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meg515

My Living Room is Blah -Please Help

8 years ago
Below is my living room. I am looking for ideas on:
1. Drapes colors/pattern
2. Colors for artwork
3. End tables and lamps
I feel stuck with the colors of the two chairs ( gray/blue and charcoal gray, photo below). My husband thinks the colors are kind of drab so I would like to liven it up a bit. Thanks!

Comments (21)

  • 8 years ago

    I like your room! First things I would do would be to put a tall plant in the corner between window and builtins and to look for more colorful items/books to place on your shelves. Perhaps a different coffee table with an interesting tray or basket to hold the remotes would help. I'm not sure how to do drapes with what looks like complex and beautiful molding above the windows. Maybe others will have ideas about that.

  • 8 years ago

    I don't know what color that candle is, but it look orange to me. Orange accents would like nice in your space.

  • 8 years ago
    Thank you. I was thinking about doing a short rod on each side of the long window. Would beige be too boring?
    Yes the candle is orange. That was my fall decor, haha.
  • 8 years ago

    For the windows, it would help a lot if you could take a photo of the them straight on, with the entire window wall in the frame, not a partial view from the side.

  • 8 years ago
    Ok I will do that today when I get home from work. This room is wide open to the kitchen and dinette, so I will post pics of that too. Don't mind my barstools, they are from my old house and too tall.
  • 8 years ago

    Pretty kitchen!

    Yes, beige would be too boring : ) .

    From the more recent kitchen/dinette photo you posted, I'm not sure you have the room for curtains -- between the available wall space and also the window casing/trim at the top of the windows. And you have so many windows with such great light it seems a shame to cover them, or the trim, up.

    Do you need the current blinds for privacy and/or light control? Faux Roman shades (like valances) could be an option, over the current blinds if you need to keep them; they're fairly inexpensive and would add some color, pattern, and texture.

  • 8 years ago

    Love your room especially your built ins and molding around windows ! For me it’s the rug and dark coffee table that should change. I would bring pattern into a rug a throws and pillows with creamy white in them. Everything is dark. Love the idea of orange accents

  • PRO
    8 years ago

    A splash of color (accent wall) does wonders to a room. Here's an example..

  • PRO
    8 years ago

    Thoughts that come to mind- I would not add more- if anything streamline, not even curtains. I would get a new rug, black and white stripes could look amazing. A new wall color- maybe a very pale blue would liven this up. & a round metal coffee table.

  • 8 years ago
    I actually have a round metal/glass coffee table in another room that I could use! I will try it.
  • 8 years ago

    My, that TV is high....doesn't it hurt your neck? Will it fit in one of your shelving units or is it too wide?

  • 8 years ago

    Yes we hate the TV there... but that is where the builder put all the wiring. We may try to move it later on.

  • 8 years ago

    Housegal, I love that palette! Where did you find that orange/gray pillow?

  • 8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    I think the pillow was on Houzz. I'm not sure why the Houzz links aren't showing up with the photos.


    Here's how to play around with colors for furnishings offer either on Houzz or the Internet. Type in a search for "tan gray orange pillow" or whatever accent color your want to introduce to your current gray/brown palette. Houzz will show you examples. Usually if you click on one you like, off to the side there will be other suggestions. Good luck! Don't worry about the TV. Once you have some patterened accessories or introduce new colors, the TV will recede.

    meg515 thanked housegal200
  • 8 years ago

    It just occurred to me that you can go to my Ideabooks where I've organized references to items I suggest in Design Dilemma. The links there should work. I have an Ideabook called Curtains and Pillows.

    meg515 thanked housegal200
  • PRO
    8 years ago

    I agree with adding an accent color. A red, or blue would look nice.

    Even with a neutral grey/brown color palette you can liven up your space by introducing different materials/textures. Selecting a new coffee and end table gives you a nice opportunity to do this. Good luck!



    [Coffee Table[(https://www.houzz.com/products/duncan-coffee-table-prvw-vr~104325150?lid=79601486)



    [End Table[(https://www.houzz.com/products/monarch-magazine-rack-prvw-vr~104325446?lid=79601671)

    meg515 thanked Seldens Furniture
  • 8 years ago

    I like the idea of introducing more color. Here's are some other Houzz options. Just make sure new prints you introduce work visually with your print chair. You can do the same with mustard or turquoise. Brown, gray + accent color.


    rug:

  • 8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    You have plenty of neutrals, so it looks like the rug will provide your color choices....a simple way is to find the dominant color in the rug that is not a neutral and use it in 30 percent of the room, then select the next less dominant color from the rug and add that color to your room.....say curtains, pillows, lamp shades of lamp bases, throws on the chiairs as in a pair over the back of each chair, or one throw on the sofa, accessory pieces in the book shelf area, be it flowers, frames or mats in frames, object d' art, etc. If you want to do curtains, then a solid or geometric print will work nicely.

    Another thought is to paint the dining room in a variation of your accent color and reupholster your chairs in a fun fabric that works with your paint, add curtains the same as the living area, and then just add pillows and flowers in the main living room as accents with the dining room carrying a completely different color for the whole area.....then the kitchen and the living room would have small areas of color that both relate to the dining room.

    Finally just add all white to both rooms to lighten it up and keep the colors of black, brown, and charcoal in strong contrast to the white to add drama to the room.

    neutrals with very slight addition of color in artwork but everything else white grey black charcoal

    addition of one color in curtains, chairs, pillows, walls......you already have chairs in charcoal, etc., but could add pillows in living room, curtains in dining room in pattern and white in living room, and pale paint in dining room and one wall of kitchen.

    I think you have a one note room, and it needs some jolts of color in all three areas; easiest to choose one and do all variations of it around the room, or two colors from rug, one dominant and the second one less so. Love your room

  • 8 years ago

    I think it looks good. I'd probably just remove some stuff from the shelves, and the TV. A round coffee table might feel a little less bulky. Maybe reverse where the two chairs are- so the lighter colored chair is by the windows.

  • 8 years ago

    The FP mantle is too high; it cuts the wall in half; lower it.