What does everyone think of what I bought???

I actually like the blue in the pic with the fireplace. In the pic with the x-mas tree, it is a bit more bright and jarring.

The dark trim around your cased opening between the rooms divides the spaces so there is no reason not to use two different colors if you like them.

Consider picking your favorite possession(s) in each room -- the ones your least likely to get rid of in the foreseeable future -- and choose your room color with that in mind.

Do yourself the largest favor. Consult with an interior designer on site. Let her help you prune and edit, refine details........too much stuff on the mantel, no finals on rods too WHITE for their surroundings, curtains too short.. Even a few hours would be WELL worth your money.

I like your new purchases. The sofa and round ottoman indicate you still like blue. You might live with the new furnishings and the old colors for a few months before deciding to paint any room.

Particularly like your desk/table over the ottoman but beware the splay legs in a small space or near a high traffic area.

Cute pooch.

His possessions scattered about are just his way of claiming his home.

Personally, I prefer curtains and drapes to hover just above the floor -- not always possible with heating/ac registers on a wall. If the choice is between curtains/drapes covering just the window frame or sloppily dragging on the floor, I prefer the shorter ones.

The rugs are going to stay, and the one in the living room is blue. I initially thought that it was important for the rugs and walls to match/coordinate. I have two beige and one blue Pakistani rugs.

The seating in both rooms are gone. The glass table got shattered.

I kind of want to get rid of all of the drapery. It’s from the ‘90s.

Wash it and keep your curtains/drapes a while even when you get new ones. Some might be useful as sheers or as liners for other curtains in colder weather or other projects. Even if you're not DIY inclined, extra fabric is always good to have around with there are pets in the house.

Large shades and tall thin lamps that emit more light -- bulbs with 1600 lumens are available at the big box stores -- could help light the room and give it more of an open feeling. You might even consider floor lamps which produce light from a higher vantage point in the darker corners of the rooms or, where appropriate, wall hung swing arm lamps that would as well.

Yes, I was 100% planning to save the drapery with the hope of repurposing them.

I know that I want floor lamps on both sides of the fireplace. I also want a task lamp by the sconce when I put a chair there in place of the piano. I also want to put a console table in the other corner with two lamps. That way, I will have lighting in all four corners of the room.

Ok, I like what you purchased so far. But, can you stop buying for a bit. Umm, except from https://samplize.com/ and you are not there yet.

Since you are keeping your rugs... In your inspo pic, notice the walls are not painted in the predominant color in that much lighter rug. (On my monitor the walls in that room don't look to be the same shade as each other but likely are...that's lighting for ya) Walls aren't matched to the sofa either. The inspo room melds gold tones,blue,wood and a fair bit of black. Basically a complimentary scheme. If you want a similar balance in your room, start by looking at the three shades that appear least in your rug. Are any of them a shade you might like with the (brown) wood and the new blue sofa/blue rug?

edit to add: hope you share what the three least appearing living room rug shades are...I 'd consider looking for a match in BM Affinity line. Affinity is basically 144 colors that harmonize. Perhaps it can make your task easier?

Yes, the drapes are hemmed high because of the baseboard radiant heat that could potentially damage the fabric.

If there are lots of windows in the room then I think dark color likes brown, blue where light gets better reflected.

Baseboard heat doesn't hurt the fabric, nor set it afire : ) Too short.

Why do the manufacturers all say that they shouldn't be exposed to that heat then?

Why? Because we are a completely litigious society. Same reason your cashmere sweater says dry clean only. Despite 99 % of them come out better in a cold water hand wash, laid flat to dry.

I would look at using woven shades instead, which will update the space and give you a cleaner look. Your rugs have some soft sage greens in them, which would look nice on your walls. Try something like BM Rock Candy (greenish beige), which coordinates with BM Franklin Lakes (deeper blue). This is BM Rock Candy:

BM Franklin Lakes, with other coordinating colors:

Woven wood blinds, which you can mount inside or over your moldings.

These are some better lit photos of the room...

Does a sideboard have to match a dining table?

A sideboard does not have to match, but it needs to be a similar style and in proportion. Your artwork in the last photo needs to be lowered. The midpoint of the art would be eye level when standing. It's okay for the top of your lamps to overlap the frames.

@calidesign All the artwork is going to be taken down and rehung in different places.

This is the sideboard that matches the table. I don’t like the exposed wine rack, unfortunately.

I prefer having the living spaces painted all

God I hate doing this on my iPad sent before I was finished and can't go back and edit! So.... I'm not commenting anymore

@cheryl smith haha

You could look for a painted sideboard instead, which would look nice with your table if it is still a similar style.

following

Forced air baseboard heat can blow your curtains/drapes - annoying. Also, "don't bet the farm" that electric baseboard heat couldn't "melt" some manufactured fabrics or start a fire or BLOCK some of the heat you need in the room and/or thereby perhaps even cause your heater to overheat and decrease its life span

Limiting the length of your curtains is a good idea. Besides, curtains that just cover the window and its frame look far better than those sloppily dragging the floor drapes that have been a fad for far too long.

Later pics of your blue room don't seem nearly as stark.

I do like the Franklin Lakes blue color suggested by

calidesign

@suezbell I have radiant baseboards. I think the difference between the photos is that the earlier ones were taken with my iPhone 6. These ones taken today are on an iPhone XS Max.

Like the sideboard.

You might see if the wine rack can be removed from the sideboard and, perhaps, if a serving bowl or tray that fits the space might be stored there.

Assembled desk yesterday. This is temporary until I get my upstairs office refinished. The workstation will then move up there. Dining room table and chairs arrive tomorrow.

I love the rug there are so many colors in it. You can choose which to pull from for totally different looks.

Table and chairs came!

Centerpiece courtesy of my great-grandmother

What a special centerpiece. Is it wire? I think my mother in law made them too

@Cheryl Smith It is made of twisted brass wire and foil leaves.

The sofa came...

Wonder what type of light bulb you have in your floor lamb. It throws off a yellow glare.

Love your dining room, rug and table.

@houssaon Just the CFL bulbs that came with the lamps.

@hollybar I have no idea what the three least appearing shades are. It's an intricate Pakistani rug, and it's in for cleaning right now. It won't be back for a couple of weeks.

The sofa looks great. Post some photos after rug rug is back. Do you have a floor plan yet to arrange your furniture? New window treatments will really help with your update.

@calidesign I was thinking that I would go with the same layout that I've had. Two accent chairs framing the fireplace and the larger sofa facing it. I'm wanting to add a television, but I cannot do the over the fireplace thing. That's diabolical, in my opinion.

Sofa and other changes look great. I look forward to your updates and a peek at the returning rug.

Attempt 3...

Following

Floor lamps

Did my thread die?

I like your sofa. I like most threads that have color other then white, beige and grey. Thank you.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><md>Love your home has some beautiful characteristics… Before buying anything else maybe move everything out of say your living room and bring back a few things at a time and range them too much stuff going on really concentrate on arrangement and what else we really need and if the wall color is working