OMG!!!!! Ideagirl, that is THE most over the top, well crafted kitsch I've ever seen!!! I love the bridge!! Absolutely to the eclectic decor, as in you'd need to dilute it. I think it would be great with some angular, chromed out MCMly rigid leather slings and outrageous arrows. John said, What I really want to do is, furnish my living room and foyer like a cocktail lounge / jazz club. Club chairs in twos and threes, around small round tables, with shaded lights and deep shadows, Dusty Springfield on the hi-fi, and well-trained mute children serving drinks. I'm tired of the couch and armchairs around the fireplace thing. I totally get that! I think I went to college with Marcolo's West Coast counterpart. Have to say, however, that the current living room furniture in the picture goes rather perfectly with the elephant columns and craftsman built-ins. I know many people who try to achieve that kind of look in similar houses and get the proportions all wrong and it doesn't work. Yours does. Children who make airplanes and death stars are more interesting than mute serving shrimps too. :) Eames chairs are pretty uncomfortable too. How about adding in exquisite pieces as you find them, on the basis of their artistic contribution to the house, and redo the rest when you have them all collected? By then, the noisy, messy children will be grown up and away, so you can have your perfect lounge in between visits from the grandchildren.

Oh, mtn I agree completely--- that's almost exactly what I said to our ID when he sent me to the tk collections site for kitchen chairs. Luckily my mother came up with 4 French ladderbacks and I filled in with parsons chairs at the ends. But I spent a good deal of time playing with the weaves and colors--- this was about four or five years ago at the very beginning of the trend. We ended up putting four bistro type chairs on our screened porch that are all weather aluminum but look remarkably like rattan, which I got as a close out from a furniture supply company for practically the cost of the shipping! And the ability to take a hosing and not lose your stomach for continued renovation seems to be a required trait in a homeowner :-)

I had actually determined NOT to buy anything more than a new sleeper sofa (the other was old, and was amazingly much more comfortable to sleep on than to sit on, which was its primary intended use) and a few book cases to replace those hideous formaldehyde-filled presswood things I could afford back in the late 80's when I first started out. Oh, an office chair, as the old one had died a few years back. I did ditch a bunch of books, but there were a LOT of presswood book cases, so I have replaced some of those with pine bookcases I've stained myself. I got an IKEA sleeper sofa. I bought an IKEA Poang chair, that I didn't count on. All area rugs are new except for the 2 inherited Oriental rugs from Mom. ( sold the largest 15 years ago because I knew it would never fit anywhere.) I am still halfway between both places. I gave away Mom and Dad's traditional dining table and chair set, it just wouldn't work here. I will bring up my table from the old home, which is meant to be a "kitchen" table, not a dining one, but it does have the ability to insert a couple of leaves when I have company. (Their table did NOT physically fit at the old home at all, but Dad hoped I'd be able to use it here... no, it is nice, but it doesn't work, and I found it a new home.) I have bought more things than expected. And a couple of those got "lifted" when I moved them up here, none of which were valuable except the wonderful quilt my old housemate made for me years ago, and if I ever find the culprit, I'd consider poking his eyes out. With downsizing, I am selling a dresser once belonging to Dad, and an extra office desk he left me when he moved to Virginia. He passed away about 10 years later. I have a chair I inherited from my grandmother, which I love. It is still at the old home, but have no idea at all if I can use it in my new place, without it taking up too much footprint. No photo right now, but I do want to keep it. I may not have the proper space for it, however. Basically, since I think the word "updating" is not remotely a positive concept, I'd rather work with the idea of: Do I think what I still own is functional? Or, comfortable? Is it within transportable distance? Do I like it, or still like it? Do I want to spend extra money to replace something? Does it make me happy to have it, changes or otherwise?

It sounds as though the upstairs would be used by you most of the time so you want something comfortable to watch television or read a book. And you would also be entertaining adults in that space. Since you have a small space and assuming that is how you plan to use your space, I would opt for a sofa and comfortable chair. I am currently remodeling my apartment and I went with a comfortable chair and a very comfortable sofa. I don't have hordes of people watching television with me so the space is intended to serve mostly my own needs and have comfortable seating when adults come over and we talk :-). I guess in a pinch we could watch television together but that is not typically anything I do with friends. I do have the ability to move some occasional chairs into the space and my dining room chairs are fairly comfortable so I do have the ability to seat more people if I entertained a large group but saw no need to have a lot of seating in my relatively small formal living area.