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Old 02-25-2016, 03:50 PM
 
2 posts, read 1,782 times
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MS Paint Layout: [url]http://imgur.com/1oUp2si[/url]

Photo album: [url]http://imgur.com/a/SS6Br[/url]

Hello all,

My girlfriend and I want to redesign our barely-used living room off our front door into a space that we would want to hang out in. Thank you in advance for your help and consideration. We greatly appreciate it.

The room receives barely any natural light as the north facing windows are half-frosted for security purposes and the only other windows, west/north facing, have their light source blocked by the neighboring houses. With that considered, we would like to turn the space into a purposefully dark and cozy (via the fireplace) library (lots of dark wood bookshelves), and we would love to be able to have a small bar there.

The layout is hard to work with (even with the couch removed, which we plan on doing). Again, we would love lots of bookshelves, maybe two large recliners positioned near the fireplace, the piano to stay, and a small bar/liquor shelf. We are not attached to anything existing in the room currently besides the piano and fireplace. We want it to be dark, sexy, cozy, academic. Any help related to furniture ideas/positioning, aesthetic themes, or other advice/resources would be greatly appreciated.

We are super excited!
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Old 02-25-2016, 05:18 PM
 
Location: Former LI'er Now Rehoboth Beach, DE
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Sorry the pictures are not showing up for me.
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Old 02-25-2016, 09:52 PM
 
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Sorry, [url=http://imgur.com/a/SS6Br]Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet[/url] and [url=http://imgur.com/1oUp2si]Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet[/url] should work. Thanks for the reply!
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Old 02-25-2016, 10:20 PM
 
Location: Raleigh, NC
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Try asking your question at houzz.com your links are just too difficult to folliw from here.
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Old 02-26-2016, 07:02 AM
 
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These links are active...

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

The C-D Forum requires a member to have a certain number of posts before allowing linking; this keeps at bay the bots that spam advertising links onto web forums, but it also unfortunately blocks new posters with legitimate links.
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Old 02-26-2016, 08:14 AM
 
Location: Raleigh, NC
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Rip out the fireplace.
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Old 02-26-2016, 10:28 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jkgourmet View Post
Rip out the fireplace.
I agree (and I'm usually a fan of fireplaces - I live in an old home, in New England). It just takes up way too much actual and visual space in this room.

What is on the other side of each wall (other than the bedroom shown on the plan)? If a kitchen, would you want to open it up to be a more open eating/living space?
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Old 02-26-2016, 11:40 AM
 
Location: Coastal Georgia
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It is a bit hard to visualize with one picture given, which is opposite of the layout, and the layout does not show the windows. I'd need more information to do a good job, so here's just a half assed opinion.

Have you just moved in, because what you say you are going for, bears no similarity to what is there now.

Clear out all the clutter. Get a nice big piece of art for over the fireplace. Paint the walls a mid-tone color, like charcoal gray. Hang some fat wooden rods over the windows and get some lined drapes in a muted print. Put two recliners, flanking the fireplace with a table and lamp between, and two occasional chairs on either side of the guestroom door in the music area. Pick a wall, and do floor to ceiling bookshelves in dark wood.
Alternatively, if you do not care about facing the fireplace, you could go with a sofa on the long wall, and 2 chairs and a coffee table facing it.

To get the mood you want, dark walls, polished wood, drapes, rich toned area rug, luxurious textured fabrics (like leather and velvet).
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Old 02-26-2016, 03:28 PM
 
Location: Texas
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As of now you have the fireplace inside the perimeter of the home. I would suggest moving it back to the outside wall, outside of the house perimeter. This would open this area up immensely. It would give you options on traffic flow as well. Assuming it is a framed fireplace, probably cost you something like $2500.00 to move it, not including any interior finishes and subject to area cost of living.
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Old 02-27-2016, 10:03 AM
 
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I'd suggest going with a deep, darker colour on the walls, keeping all the walls in the same colour, and coordinate the rug/carpeting, accessories and so on in the same colour. Keep it monochrome, I think this will be easier on the eyes and it looks good in a darker room IMO. I've seen decor magazines and catalogues where designers got some great results with dark wall colours like navy blue, cobalt blue, dark brown, dark grey, even dark maroon or burgundy.

Flip through some Fall or Winter decor magazines/catalogues from the past couple of years and you'll see lots of cozy inspiration. They feature lots of fireplaces too. So you're going to see ideas for decorating around a fireplace too.
Examples:
https://issuu.com/urbanbarn/docs/cat...123258/9031819
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