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paintedpeggies

Help me decorate living room (see pics)

So I need a rug and some drapes. I love the cool neutrals in our room, but it isn't 'put together'. I was thinking perhaps navy roman shades, and maybe throwing some yellow into the color palette somewhere? thoughts? It is very stark now because I have a toddler, so not many decorative items!

thank you!

Comments (12)

  • palimpsest
    12 years ago

    I think navy will be too high contrast.

    I would go either close to wallcolor, white, or the color of the sofa for the shades.

    I think what the room really lacks is pattern and texture.Most everything is plain and fairly matte in surface.

  • lynxe
    12 years ago

    I agree with palimpsest on both counts. Patterned curtains and a patterned rug should help make the room more interesting and more pulled together. I also agree that navy would be too much contrast. Instead of navy as the main color, what about a blue in curtains and rug that is only slightly darker than the wall color, with small touches of navy (if you really want that color in the room) and with elements of the sofa color in it as well?

    I think curtains and rug should have an all-over pattern. I don't know what the term for that is, but I'm envisioning the curtains and rug as having no white (or no neutral-colored) space in the pattern.

    I think you also should have patterned pillows. It's difficult to see in your images, but the pillows on the sofa appear to be too pale and too subdued. I think you want bigger, darker pattern. I also think you need at least two more pillows for the sofa. And none for the chair - I would get rid of the brown pillow completely.

    You mentioned perhaps using some yellow, but I don't think that would work. Too "contrasty," to use pal's word; more important, yellow would fight with the floor color and with the color of the sofa (which, on my monitor at least, has a pinky-brown look to it).

  • Painted Peggies (zone 6a)
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Thanks for the ideas!
    The couch is actually slate gray. The pillows on the chairs (I added another white chair) are as well.
    I am confused about pattern in drapes clashing with pattern in rug...any ideas about that?
    Here are some livingrooms on Pinterest I had pinned. You can see the yellow/navy ideas:

    http://media-cdn.pinterest.com/upload/224335625157895789_WckLTkwO_b.jpg

    http://media-cdn.pinterest.com/upload/224335625157895759_ST9aozPn_b.jpg

    http://media-cdn.pinterest.com/upload/224335625157892870_AmFTxGdI_b.jpg

    http://media-cdn.pinterest.com/upload/224335625157892831_g4R3r5dI_b.jpg

  • geokid
    12 years ago

    Have you looked at rugs at West Elm? Maybe the Zigzag, the Ikat Links, the Allegra Hicks Printed Harlequin, or the Argyle Printed Dhurrie. They are all subdued in color (not necessarily in pattern!), if that is the look you are going for.

    Here is a link that might be useful: West Elm Rugs

  • moveoften
    12 years ago

    I am not a fan of the blue paint with the sofa. Love the sofa but feel the cream chair and blue paint makes the room feel beachy but the sofa is very sophisticated. Maybe a different color on the walls would tie it all together. I also think you need a bigger console under the television to anchor that better. I also agree with adding texture like rugs and curtains.

  • birdgardner
    12 years ago

    A large black and white striped dhurrie rug for the floor. Some other possible patterns in the link below.

    I love your little TV cabinet but it doesn't belong under the TV. The set up looks top-heavy. That poor little cabinet is overwhelmed and abused. Get a sleek TV console, hide the DVD player inside it. Then you can put something decorative on the little cabinet, a lamp and a vase maybe, or a little sculpture.

    The colors you've got in the walls, chair and sofa are great together, so serene. Play with colors in cushions - you can put a book or a piece of wrapping paper or what have you on the couch to test how colors work. Maybe some green plants near the window?

    Curtains - white with a large but fine-lined black pattern would work well, IMO.

    This is a great room to play with textures in.

    Here is a link that might be useful: dhurrie examples

  • birdgardner
    12 years ago

    There's a fabric halfway down the page that would work for curtains - only I'm thinking somewhat larger and finer - what do you call this pattern - it's Moorish, but Moorish what?

    Toddler: nix the plants. Mine ate leaves and dirt. Not to mention getting dirt on the rug. Also please make sure your TV is very well anchored - it looks like that white stand is secured to the wall?

    Here is a link that might be useful: Moorish curtain fabric

  • Painted Peggies (zone 6a)
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Thank you for the links! I just painted the room that blue, after switching from a warm color palette to a cool one (the whole room was brown and sage, and way too dark for me suddenly!)

    I know the TV cabinet needs to go. It was a knotty pine Ikea one that I painted myself and did the doors to mask the video games behind it. I really want to put something narrower and longer there, like a buffet, but I'm still looking.
    I looked so long for chairs to go with that couch. I sat on a million chairs and read a million reviews, but at the end of the day, wanted something that was comfy and family friendly. The white chair is now the one everybody fights over at TV time! I love that the slipcovers are washable.
    I am considering dying the piping to 'dress it up' a little, and want to find a colorful throw to make it not so casual.
    The slate gray pillows were my feeble attempt to tie it into the couch color.

    I do want to put some sort of plants in there; maybe when the baby is a little older. I hesitate also because I kill every green thing I've ever had.

    The other sort of obstacle is that the other side of this room is my dining room. Or dining 'area' I guess. It is all one big room and a pain to decorate/arrange.

  • geokid
    12 years ago

    If you want to go the light blue, black/grey, and white route (always a classic combo and can be paired with a lot of different accent colors):
    Firenze Embroidered Panel
    Garden Gate Panel

    You mentioned navy, so here are some lovely blue rugs, window treatments, and accesories:
    Wallpaper Print Window Panel
    Coastal Stripe Rug
    Hand-knotted Dhurrie Rug

    Moroccan Tile Pillow
    [Harbour Rope Pillows[(https://www.houzz.com/products/harbour-rope-pillow-covers-prvw-vr~214002)

    It's hard to tell the blue color of your room on my monitor, but I think pale blues, greys and yellows are a gorgeous combo. I think the trick is getting the right shades of blue and yellow.
    Blue and Yellow

  • les917
    12 years ago

    Could we also get a couple of pix of the dining area?

  • Painted Peggies (zone 6a)
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Here's the dining room side. I KNOW the table and china hutch are the wrong color. I am going to paint or refinish them in the Spring! Please excuse the clutter; we are getting ready for our remodel and I have been moving things around in our kitchen.
    I need to put some panels on the deck doors, too...I had green ones there and have yet to replace them. Should I do the same as the living room ones, or something different? Ideas?


    the wall connecting dining room and living room areas:

  • Painted Peggies (zone 6a)
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    and any suggestions for the table/hutch color? I've seen tutorials on painting furniture and I'm thinking of painting it black (and replacing the chairs).