I am in need of (lots of!) decorating help

[Heather in MD]

1/11/10 Edited to add - I've finished the living room and am very happy with the results. I've attached pictures at the end of this thread. Thanks to all of you for your help!

Heather in MD

 

I need help decorating/arranging the furniture in my living room. Right now the living room feels like a hallway - a room you pass through to get to the kitchen. We have a split-level, so you enter the house almost directly into the living room. The room also has a vaulted ceiling.

 

I'm hoping to get a new couch within the next couple of months, and I'm wondering if an L-shaped one would help the room at all? We are also hoping to get new carpet/flooring in the next six months to a year.

 

I've rearranged this room about 7 times in the 7 years we've lived here and I still am not happy with how it looks and feels.

 

I'm attaching several pictures of the living room as it is now and any suggestions/pointers/tips would be greatly appreciated :)

 

The first picture is from the front door and the second is from the corner of the room diagonally opposite the front door. The third is from the corner of the room opposite the stairs. The fourth is from the stairs going up to the second floor. And the last one is from the kitchen into the living room.

 

Thanks,

Heather in MD

Edited January 11, 2010 by Heather in MD

[Melinda in VT]

I'd flip the couch and the tv, so the couch faces the window and the tv is on the blue wall.

 

I'd probably pull the couch off the wall, so it is closer to the chairs in front of the window and creates a cozier seating group.

[Jkodman]

Must be the time of year. I guess with all the Christmas decorations down our homes look a little bare. I too have been struggling with my living room. I just can't decide what to do. Sorry no answers.

[Parrothead]

Your furniture looks too small for that size of the room. You need some things with some height.

[Heather in MD]

I agree. We used to have some taller bookcases in there, but they got reassigned to the kitchen/dining room (when I took the shelving unit from the dining room and moved it to the school room - LOL!). You can see the edge of one of the tall bookcases behind the red snowflake in the third picture :) They match the short ones that are in the living room now.

I guess I'll need to make a trip to IKEA sometime soon!

 

Heather in MD

 

Your furniture looks too small for that size of the room. You need some things with some height.

[Heather in MD]

Thanks, Melinda. We've had the couch and tv flipped before, but I hadn't thought of pulling the couch away from the wall. Would you put anything behind it like a sofa table, etc.? Or would you leave the space empty?

 

Heather in MD

 

I'd flip the couch and the tv, so the couch faces the window and the tv is on the blue wall.

 

I'd probably pull the couch off the wall, so it is closer to the chairs in front of the window and creates a cozier seating group.

[Heather in MD]

Exactly! The room looked a lot better with a Christmas tree in it - LOL!

 

Must be the time of year. I guess with all the Christmas decorations down our homes look a little bare. I too have been struggling with my living room. I just can't decide what to do. Sorry no answers.

[3littlekeets]

I think you have a great start, too! I would pull the couch off the wall as suggested earlier, and create a cozier sitting arrangement. I would also get much larger artwork whether you choose to leave the couch there or rearrange it. Those 3 pictures seem too small for the space and boldness of the color. You need a large picture, or a much larger grouping of those type of pictures -- maybe even 2 or 3 rows. I think the same issue applies to the entertainment center wall.

 

I'd also love to see some year round, large greenery to make the space seem more alive. An area rug under a coffee table would anchor the space, as well.

 

Good luck, you have a beautiful home!

[cougarmom4]

Have you ever tried having the couch facing the blue wall (and parallel to it)? And creating a walkway behind it from front door to dining area. Just a suggestion to try it and see if it would work. The room looks plenty big and you could put a sofa table behind it.

 

(This advice is NOT coming from someone who knows anything about decorating, by the way...).

 

Have fun!

[hornblower]

How old are your kids & do they play in this room? Because the way you have it set out is a wonderful open, welcoming space for kids to be underfoot & if you have littles who use this, I'd leave it.

 

Also, do you dance? Because then again, I'd leave it.

 

I love big open spaces. I have nothing on my walls in the living area so your big walls & the big windows look great to me.

 

Hwvr, for a slighly cozier feeling & to delineate this room more, I'd float the couch. Have it face the blue wall & move your shelving to that wall. I think adding taller units would be nice. Nothing behind the couch is necessary but I would add a rectangular shaped coffee table in front of the couch.

[daisychics]

With the furniture you have in the room, I would move the tv console (w/tv) to the blue wall and then have the couch face the tv. The picture with the white frame should be even with each other on top of the tv. Then maybe put the two ikea (poang) chairs on the side of the tv console, facing the couch.

I would keep the two bookcases where it is(that was on the side of the tv console), but next to each other. I would move the halogen lamp all the way to the corner. Do you have another coffee table to put in the middle of the tv console and tv? Oh I love the basket-type ottoman thing.

 

I might be able to put a picture of my family room. I just re-arranged it. :lol: This is the 4th time this year. :tongue_smilie: It's not finished, I need some big vase or basket or something else. We can't afford to buy any new furniture so I just look around my house to see what can "fit."

Edited January 7, 2010 by daisychics

[mrscopterdoc]

Have you ever tried having the couch facing the blue wall (and parallel to it)? And creating a walkway behind it from front door to dining area. Just a suggestion to try it and see if it would work. The room looks plenty big and you could put a sofa table behind it.

 

(This advice is NOT coming from someone who knows anything about decorating, by the way...).

 

Have fun!

:iagree:

 

maybe add a coffe table or chest or trunk to act as one. I think the chairs are kinda skimpy, maybe instead of buying a new couch how about a love seat to match the couch you have?

[OnTheBrink]

Oh oh oh! Go to Lazboy.com and use their room planning program! You can create a room and arrange your furniture around. You can alter the size of the furniture templates so they represent your actual furniture. I use every time I want to re-arrange the room.

[gratefulmother]

I recently used a decorator to help me out some with my living room and den. As a decorating challenged person, it was worth every penny I paid her (less than $100) for the two hours she was here. I would recommend doing that before buying any big pieces of furniture so that you can make sure you get something that you will really like and fits your room.

 

One thing she did was to turn all of the living room furniture so all of the chairs were more in a circle than in the corners of the room where I had placed them. It was a small thing that made a big difference in the warmth of the room.

 

I would think that this would mean an L-shaped couch would be good for the room you have, but like I said, I am challenged in this dept.

[The Governess]

I agree with the posters who said to put the TV on the blue wall and move the couch to face it. This will create a "hallway" behind the couch and will give you a more defined living room. Take the table out from between the two chairs and put them together in front of the window to act as a loveseat of sorts. The wall where the TV is now would be a good place to put some tall furniture, maybe a huge bookcase/cabinets with room for books, baskets, display items, etc.? It would also be a nice spot for a piano. :D You could also install some sort of shelving over the entertainment center, or put up some larger wall decor, to give some height.

 

Another idea is to put a nice entry table under that shelf you have on the wall by your front door.

 

Maybe some throw pillows on the couch that bring in some of the blue from the wall.

 

Have fun!! So many possibilities. :D

[Laura Corin]

I'd put the sofa with its back to the front door, to make a notional edge to your sitting room.

 

Laura

[gandpsmommy]

First, let me say you have a lovely home. It actually makes me nostalgic for our old split-level house. You get so much wonderful natural light in your living room! Also, I love the paper snowflakes hanging in the kitchen doorway. How did you make those? We also hang seasonal decorations in our kitchen doorway.

 

Have you thought about adding an area rug? We had one in our big living room in our old house, and have it now in the living room in our current house. I think it helps to break up the uni-dimensional feel of such a big, open floor area. We had wood floors in our old house and now have carpet here. Our area rug has worked well with both. It helps anchor furniture in the room, rather than making it feel as if it is floating on the big sea of carpet. It helps define the space and add visual interest.

 

I think you have a few options as to furniture placement. You could go with the earlier advice to move the sofa to the space opposite the blue wall and place some furniture with height on the blue wall. But if you would like to keep the room more open, you could also keep the sofa where it is, get a love seat or a few chairs that are more substantial than the current ones for the window area, and try to add some shelves with more height to the tv area.

 

If you keep the sofa on the blue wall, I would move the pictures and put something bigger and bolder on that wall, like a sofa-sized print, or a large grouping of big photos.

 

Then I would add a few plants. Some large potted plants on the floor, or a smaller one on the table by the window. I think plants add life to a room.

[Heather in MD]

Thank you to everyone for the advice! I'm printing all of your posts, and dh and I are going to be re-arranging the living room on Saturday. I'm going to get, or make, some new artwork for the walls. I saw a neat idea on HGTV about making a fabric wall hanging, so I might do that. And get some tall plants for the room. The new furniture and flooring will have to wait a while, but (thanks to all of you) I can work with what we have :)

 

I'll post some pictures of the room when it is finished.

 

Thanks again :)

Heather in MD

[mcconnellboys]

I'm answering without looking at what others have said, so I'm not sure if this will provide a different take or agreement with something already expressed.

 

I think I would not draw the eye down the length of a long room by making that back wall the focal point with a different color. It seems to make the room look a little longer and more narrow, perhaps.

 

If you wanted to create more of an entry, you might try a low book shelf either on the short wall by the stairwell, or under the shelf next to the window (or both, if space allows for a wide enough entry and it doesn't feel closed in to you). You might try it with the shelves you have on either side of the tv stand now, but I might use a shorter shelf unit than that to allow a clear view, while still creating a sense of an entry room (and I might also use open backed shelving, that would display to both sides of the room).

 

If you like this and change your floor covering, you might make the larger area you've defined a different material to further define it as a separate, entry space.

 

I believe that I would position the sofa on the wall opposite the window, especially if the view is good, and the tv/shelves on the wall that is now blue. The chairs now in front of the window could then come out into the middle of the floor with a table between them, which would create a more open feel while still defining a more closed conversation area. Or, you could put the chairs on the wall and the sofa out in the middle. If the sofa moves to the middle of the room, a high, narrow "buffet" type table behind it to serve as a sofa table would help fill out the room more and provide a place to put things since I don't see a coffee table. Or, shelves the same height as the back of the sofa facing out into the entry point of the room would also serve to create a sofa table type surface on top, while also providing more display and storage beneath.

 

If you did something like this, I might put a lower bench type seat under the window for additional seating, reading, etc. without blocking the view.

 

It looks like you have a dresden blue and yellow theme going and I like it. You might add some cushions with more of a pop of those colors to brighten and tie in your sofa and chairs even more. I like your shelves and pictures. Those over the sofa and shelves by the tv seem to need to come down just a notch or two to tie them in to the furniture better. Doing those things, along with moving the furniture out a little so that it does not hug the wall so tightly, will help to create a cozier feel for your room. You might also consider an area rug to define the conversation area once you decide on your furniture placement. If you're sticking with the blue/yellow, then you might choose a rug that predominates in those colors to help, once again, tie the room all together. I've seen many inexpensive rugs lately that are really lovely in terms of color at places like Target, Wal-mart, etc. I also shop discount retailers for deals such as Tuesday Morning, T.J. Maxx, and Marshall's.

 

I might see something like a coffee table to one side of the sofa, I'm just not sure. On the other side, I see a woven something that is low. I'm not sure about the heights of the three tables in the room. From the picture, they seem to be a little low, perhaps. Side tables next to chairs or sofas should really come up to the top of the arms of those. You might use these lower tables together in front of the sofa as a multiple part coffee table (scatter tables). Or perhaps the two tables could be used together and the woven piece could be used as a stool in front of one of the chairs. I'm not certain of the pieces, so not sure.

 

I'm not trying to critique your furnishings, really, which are lovely. I'm just thinking that perhaps part of your discontent with your room might be because the pieces aren't flowing together properly to your eye. Grounding the pieces together through connecting heights and tying those in with picture heights, etc. might give you a sense of better flow that you desire.

 

I think I see three torchieres in the room. I might use just two of those, not sure. They seem pretty tall. I think they would work well flanking either side of the shelving on the tv/shelf wall. If you use the chairs on the back wall, then one between them might work (can a section be taken out of it to lower it's height, by any chance?). Or, one beside the sofa if it's used on the back wall would work. Again, I would start a little lower with the pictures and move them up in height to marry your lower furniture to the torchieres.

 

Okay, so what I'm suggesting would create more of a defined room starting at the doorway into your dining area. This leaves a wide swath of "hallway" or walkway through the room from the front door to the dining room door. If you use the chairs out in the middle of the floor, and if you don't use any shelving to define the entry area, then I might look around the house for some other small shelf or table to either place under the shelf by the door, or on the short wall by the stairs (something narrow that won't intrude into the walkway space too much). This gives you a place to drop keys, mail, etc. when coming into the house, display space, etc. and makes that portion of the room look completed, rather than empty and ignored.

 

If you use the sofa in the middle of the room and have some shelves or a narrow table you can throw behind it, to face out into the empty portion of the room as I mentioned before, that would also serve to finish that portion of the room. If you change your flooring and get wood or something solid, you might further define that space with a long runner type rug from the entry to the dining room.

 

So, hope that provides some helpful info. Thanks! It's always fun to try to help rearrange furniture!

[Heather in MD]

Thanks to all of your help, my living room looks a lot better :)

 

Heather in MD

[Mrs Mungo]

This is just to say: I have some of those same snowflakes hanging down from my balcony into my formal living room at the moment, lol. Guess it's time to take them down, the rest of the Christmas stuff is already put away.

[Heather in MD]

This is just to say: I have some of those same snowflakes hanging down from my balcony into my formal living room at the moment, lol. Guess it's time to take them down, the rest of the Christmas stuff is already put away.

 

We were going to take them down, then decided that snowflakes are a winter decoration and aren't just for Christmas :)

[Mrs Mungo]

We were going to take them down, then decided that snowflakes are a winter decoration and aren't just for Christmas :)

 

I would probably go with that, except that it's 85 here today. I'm not sure I can get away with that. :lol:

[Heather in MD]

I would probably go with that, except that it's 85 here today. I'm not sure I can get away with that. :lol:

 

It's only 30 degrees here, so I guess we can keep them up a little longer :). I'd be happy to be where it is 85 though!

[The Governess]

Thanks to all of your help, my living room looks a lot better :)

 

Heather in MD

 

Wow, you did a fantastic job!! It looks great. :D

[Wyndie]

Wow, that looks great!

[teamturner]

Thanks to all of your help, my living room looks a lot better :)

 

Heather in MD

 

WOW! Your room looks great! Good job. I love your fabric wall hanging. I may have to try that! :D

[teamturner]

double post

[3littlekeets]

bravo! looks wonderful and inviting!:D

[Mothersweets]

I like it! I would definitely want to sit and chat in there!

[cougarmom4]

Look at how on the ball you are! You ask for ideas...and then you get right to work! Way to go! It looks terrific.

 

If only I could get something done like that...