What does this LR room need?
12 days ago
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- 12 days ago
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My LR needs some pizzazz!
Comments (12)I would worry about other more important things than the EC to start with. There is a skill involved to painting wood furniture and a lot of prep work and time involved. First of all, do you have a budget to sink into your plans to change the room? Or are you looking for "no cost" decorating? The first thing I would change in the room is the blue slipcovered recliner. That would have the biggest impact. If you cannot afford a new recliner, at least change out the slipcover to a dark neutral color. You said you want blue and brown in the room, but the blue chair is too light colored and huge. Just use a lot of deep blue accents in the room and keep the furniture neutral. The photo is dated from 2007. Have you made any changes to the room since? Before I would paint that whole EC I would try changing out those plain wood knobs to something with more bling. How about some ceramic knobs? Or ORB? Remove the photos. Put them in a grouping on the wall if you wish them to remain in the room. Put just a few decor items on the shelves. That ceramic cat looks like someone is going to accidentally kick it. Put it up on the shelf. I would switch the two chairs and have the one with the ottoman on the other side so that it does not block the entrance to the room. This will also put the ottoman in a position help break up the view of the light wood EC. It looks like the couch is on an angle or is that just the way it photographed. It looks like it is angled for better TV viewing and ther is a headprint in the pillow. Maybe a completely different furniture arrangment is needed to make the room more functional? You say the room is very dark and lacks light. Removing the valance and just having hanging panels will help with that. The drapes don't really work well with the modern carpet. Solid color panels in one or two tones, would add more of a 'wow' factor and not look so fussy. Sometimes its the "little things" that take away the beauty of a room. Cut the white tags off of the pillows. Move the floor plant away from the couch. Choose a richer color blue for the room. There is some light blue in the rug and that is good, but light blue scattered throughout the room is too chaotic. Because of the gold in the rug and on the walls you need a deeper richer blue, not a pastel. This: Not this: Choose some pillows that bring in the blue in a subtle way with a mixed in a print with th brown. At least one pillow on the leather couch should be suede or tapestry - something 'weighty'. This? LOL. Some wall art will make the room sing. Maybe you have something from another room or stored away? The mirror that is on order sounds nice and is a good choice if you say the room needs more light. A little sparkle will brighten it up....See MoreWhat does a room need to handle a dark color?
Comments (42)I agree with fun colours and palimpsest. Dark trim works with dark colours. We have dark wood trim and I used to try to paint the walls a light colour, but it always looked choppy. When I finally took the plunge to a dark colour it created a wonderful flow. We don't get much natural light and our old house has no where to put lighting except one chandelier at a far end. But still it works. We did do lighter furnishings, but one of my favourite blue rooms was the cover of House Beautiful and, if I recall correctly, it was dark blue everywhere - walls and furnishings. I also remember being struck by a gorgeous blue room in a the French movie, "la lectrice" where the bed, window covering, floor and walls were all blue with a hint of gold (altho I may be mis remembering since it has been years since I've seen this fhis film - and quite frankly with my memory, it could have been another film altogether :) Here is a link that might be useful: blue room house beautiful...See Moredoes black stone in fpl and kitchen limit upholstery colors in LR
Comments (8)teacats, you might be right, but i'm hoping to ease it into the rest of the decor. we don't want to remove it. we just had it installed 5 years ago at a cost of nearly $20,000! when we added a second floor we decided to heat our house in as environmentally friendly a way as we could reasonably do, and this was our choice. it weighs 7000# and is kind of like a big dog: warm and friendly, and we all like to cozy up to it and have the fire going, and it makes great bread in the oven!! (it's a very efficient and clean-burning wood stove. you just build one fire in it a day, the whole thing heats up, and warmth radiates from it for the next 24 hours.) unfortunately, i did not give any thought to the visual impact it would have on the rooms. it's actually a very handsome thing, the picture may not do it justice. it is, however, pretty starkly modern, when i lean toward classic features in the rest of the house. that's why i'm considering soapstone in the kitchen and other LR fireplace, to kind of tie things together. i just don't know if the use of dark soapstone (black, really) would stop me from using the colors i like in the living room, which are greens and blues and pinks. soapstone seems a little serious for that. or am i wrong? as i said, i'm pretty clueless about decorating! thanks, debbie...See MoreWhat do you think? Does a house need a formal dinning room?
Comments (161)Depends upon your interior load bearing walls or whether or not you can add to a room and increase the footprint of your home. In my view, you do not need a "formal" dining room, but if you entertain at all -- even just family or special occasions, it's a good idea to have a very specific dining space that accommodates the size crowd you have -- even if it means seating children at a bar or adjacent drop leaf table -- rather than having only a "dining nook" in and part of either the kitchen or the living room. I like the idea of an "L" shaped great room so the living room guests cannot see the kitchen at work but those guests moving into the dining room and near the dividing cabinet/bar would be able to socialize -- without actually being in the kitchen in the way or getting a close up view of dirty pots and pans or dishes ... because There would be a room dividing cabinet/bar w/overhead cabinets with class doors on both sides. That overhead cabinet with glass doors would hold glass items -- mostly clear drinking glasses but perhaps a cut glass pitcher and/or some colored glass candy dishes and/or candle holders w/candles -- something both useful and decorative. All the kitchen cabinets would have doors solid so you'd not have a constant struggle to keep all cabinets neat enough for displaying what's behind them. A guest powder room could be accessible from a mud room -- with pretty much wall to wall, floor to ceiling cabinets, including a closet for washer and dryer. The mudroom could b e adjacent to the kitchen accessible via a door beside that room dividing cabinet and also lead to a sun room or a porch or a deck or a patio so the entertaining can be indoor/outdoor.....See MoreRelated Professionals
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