blue is much richer than this picture. It's back at the reupholsterer because I didn't like the way the cushion felt :-).sloedjinn thanked Helen
gustaviatex
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoLove your style... why not something really fun instead of the hated green chairs? You say you use the room for lounging and reading... this would be fun and later might find a home in the bedroom.
sloedjinn thanked gustaviatex
tartanmeup
5 years agoI think you need to replace those green chairs with something with curves. That was my first thought when seeing your space. A lot of angles. Those green chairs don't look comfortable and the fact that no one is using them is proof. Sell them and replace them with something curvy that will be comfy for lounging. Either two club chairs, a curvy chaise longue or even a kidney-shaped sofa. I'd be entertaining the thought of orange, navy, purple as well as green for colours.
Look at this fun sofa that was won for $55 on EBTH.
I'm also tempted to suggest you get a larger rug. And one of those Moroccan leather poufs for extra seating or your feet. Maybe a metallic colour?
As for the bookcase on the wall, I'd leave it there until I found something I liked better. You're right, you need something on that wall. Or, if you're the type that stops seeing your stuff from too much exposure, remove it so that the blankness prompts you to find something else. Maybe it just needs colour, not something. But if you don't need the storage (how lucky), I wouldn't replace it with more storage.
You have a great looking space and I love all your colour.
sloedjinn thanked tartanmeup
Olychick
5 years agoIf you love the sofa, why not get another in a different color? You might need to replace the rug to make it work well together, but I think any of these would look terrific with your pink:
Also love all ida's chair choices with your couchsloedjinn thanked Olychicksloedjinn
5 years agosloedjinn
5 years ago
mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
5 years ago
What do you think of this picture?
BTW, I have a dark green Ispahan that has just enough pink in it that I think it would go really well with your furniture. The current carpet probably has too much rust in it to really work.
sloedjinn thanked mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)sloedjinn
5 years agoI’m laughing at the thought of my squishy, comfy pillows being called forbidding or them fighting with anyone. I took a couple of more pictures, including the chairs without the pillows and I think you’ll agree that the cushions make them look more inviting, not less.
Also rearranged so that people can see that the sofa facing the fireplace, chair at each side will not work in the space. I tried it as the most obvious answer and discarded it. It’s awkward to me, like the sofa is turning it’s back on everyone. Also, due to the placement of the fireplace, the sofa and chairs cannot be centered on the fireplace or the bedroom will be blocked completely. I can’t pull the sofa back much more without blocking the walkway. The fact is, space for the ‘living room” is much smaller than you think.
I also pulled the rug away, to demonstrate that the rug and sofa not going together is kind of the least of this room’s problems. I wish I could get a good angle that shows just how off center the couch and chairs are.sloedjinn
5 years ago
wisneb
5 years agoUser
5 years ago
J J
5 years agoJ J
5 years ago
tangerinedoor
4 years ago
IdaClaire