decorating help needed please - living room (Valspar, hardwood, drapes)
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I am about to make an offer on a house and am thinking about the living room. (Yeah, I know, I should wait 'til I move in, but what fun is that? :-) ) Picture a Colonial house. You enter and there's about 2' of wall space on the left to put a small table (for keys etc.), then an opening of 3-4' wide to the living room. The living room itself is 13'6" wide by 23'6" long. The far wall is an exterior wall; a fireplace is centered on that wall. Approximately centered in the space on either side of the fireplace is a window (or what used to be a window and is now a door to a screened porch -- there's a curtain rod above that will hide the door when it's not needed). Another window is centered on each of the short walls; one looks out on the front yard, the other on the back yard (both nice views, especially the back yard).
I've attached one photo, which gives a little bit of an idea of the layout.
I was thinking of creating three "zones": a main zone with 2 sofas perpendicular to the fireplace (facing each other) and a couple of tables etc., a second zone centered around the back yard window with an upright piano with a couple of small cabinets for music on either side, and a third zone centered on the front yard window with just a small table and a couple of chairs. And if I can do it without overcrowding the room, I'd also like to add bookcases somewhere, maybe the wall shared with the hall or either side of the window in the front-window "zone."
I would have a rug on each zone -- probably a runner on each end with a large rug in the area in front of the fireplace. I would also have drapes on each window, but that's a bit complicated -- I have a LOT of different curtains that I like very much in my current house, but there was only 1 big window in the living room so I have only 2 windows' worth of my favorite curtains, which means I'll have to buy 2 more in a complementary color so I can cover all 4 windows in the new living room (if all that made sense!).
This room would mostly be used for listening to music, reading, practicing piano, etc. No TV!
Oh, that lovely blue carpet in the screened porch will be replaced with something neutral.
Any ideas on furniture arrangement etc.? I have never had a fireplace (except a gas one in an old apartment years ago) so am excited about that. It seems to be in good shape but I may want to paint the mantel to make it more eye-catching ... hmmm ... should I?
And I was thinking of pale sage for the walls (that's what I have in my current house and I love it).
Without knowing what furniture you have its hard to advise on placement.
The sage will look lovely with that floor, I would keep the mantel white as it matches the rest of the woodwork, once the walls are painted, the white will pop.
I wouldnt do runners at all.
Please don't paint the mantel. There are lovely sages out there - my favorite is Laura Ashley Olive #3 which you can buy at Lowe's mixed in their best Valspar Signature Paint (we prefer this paint to Ben Moore). Olive #3 goes with almost an color - not something you can say about all sage greens. I agree that knowing what kind of furniture you have and what kind of style you prefer would be very helpful.
Thanks for the replies and here's some more info on furniture etc.
The new house has both a family room AND this living room; my current sofa will go in the family room so I will likely be buying 2 new sofas for this living room. They will probably be apartment-size (about 84" long) to leave a lot of room between the ends of the sofas and the hall wall (in case I want to add bookcases there). I could use help with the sofas, actually! My decorating style tends toward country (love the warmth) but without lots of clutter, so I usually mix various florals, checks, and solid colors. (I tend not to like modern styles at all -- they look very cold to me.)
Would you buy 2 sofas in the same fabric/color? Or maybe one floral and the other solid? I really have no clue for this! I like the idea of slipcovered sofas so I can switch them out whenever the mood strikes, and I have cats so easy-care is always good. (I will have a sewing room in the new house and hope to learn to sew things like slipcovers -- it's been on my to-do list for years!!)
And thanks for the comments about the mantel -- you are right, once the walls are painted it will be much more noticeable so I should probably just leave it white.
Why no runners for the short wall "zones"? Would you have only one large rug in the middle fireplace area and leave all the rest hardwood? (It was just sanded and it is beautiful!)
Drapery hardware will likely be bronze or black and the same for all 4 windows (or 2 and 2 like the curtains). I have some in bronze with leaf-pattern finials as I love just about anything botanical. Most of my hardware has double rods so I have a sheer in back and the regular in front OR the regular in back and a valance in front.
I will check out olive #3 although alas, we have no nearby Lowe's (just a Home Depot and some paint stores -- Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams). Are Laura Ashley paints exclusive to Lowe's? (In my current house I have Sherwin Williams sagey, which is quite pale -- it's so light it tends to go with just about everything except some blues, but I don't like blue so it's never been an issue.)
Thanks for the replies and here's some more info on furniture etc.
The new house has both a family room AND this living room; my current sofa will go in the family room so I will likely be buying 2 new sofas for this living room. They will probably be apartment-size (about 84" long) to leave a lot of room between the ends of the sofas and the hall wall (in case I want to add bookcases there). I could use help with the sofas, actually! My decorating style tends toward country (love the warmth) but without lots of clutter, so I usually mix various florals, checks, and solid colors. (I tend not to like modern styles at all -- they look very cold to me.)
Would you buy 2 sofas in the same fabric/color? Or maybe one floral and the other solid? I really have no clue for this! I like the idea of slipcovered sofas so I can switch them out whenever the mood strikes, and I have cats so easy-care is always good. (I will have a sewing room in the new house and hope to learn to sew things like slipcovers -- it's been on my to-do list for years!!)
And thanks for the comments about the mantel -- you are right, once the walls are painted it will be much more noticeable so I should probably just leave it white.
Why no runners for the short wall "zones"? Would you have only one large rug in the middle fireplace area and leave all the rest hardwood? (It was just sanded and it is beautiful!)
Drapery hardware will likely be bronze or black and the same for all 4 windows (or 2 and 2 like the curtains). I have some in bronze with leaf-pattern finials as I love just about anything botanical. Most of my hardware has double rods so I have a sheer in back and the regular in front OR the regular in back and a valance in front.
I will check out olive #3 although alas, we have no nearby Lowe's (just a Home Depot and some paint stores -- Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams). Are Laura Ashley paints exclusive to Lowe's? (In my current house I have Sherwin Williams sagey, which is quite pale -- it's so light it tends to go with just about everything except some blues, but I don't like blue so it's never been an issue.)
I would do just one large rug, the runners are just not going to look right, like a postage stamp on the side of a barn, you know?
The LA paint is exclusive to Lowes, although any good paint store can color match it.
An apartment sized sofa is considered anything less than 72", an 84" sofa is just a regular sofa.
I would not do a floral sofa at all, they get old really, really fast.
Do you have any idea what your color scheme in your LR is going to be?
If I had any idea, I could help a bit more.
I would do just one large rug, the runners are just not going to look right, like a postage stamp on the side of a barn, you know?
The LA paint is exclusive to Lowes, although any good paint store can color match it.
An apartment sized sofa is considered anything less than 72", an 84" sofa is just a regular sofa.
I would not do a floral sofa at all, they get old really, really fast.
Do you have any idea what your color scheme in your LR is going to be?
If I had any idea, I could help a bit more.
I agree with this. I've come to the decision that a sofa should be neutral color. Otherwise it's difficult to redecorate in the future.
Absolutely!
Bring color and patterns in with accessories, art, floral arrangements, etc.
Keep the big, expensive stuff neutral, you know?
Neutral doesnt have to mean beige, I have a good friend that is also an interior designer, she used purple as a neutral in her home, and it looks completely wonderful!
OK, thanks! (And I was about to chastise Rick Roma so thanks, kshe95girl, for doing it for me!)
Lol, my current sofa (the one that will go in the family room in the new house) is floral. I just kept the rest of that room pretty much solid-color except for some complementary small checks/florals. But you are both right, it would be much easier to decorate around solid-color sofas. (And the old sofa is I think 90" long so I thought 84" or less was apartment-sized!)
Would you get 2 sofas in the same fabric/color? And would it look odd to have, say, a 90" sofa on one side of the fireplace and a couple of oversized chairs on the other with a table in between? (In my current living room I have a moss green chenille sleeper chair (about 54" wide) next to a tan recliner. The living room is large so they fit well next to each other, perpendicular to the floral sofa.)
I was thinking of an ottoman in the middle with a tray on top so I can use it as a coffee table. The ottoman I already have is moss green chenille (matches the sleeper chair) and opens for storage, which of course is always handy. I could always slipcover it (and thus use it only for longer-term storage) if the moss green doesn't match the new sofas.
Colors I like -- any shade of green with accents in rust, black, brown, tan, even red in some rooms (the red isn't bright so it doesn't look Christmas-y!).
Thanks for the help so far, I appreciate it!
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