I would leave the unit where it is for now and see if you like the sofa under the window looking into the room. Probably easier to move the sofa and chair at this point. For me, getting the layout is the most important thing. Right now, at night, you are looking at a black hole. I would rather see you look into the kitchen and dining room. do you watch tv in this room?

It is more of a sitting room,noTV. It is easy to move the unit...slide along the floor. I will do it tomorrow and forward you a picture for your input

ok Florence. Looking forward to seeing the new layout tomorrow. If you don't like it, you can always move it back. :) I am sure others will weigh in.

I think you will enjoy having the sofa against the window as Cynthia suggested in her followup to you.
But before you move it, could you please give us some idea of how much space there is between the back of the sofa where it is now and the dining room furniture, that would be helpful. You could just take a measuring tape if you have one and get a measurement for us. Many thanks.

It is 70 inches

Between back of sofa and dining group? If so, is that about the same measuremnt as between the island and the back of the sofa?

I'd also love to have the measurement from the end of the island to the wall by the front door.

14ft

Well, that's good to know. So try to push the big piece down to the middle of those 14', and move the sofa against the wall. We all will look forward to seeing a photo taken of the new arrangement tomorrow. Many thanks.

Thanks for your clarifications, Carolyn. That's exactly what I meant! Looking forward to seeing the updated photos...

Here are some photos of changes..

More photos

Florence, your room is looking GREAT! The end table to the right of the sofa needs to move to the left of the sofa instead, along with the lamp. It would be nice to get a floor lamp to put to the right of the sofa.

Ok, thanks. Is that lamp ok, or should I get something else? Can I still do a collage over unit

With the brown chesterfield, I would like to get some accent cushions and colours around the room, what would you suggest. You don't know how much I appreciate your help

Yes, you can do a collage over the big piece. It would be nice if you could find the art for the dining area before you get accent pillows. Though for sure at least one pillow would be the wall color or similar to it. The table lamp you have is okay for now. Let's settle other problems before we worry about it. What kind of art do you like? I suggest you look for a good sized vertical piece of art that has some of the wall color in it, plus a white mat and a pretty frame.

Wow, Florence, what a transformation already! Do you feel the difference when you're in the room? To me it looks much more relaxing and welcoming and yes, balanced. I agree with Carolyn's comment to move the table and lamp to the front door side of the sofa. You need a larger taller lamp here. And a floor lamp between the sofa and the big wall unit would be perfect.

Are you really stuck on doing a collage? I would prefer you to keep the interest in the sitting area a bit lower. Remember, you'll be sitting on the furniture and whatever is on top of the unit will seem high to you there. I would rather see you put a collection of interesting (tall) sculptural pieces there, for instance a collection of coloured vases/pots in varying heights and colours. Here are some modern ones, but it gives you the idea: You can search houzz for photos of mantels too, because basically we're treating the top of your unit as a substitute for a fireplace/mantel combination.

But I agree with Carolyn's recommendation to find the art for the dining wall first. Then you can repeat some of the artwork colours in the pots/vases. It will be a nice way to display two different kinds of collections--sculptural and framed art--in your open concept room.

Likewise, the accent pillows, and even the lamps could wait until the artwork is selected. Your brown furniture is a good base for adding colour to, and the room will look just great when you're done.

The dining area feels so much more open and airy now. Great move!

Looks so good. Just a few more changes in layout
Then u get to the fun part...accessories.

As far as art goes, I do my own photography and was hoping that I could use some of my own photos. I have some really nice water falls and sunsets, I will send you some photos and if you could let me know if they would work.

Florence, do you have a series of six that could be cropped to the same proportions so that the six would be the same size? Then you could have them matted with wide mats and framed in identical simple black frames. Hung three over three, you'd have a nice grid happening, and the repetition would be quite nice. Waterfalls might work better than sunsets, all grouped together.

It's hard to tell, though, without seeing them.

did you receive the photos

No new photos have been posted since yesterday.

Ok I am going to resend, they were photo ideas to get framed

let me know if these come through...

ok I have more now, this is ideas for art work

a few other ideas

So beautiful. I say put up whatever you would like to look at. They all work. Art is so personal. Can't wait to see the end result.

I am not a fan of draperies but for your door, if you really want a window covering, I would put a rod at ceiling height and at least 6 inches beyond the door on each side. I would have the drapes/curtains hang on the left side of the door and would pull from left to close. On the kitchen window I would do a matching roman shade mounted inside the window frame. The lamp on your buffet is way to small for the size of the piece and the height of your ceiling. Sometthing taller and more sustantial with a white drum shade would be best, I think. I would put a large round mirror over the buffet. Then I would make an arrangement of photos on the big blank wall in the living room with plain black frames and white mats. Make it look collected and not perfect. Your chandelier should be no more than 33-36 inches above the table. If all your light fixtures are different finishes, you might considering taking them down and painting them (Krylon metal paint is terrific) and getting globes more like the ones over the island which also need to be about 36 inches above the surface. I love your space and your furniture and it it is so well put together, but you should probably get rid of the rack.

Oh yes,I forgot; for the drapes I would go with a colorful graphic and add pillows in the colors in the drapes.

Oh, Florence, you have taken some fabulous photos of Maine or what looks like Maine to me. I like your waterfall photos, but it is really your coastal Maine (?) photos that I truly admire. The waterfall photos are too much alike to place in a group, but the variety of the Maine photos makes them work well together while not being too similar. I think that a grouping even of 4, with two horizontals mixed with 2 verticals would be great. Let's see what Cynthia thinks.

My darling husband and I spent a week in Camden, Maine last September and have some similar photos in a book which I made. Do you ever put books together of your photos? I have used "My Publisher" to print the last dozen books I've made and highly recommend them.

Thanks, I thought those photos would be best as well. Actually the photos are in Nova Scotia, Peggy's Cove. I thought maybe four as well. I will check out "My Publisher"' , I took photos of my sons wedding and did a book in Shutterfly.

Wow, Florence, I didn't know what to expect when you said you like photography. You've got some really nice images there. This will be a great way to showcase your own work and will be good conversation pieces when you have guests over. You'll have to seat the guests facing the art wall!

If you're limiting the collection to four, let's make them nice and big and frame them so they look important (which they are!). Great work Florence! I am looking forward to the next batch of pictures, when you have the wall painted and the artwork up. What a lovely transformation!

Wow. What a great looking room! I can't believe what a fantastic change you've had from moving some furniture around.

I also logged in to say thanks so much for posting your lovely artwork. It's really inspired me to go home and look through my husband's photography and pull out some of his best work to have framed for a grouping in our condo. So, congrats on some great photos and thank-you very much :)

Thanks so much for the comments about my photos. I have seen some nice art work out and about and thought when we move again I am going to use my own photos. I have some great macro photos that I want to use in the bathrooms.

I really appreciate your ladies help. Do you think I still should paint that wall, if so, should I use black frames and 4 prints. Where do you think I should place them?

Against the nice deep blue wall, white frames with white mats would be a real standout, such as you see below. I'd like the frames to have a very square profile and I'd make the mats 4" wide.

Love how the open concept flows inspires good conversations and I prefer a drape in a darker color for living/sliding doors .

Ok should I paint the wall, with the large unit, the dark grey as suggested above or get a large dark (color from one of the photos) curtain for one side of the door and use same material over the sink?

as far as the paintings go support your local artists or make your own art/take your own pictures. I posted 2 of my paintings on this forum

Yes, Florence, I still think the room will look more put together and finished if you paint the accent wall. Please do it in the colour I suggested above.

I would not recommend dark draperies because the accent wall should be the dark element in your room. The drapes will be on the light grey wall and they should blend with the wall. If you have dark drapes, then they will definitely take away from the accent wall and make the room look too patchy and jumbled up.

I love love love Carolyn's idea of the white frames and matts against the accent wall colour. This is going to look so artistic and sophisticated. Stunning, in fact.

Florence, please follow the advice given by one of Canada's premier designers, Cynthia Taylor-Luce!
She has given you hundreds of dollars worth of advice, at no charge. Now is not the time to get cold feet!

Thanks again, I am doing it!!! I am going to get the paint. I am looking for frames this weekend. It is all good. I know you both wanted me to get rid of the corner shelf, but it is needed. I don't have space for the simplest thing as a radio, and I have mine on all the time. I was thinking that once I get my art work and items for the wall unit, I will get some items for the corner cabinet.

Good! And please do go the extra mile and buy Benjamin Moore's AURA paint quality. It's more money but you'll have superior coverage with it, which is so important with a strong colour.

Florence if the only reason you have the corner shelf right now is because of needing it for a radio, there may be other solutions.

1. check and see, if you have cable tv, if the radio station you like to listen to is available on your tv channel menu. Many cable stations offer a number of popular radio stations in their listings. The screen will be black, but you'll hear the radio through your speakers.

2. there are radios that can be mounted under your upper cabinet in the kitchen for a very streamlined effect. http://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=pd_sl_9dkhmp93vj_e?ie=UTF8&keywords=under+cabinet+radio&tag=googcana-20&index=electronics&hvadid=8109419746&hvpos=1t2&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15953482982014566700&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e
Here's a photo of an under cabinet LCD/TV/DVD combo 9" LCD flipdown monitor with built-in DVD player, AM/FM alarm clock radio, CD player! But there are simple radios available.

If you could eliminate the baker's rack, that would be the ideal situation. So you don't need to buy things to display on it! Instead, buy another radio!

Great idea for the radio, Cynthia! Florence is not the only one who could use that idea!

That is what I originally wanted but my son got me a great one that I can dock my apple products into, and I know he didn't spare any money on it. So I am stuck with the one tha I have, it has a great sound to it...and I can play my iTunes on I t.

What a nice generous son you have! Can it go on a counter in the kitchen?

No, I had it there...not much counter space

Perhaps the radio could go on a shorter, interesting table, maybe a small round, in the same corner? Then you could add some smaller sized framed artwork above it, on the wall next to the sliding door.

What's she not saying is that it looks too cluttered in that corner. That shelving unit needs to go. Put the dock by your bed and use tiny portable speakers.They don''t have to be expensive anymore to sound great with Ipods, Iphones, Ipads........etc

I have my artwork all framed in white frames, I think that they will look great on the dark walls, my concern now is the other pictures/art in the house are not white frames