That is a gorgeous foyer!

For a console table, how about one in a metal finish instead of wood? Something along these lines...

Sorry, I am not great with "virtual" furniture arrangements so can't help much with the living room. Looks like you have a tricky situation there with a traffic path right through the middle of the room? Is that your main family hang-out room?

Beautiful home! The entry reminds me of a favorite pin of mine. I love blue and some sparkle with dark wood work. Mtrdredux's beach house living room is another good example of blending modern furnishing with dark wood character. Hopefully she will post her beautiful room.

Here is an entry like yours a bit modernized.

Craftsman Family Home | Ocean Park · More Info

I love the idea of doing metal for the console table instead of bringing in more wood. I've been looking for a 4x6 rug but nothing has stood out to me yet, I will check out company c. The living room is our main hang out space. It was originally the dining room and we used a smaller room in the front as our living room. Recently we flip flopped the rooms and love that the living space/kitchen is connected. Furniture is tough because of the traffic pattern and needing a walkway. I also need a 9x12 rug that will stand up to heavy traffic. The rug that we have now is getting filthy from people walking through everyday.

That is a beautiful entrance roarah! Our biggest issue is that our foyer is very dark from the lack of windows, coffered ceiling and dark wood. My other option would be to knock down the wall that the bench tests against. It would open the foyer up to the den, which isn't used right now anyways.

WOW! What a beautiful home.
I agree with Sue on the choices of furniture. Though I love wood, I think you'd be better to use reflective or lighter color furniture. Find a bright modern colorful rug as a surprise element. Oh what fun it would be to decorate your home.
I live in a wanabe Victorian Revival.

Could you add a picture taken from the front doorway? I want to know what the room looks like.

lovely lovely home! I second having a metal/glass console. also if your budget allows, have slipcovers made in white or light beige. I can see that it could be a problem if you have young ones around but they're washable. Don't the ready made ones, get ones made specifically for your seating. here is a pic of colors that would give a modern spin to your Victorian house. I reqalize this pic is a LR, but focus on light fabric, bright rug

I can't offer any constructive suggestions (I'm afraid we've tended to embrace the whole *dark, period* look, lol!), but wanted to say how much your beautiful home reminded me of our large 1888 family home that we sold back in 2007 when DS went to uni. I also think that you can get away with more interesting colour schemes/decorative styles in these grand old houses. We are in the UK and it's interesting to see just how similar houses that happen to be on opposite sides of the pond can be!

Have hopefully added a few pics so you can see what I mean......apologies for the butterflies which I know won't be to everyone's taste :(

Loving the the pic that bossyvossy posted :)

One of my mentors lived in this house with small children, and it did not cramp their decorating in the most authentic manner, both he and she worked as well.

Oh, what a beautiful home! Really have no suggestions other than the ones already made. would love to see what you come up with.

I think we have the same newel post, paneling and same fireplace surround. I Moved to painting my walls white & pale gray. Colored walls, while pretty just skewed way into the overly Victorian feel for me. I do love that inspiration pic that someone posted of the traditional wallpaper & how they made it so fresh and modern. Such great work!

Personally I think that moving to gallery framing w/ black and white photos and old sepia & daguerreotype's in the same gallery framing really gave me the modern-ish look I was going for. I think that you could do the same w/ more vivid colored art on the walls but w/ a modern vibe. I've started framing my kids art work in white gallery frames and hanging on my studio area walls. So fresh and colorful!

As our 'mid-tone' upholstered furniture wore out I replaced them w/ white slipcovered furniture and leather club chairs w/ nail head trim. I have a great sea-green leather ottoman that I've mixed in.

I LOVE my silver plated accent table w/ the heavy dark trim!

The only place I have the high paneling is in our vestibule & it is too tiny for any furniture so I don't really have to worry about wood table overload. I mix different woods and finishes everywhere else though. Antique pine & oak to mahogany tables and bureaus and armoire's along w/ some painted pieces and metal pieces.

I use lots of colored throws & throw pillows.

I'm looking forward to working on our MBR & putting the finishing touches on it. It has a big black wrought iron bed, dark empire bureau for DH & white IKEA laminate bureau on castors for me - very modern. An oversized black and white city panorama will go over it. 2 antique bedside tables each w/ modern lighting and w/ dark framed prints over them. DH's is a collage of black and white pictures from the late 1800's & early 1900's, mine are 2 map reproductions in pink and teal. The same feel but different - 1 is very masculine and my maps are very feminine. I just got one back today from being repaired.

I've kept my table lamps & bedside lamps fairly modern instead of Victorian ornate. To contrast that I've gone w/ ornate chandeliers. And scored a great Victorian lighting haul off of CL the other week. Ornate chandeliers and wall sconces.

I've made everything pretty much a yin-yang.

It has taken me a verrrryyyyyy long time to find my balance in this place between the Victorian and the simple. clean lined look that I like.

Here are some pictures. Some are kind of old. Some are very old and in disarray. I haven't been doing tons of decorating lately - now that I've caught on to what works for me I've been stock piling and slowly putting it all together.

Tricia Foley used to have a beautiful NYC Brownstone w/ all of the heavy dark wood and she modernized it so beautifully. I have also been inspired by a great NYC brownstone that Vicente Wolf did to name a few.

I would totally ignore (but not change a bit!) the wood. Think of it, oddly enough, as neutral. I would simply juxtapose with whatever you love, and if it is modern, so be it. I can see a white Saarinen (sp?) table and ghost chairs . Just think of all the beautiful detail as a backdrop. Look at apartments in Paris and London; they use very modern things all the time, with fussy gilt appliques on the wall. The mix actually makes it more interesting.

Since you don't have much natural light, choose light colors and visually light pieces, and use mirrors and metal to reflect light.

To update it and lighten up the wood, I would go ultra modern. Have really good lighting installed, i.e.: recessed lights in the ceiling. Contemporary furniture with light-colored fabrics, contemporary rugs and sconces, etc.

I think white furniture (everything from slipcover so to leather) and light gray walls is your answer. Colorful art against a backdrop of dark wood trim and flooring, white furniture and light gray walls would be very striking. However, to pull it off you will have to be very consistent.

Mirrors and light metal pieces will only enhance the darkness, IMO, as the mirrors will reflect dark trim and paneling and thin metal furniture will just not even be seen against a backdrop of brown.

The foxes pad- gorgeous house. I love the black and white photo walls, I think I might steal that idea. And the chalkboard wall. That's exactly what we have going on today in our kitchen

I'm looking at console tables that have metal legs and glossy white tops. Any thoughts how that would look against the dark wainscoting? And mimiwest- I love the old Victorian feel, there are so many in our area and they are all beautiful.

I like the idea of the wrought iron console table and bench with bright fabric on it. But could you do something with the coat closet under the stairs....a door, a curtain, a bookcase in front or something to close it off? To me it makes it hard to decorate around. On another note, my SIL made the under stairs nook like yours into a "cubby" for her little children to play. They loved it. When they grew up, she used it as storage but she did have a door on it.

The rug bothers me. The foyer is an awkward shape and it seems the rug can not be centered. You could consider some other options. I think square or round would be better. The wrought iron sounds good to me.

Love having another Vick owner on here.

I was researching something else this evening when I came across this fabulously decorated vestibule similar to yours: very fresh and young. Like others, my iPad won't add pics or links since the recent update, but here's the link address:

http://interiorsforfamilies.com/2015/05/07/one-room-challenge-week-6-the-reveal/

I would definitely put a cool wallpaper in the foyer. Perfect spot for it. My favorite design blogger, Emily Henderson, recently did a round-up of fantastic wallpapers. The one she's using in her nursery is coincidentally the front runner for our guest room. I would link to it, but can't due to iPad update!

Coat closet is going to have a door, hopefully by this winter. And the current rug was garbage picked by my husband who thinks it "looks great" there. It's going to be replaced though for sure. deeinohio- the blue console is gorgeous and looks great on the wainscoting. I'll have to check out her whole site. Thanks! And I'll will check out Emily Hendesons wallpaper reccs- I love her too.

"We love the old details but the wainscoting has been difficult to
decorate around. I want to update our foyer area with a bench, new
console table and a rug. It's just hard to choose furniture that works
with the heavy, dark woodwork. Any idea on how to modernize?"

Go for brighter, clear colors instead of the muddy greenish and taupe solids (your couch is an example of what not to do). The wainscoting is a neutral dark background for showing off what's in front of it, like a dark mat on a picture.

I'd use lots of white and cream slipcovers, pale jute rugs, and brilliant tribal prints. And lots of lighting.

Above all, don't wimp out! Your house is a STRONG Victorian and needs to have really clean modern furniture to balance it out ... like this one.

Front Parlor · More Info

https://www.houzz.com/photos/front-parlor-traditional-living-room-new-york-phvw-vp~186311

I'd also replace the sconces with something a bit fresher. You've gotten some great ideas. Love the link Dee posted!

I have owned several Victorians and I love the period! I would recommend against knocking down into the den. You may not use that space now, but definitely will in the future! As far as furniture and area rug, can you buy from a place that has a good return policy? Then you can try out some pieces in the space and see what looks good in the actual size and lighting of the room.

Your woodwork is so special. It will be much easier to care for than painted trim. The scuffs and marks don't show up the same way at all, and having young children, that can be an issue. I have taken years off my life in stripping painted woodwork! However, one idea to try though would be to see if painting the very centre sections of the coffered ceiling would bounce light down into the room. Before committing to this, try temporarily sticking up some white posterboard in the square sections to see if it would have the desired effect. It would also highlight the beams and feel less cave-like. Is there is a way to get a ceiling light into the foyer area, besides that gorgeous chandelier?