How to decorate the living room wall?

2 years ago

Hello, I am looking for your help with the decoration of my living room wall.

We live in a townhouse in the San Francisco Bay Area. Real estate is very expensive, so we are hoping to maximize the usage of all spaces.

We used to have a sofa and two chairs in the living room, like below, with a round coffee table in the middle, and two ottomans on the side (not shown in the drawing).

However, we found that we almost never sat on the sofa. We decided to sell the sofa / coffee table and just left the two chairs in the living room. The two chairs are the Room & Board Wynton recliners, and we LOVE them!

Functionally, the living room works great for us. We like sitting on the chairs to read books or watch TV, and we finally have the space to do stretches which is very important to us.

My only issue is that the wall where the sofa was looks a bit empty. The paintings on the wall looked great above a sofa, but feel a bit out of place now that the sofa is gone.

I have thought about a few options, for example to put a bench or a sideboard against the wall, but feel like we really don't need anything there functionally, and we prefer to keep the room a bit empty for our stretching exercise.

What do you think? Can you advise us on how to decorate the wall? For example, if we change the paintings to a big one, will it solve the problem?

I attached a few photos for your reference! Thank you in advance!

Featured Answer

KW PNW Z8

2 years ago

Ying Wang, Is that triptych art hinged together or connected? Or, can it be slightly spaced apart? I was thinking about creating a gallery wall but I think that art needs to be a stand alone piece as you have it. Perhaps lower it a tiny bit & space the pieces a bit apart if possible. IDoes your stretching exercise space require the rug? My thought is to move both chairs forward sitting them completely on to the rug so they’re closer to FP - but not too close for TV watching. I think that would create a cozy comfortable spot with a purpose & not look just empty. & waiting for sofa. The area behind chairs would remain study area with desk shown on floor plan but also now have enough floor space for becoming the area for stretching exercises. That floor lamp looks jammed against wall - slide it forward to be the reading lamp for chair closest to wall. Or, set it between the two chairs close to the table between the chairs. The cord could be hidden under rug. What is the star in corner?

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Comments (6)

Ying Wang
Original Author
2 years ago
Hi KW, thanks for the advice!

The 3 pictures on the wall together forms a beautiful image of the Summer Palace in Beijing. If we use these pictures, they need to be together as shown. I do have some large size artwork, mostly framed antique posters like below (dark background and dark frames). Will it work?

I moved the chairs forward and moved the floor light between the chairs. What do you think? There is sufficient space behind the chairs for our stretching exercise.

The star in the corner is a light that my 9-yr old loves. We love to decorate our home with the arts & crafts. Happy to move it to another place if it is out of place here:-).

Thank you!
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KW PNW Z8
2 years ago
@Ying Wang - Hello! My reaction to this new arrangement is that it gives a feeling of comfort & coziness to the space. I do love those white chairs. The Star - absolutely must stay put if it brings pleasure to your child. It is not out of place - I was just curious about what it was. A light! Must be pretty at night when the room is in dim light. The triptych of Summer Palace in Bejing is pretty. Do you have a smaller wall space to hang it where it can be viewed up close? The posters are intriguing as I do love vintage and antiques. You mention they are all framed with dark frames so I’m imagining they’d create a very interesting gallery wall that would add much interest to the large open space on the wall and, if they have pops of color such as the one you show, a grouping of them would add energy to this space during day time with the natural light coming through the sliding door. Think about removing the Palace picture & arranging the posters (how many are there?) on the open wall space & hang them both higher & lower than the Palace picture is. To create a mock up & avoid damaging wall with holes, I like to cut paper the size of the art & tape paper to wall in various tryout arrangements. I lay the art out on the floor first then copy that arrangement with paper taped to wall. If you have an even number & they’re all the same size, a symmetrical arrangement would be good. If not the same size, be creative & try to use the same spacing between edges of frames. Also pay attention to the images - when viewing sometimes a piece just looks better in a higher or lower position in the overall arrangement. Have fun with it if you do that!
Ying Wang
Original Author
2 years ago
Thank you KW! You gave me a lot to think about and experiment!
tracefloyd
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Tapestry, Kilim, Macrame.
Ying Wang
Original Author
2 years ago
Thank you!