I love the first rug and the lava velvet. But, I'm not afraid of color. I think they work together nicely and the stripes in the Flor pull the colors in the art. The beauty of Flor is that you can move it and reconfigure if you need a change later. That would be a good design/color for a high traffic area, too. Maybe a mudroom, laundry or other entry way.

You know what question's coming next.... What's on the walls? ;-)

The fabric on the chair may be bad up close, but from your pics, it's not so terrible. It seems like the lava might work with those stripes?

You know, Flor was not on my radar screen until relatively recently. As I look at having to replace nylon carpet in a heavily used hallway and DD's room, I am wishing I'd known about it sooner. Okay, so maybe this is why I am moving...so I get to start again and apply all my new found knowledge. Very exciting that Martha got her fingers into it too!

Thanks Amy!

I'm not afraid of colour either, I just wonder if the first rug will have a more contemporary feel and I'm trying to play that down throughout the house. As far as traffic level goes, this is the living room, but it's the only living space on the main floor, so it probably gets used quite a bit more than a typical formal living room. I'd love a vegetable-dyed oriental rug in here - I've seen some that have gray and cream, gold and rust - but the price tag of the ones I like would mean I'd have to wait years to buy it.

On the walls - Farrow & Ball's Farrow's Cream. It's a gorgeous colour, but I've been thinking that something with a more brown and less yellow would ultimately be better. More of a "stone" colour...?

The fabric on the chair really isn't bad, in fact, the chair now finally looks half-decent in the room. The painting really brought it together, I think. I'm willing to leave the chair and choose everything else and then decide. However, if I'm picking other things that don't go with the chair and that I really like, I'd be willing to recover the chair. KWIM?

The lava would likely work with the chair, since there is gray in the stripes, I'm not not sure if having dark drapes would be too much of a focal point, i.e. would be fighting with the fireplace?

Here's the chair fabric close-up:

On a part of your subject that no one's really commented on, yet....

I'm SO glad you got to meet your favorite artist and to talk with him as well! Was he what you thought he would be like, from his books and art works? I've met a few of my favorite actors and musicians; it's always a pleasure to meet someone I've admired for years. I'm sure you felt the same way.

DonnaR/CA

I'm distracted and can't remember your question...........your room is great! Floor is awesome and I love your mantel and all your antiques. Beautiful!

Red

DonnaR - he was great! Very soft-spoken, although definitely opinionated. He is a well known environmentalist and I work in environmental science, so he got all excited to talk to me about some of his views. He comes off as an extremely down-to-earth, very, very nice guy. I have loved his art for years and years, so it was wonderful that everything fell into place and I got my first print of his and had a chance to meet him. He has been visiting this gallery about every two years for a long time (he lives at the opposite end of the country), but he is getting on in years and one of the gallery staff I spoke to was unsure if he will keep up this touring schedule, so this might have been a fairly rare opportunity also.

I was on cloud 9 for the next couple of days :).

Red, thank you for the compliment! I always end up posting such long questions and get very few replies, maybe I'll post this again, one question at a time...

Okay, I like the fabric! What's with DH? ;-) And I think a dark lava drape would not overwhelm. If you're moving away from contemporary, then perhaps the second rug would be better, more subtle. Color-wise, I still prefer the first one. Think about it's next incarnation, when you can afford the handmade rug of your dreams...

The Cream is beautiful. Have you looked at String? That is the chip I am playing with most right now.

Boy are you lucky, and what a great choice for over your fireplace.

I love the lava drape color which really would pick up the gorgeous colors from your chair fabric. BTW I was looking at lava as one of my choices for linen drapes for my LR from RH - when I called they didn't have lava swatches, just swatches for the older colors available.

Sky

Amy, DH is....opinionated :). He has remarkably strong feelings about decor, which is sometimes a blessing and somtimes just difficult, lol! He has been very involved in every decision made about our home and I suppose I should be grateful that he's interested, but sometimes I just want to pick things and not have to field the commentary, you know?

I wonder also if it's just the chair fabric or the mental image of the room it came from in his grandparents' apartment. It was a gorgeous room (gold, gray and black - professionally decorated, very classic), but I learned recently that he REALLY didn't like the decor.

I have a few swatches pulled out of my F&B swatch deck, don't remember if String is one of them, but it was one of my original considerations for this room. Have you used it?

Sky - hmm, that's unfortunate that RH doesn't have swatches available of the Lava. I don't have an RH store in my city (closest one is a 5 hour drive away) and I'd be hesitant to order drapes sight unseen.... I've been trying to figure out from the pictures on the website if the lava is a warm gray or a cool gray. It seems to tend almost towards a slate-ish colour in some of the pics, almost blueish? Is that true in person?

Linen was another consideration for drapes either here or in the dining room - what is the quality of the RH linen drapes?

Thanks!

Yeah, context is everything!

My DH doesn't really have opinions, until it's too late. :-) Or they are vague and somehow constraining. Or having to do with what he doesn't like. Mixed blessing. Would I prefer your situation? Hmmm...not sure.

I haven't used the String yet. If I do, it will be an EK match. I am struggling with what to do in the back hallway wrt stained carpet and resale. If I replace the carpet, String may or may not work. If I don't replace then it's a go. I have wallpaper glue to finish scraping before it's time to decide. Yipeee...

LOL I feel silly saying that the RH in my city is too far and there is too much traffic for me to visit. I found their choices on-line and then ordered a catalogue. I've ordered swatches on line and since they don't have lava, I'm not considering it. I'm curious to see if the swatches are close in color to those in the catalogue - that might make me reconsider lava. The one thing that is a plus is that you can always return it if you don't like it.

Sky

I have a Resto about a mile from me. Do you want me to call and see if they have the lava? I'd much rather do that than scrape more wallpaper glue from the bathroom!

Amy - that's really nice of you! We must have been on the same wavelength, because I just got off the phone with the nearest store! It turns out that they have no Lava swatches and likely won't for some time, but the lovely sales girl I was speaking to went and looked at the colour for me and described it - it's stocked with their blues, so she said it's quite a cold gray, tending towards blue-ish.

This could work really well with the print and the architecture (all tile including fireplace surround is gray/blue slate-look ceramic) but wouldn't work with the armchair upholstery or paint colour. I might just order one panel (or more?) online and see how it works in person... I like the idea of playing up the gray/blue since we have so much of it in the house. Might have to go on the coordinating fabric hunt now...

Wow. LOVE (almost) EVERYTHING! The signed print (beautiful--gonna' look this guy up), chair upholstery, etc. (but I also like the idea of a tartan or houndstooth--very nice). Not too sure about that first rug, though. Especially if you're going for the English library look. I think you can keep the F&B Cream--will keep lightness in the room--unless you go with the Lava or Crema drapes. In that case, I think the wall color will have to change. To what, I don't know--lol. I just love your style. :)