Software
Houzz Logo Print
lisa71195_gw

6 rooms all open to each other-how do I decorate them all?!!HELP!

14 years ago

We just moved into a VERY different house for us - I am having a really difficult time figuring out what to do. There are 6 rooms ALL open to each other - foyer, dining room, family room, kitchen, sun room, eating area. Oh, and the Master Bedroom is within view as well. Every wall is beige - I would love to be able to have continuity in the rooms, but also some different colors. Plus there are not really easy starting and stopping areas for paint changes. All of the upholstered pieces need to be re-covered which is a good thing and a bad thing - exciting cause I have endless possibilities but costly and I am overwhelmed by WHAT to choose. We have an incredible view of a farm with horses and a pond and geese, so I feel like THOSE are my color scheme (Blue, green, brown, tan, gray), since we have 10 windows that face that view all in this same room.

For starters, I want built ins or cabinets on either side of the stone fireplace (left side will house the tv & components). Should they be same as the trim color if built ins? but if wood cabinets/bookcases, same as mantel?

We placed the grand piano (an inherited 6' Steinway) in the "eating area" - there just does not seem to be any other area to put it so that it isn't just "sticking out"!! And then we put a small table sort of in the sunroom area for my DH and I to use for eating.

I need to add another chair to the sunroom area for conversation but I just keep getting overwhelmed when I think of it all - one idea/thought leads to a squillion more!!

Where do I start? I will post pictures tomorrow...

Comments (9)

  • 14 years ago

    I have pretty much the same set up. No farm to look at, but a good view of the canyon and beyond. I just ended up decorating each area as a separate room but have elements in each that somewhat blend...OK only the floor...LOL.

    Every room is different and I always worried about having woods match within the same vision range. I threw that idea out the window long ago. Kitchen is white, dark woods in the family room, dark woods in the dining room and light wood/bamboo in the living room turned Tiki Lounge. It all works out, at least for me. I do keep the same woods/metals within each room, but not between them.

    It may help you if you don't get locked into the expected use for each room. Sounds like you already have a dining feel going on in your sun room so go with it. Maybe start with one room and get it set up with at least a few pieces of furniture, then move onto the next one. You can always decorate as you go along or just wait until the room helps you feel the mood. Sounds like you have colors already set up from the view...that is great. Hang in there, don't get overwhelmed, it will come together eventually.

  • 14 years ago

    Sounds like our floor plan. We decided on a 3 color scheme and did a variation of the color proportions in each room with different wall colors for the rooms. This way each room is different but there's a flow as you walk through the house.

  • 14 years ago

    I'd spend some time looking at design books and magazines for pieces about open plan design. The most important thing in an open plan is the circulation (meaning how you move naturally through the spaces) and the furniture arrangement by function; followed by lighting, which needs to be flexible in an open plan; and then a color scheme that supports and reinforces the first decisions.

    My advice is to live with it for a couple of seasons, and rearrange furniture as you get the feel for it, until you know how you want the spaces to work. As Marlene says, try to think beyond the usual division of space. Once you have an arrangement that really works and pleases you, you'll be ready for the decorating.

  • 14 years ago

    My house is the same..keep all colors closely related, best to keep walls the same uniform, bring in colors in furnishings and accessories, wall art etc. I did a feature wall in my foyer, in wallpaper, in a stone pattern, in my color tones, thru out these rooms..

  • 14 years ago

    I have to agree, you should live in your home before you make decorating decisions. That is definitely sound advice.

    Our Townhome is open on the 1st floor with LR, DR, FR, and Galley Kitchen. Sometimes you can separate space just by breaks in the wall at the end of a room and/or you can use an accent wall.

    I'm not a matchy kind of Gal. None of our furniture has the same wood, The flow is fine. It works because of our color palette, art, and fabrics. You really have to think about and feel your space to make the right decisions. I used a designer but I don't think I would have made the decisions I did without living in my space first. We got started a year after we moved in. It's a work in progress.

  • 14 years ago

    I agree with jerseygirl and live with the space for awhile before committing major changes and you can do an accent wall if there's not a good place for change of paint color.

    I'm in the process of picking colors with 5 rooms connecting and another 2 thru doors/doorways. I love saturated color. I have 4 reds on my DR wall and will pick one when I pick the copper in the sitting room (3 choices on wall) and greens (4 choices) in the office. The kitchen is already Hawthorne yellow and the half bath is Blue Lapis. The music room will be the 2 lilac colors that got rejected from the sitting room. I'm tying all the rooms together with the same color trim - white dove.

    My 185 year old fire places are all different marbles - gotta try to strip one that was painted. The main rooms have natural oak floors and the minor rooms fir (over 100 years old). I'm not too worried about the other woods in the rooms - I just make it work for that room. I have cherry in my kitchen, mahogany in the DR, and black walnut doors.

    I've been living with 3' x 4' paint swatches for weeks until something speaks to me. The 1st time I threw up lilac in the sitting room I knew it was wrong. I had some friends who are good with color help me pick another scheme (copper). I have a dark purple couch and chair for that room. Even though one color might work great in one room with the furniture, they all need to play "nice" together when viewed from room to room. I picked a red I love but I don't know how it will play with the green and copper so I'm holding off until i figure out the other rooms.

    I did start with a designer to help me narrow down my choices so I can get painting sooner. (I could have probably done it but it would have taken me a year!) She kept saying "This is so much fun, I should be paying you." What she suggested is have one tying feature - for me it's the same color trim from room to room.

  • 14 years ago

    Bostonpam, my daughter threw up bright blue once after a medical procedure, but what do you suppose made you throw up lilac...??

    I was just wondering.....

  • 14 years ago

    Ha Ha Actually my son once threw up neon green (well it appeared that way in the moonlight). We were camping and he had too much of this bright green sugar candy. In the middle of the night he woke me up to say he felt sick. I unzipped the door and he immediately started heaving out of the tent. Thank goodness the doorway was pointing down hill. On the way back from the bathrooms you could see the "glow in the dark" green leading to our tent door.

  • 14 years ago

    I have the same type of house and have done what monablair said. It 'flows', but it's not boring, and it's easy because I can move things around and they still go in each room because the color scheme is basically the same, it just 'shows' different with the different proportions and different wall colors.

    Actually, I veered from this in one back room. Wanted something different there. And even though the trim color is the same, and I have some of the same green as the rest of the house, it just doesn't feel right because the other colors are missing.

    Good luck! It sounds wonderful!

Sponsored
Hoppy Design & Build
Average rating: 5 out of 5 stars14 Reviews
Northern VA Award-Winning Deck ,Patio, & Landscape Design Build Firm