Holy S%$#@t!!! LOL......

YES! Yesterday was soooooo dreary, cold. rainy , bone chilling, I must have erased it!!

LMAO.

Thank you Diana, Jan, and Arcy...and so many others who have helped! I love your mood board, Jan. I'll keep it and refer to it as I go. I do see your point about the thing you love being the thing you get stuck on...so we'll see. Your vision is excellent. I notice the cool blue chair mixed with the dark greens....and that combination seems popular at the moment. I was in the Ballard Designs store last week and saw a lot of that....hmmmmm.

Diana, I am a print drapes girl...but in this case thought it might take away from the art. I've got print drapes in my DR and FR, and printed drapes have become a bit of a trademark for me; so it may be genetic haha. This time I wanted to try solid drapes with trim, and do like them, except for the color. But I will give some thought to adding a print with trim; hadn't thought of that. I wish I could paint the trim darker but my white plantation shutters are staying...not sure how that would work??

Arcy, thank you...I'll probably stick with the white sofa for now and add color with pillows. But we'll see. I am on board with more black shades...for some reason I thought just one or two was right. But the mock up showed how nice they look when unified...either white or black.

The weird of warm/ cool, black shades, white shades. I had to do a presto change- o for a client in a temporary rental. .....

Literally a cobble together, old, new, consigned,,,sent to storage and yada yada from previous home. .....It shouldn't work. But? It is a cool backdrop, and .....there is a lot of ivory.

We could NOT $$$ spend on short lived windows- that is 50.00 dollars (all in sheers, 4 panels 100" wide squashed 2 each side on 5 dollars worth of Ace Hardware rods. .....because there was one single inch space to mount. In a big ass hurry: )

Cobbled · More Info

It's lovely...and so a good look at how this is not an exact science. What shouldn't work, sometimes does, and what should work, sometimes doesn't! That's why a good designer is the key....they have a sixth sense about how/when to break the rules and cheat a little.

If you were to change the sofa to olive I would do the same with the chair.

Thank you...folks at Norwood. I had not considered doing both...but have committed to doing the chair for now. Would you use the same fabric if so? My thought was do the chair and use fabric from the chair for pillows on the sofa.

Do the chair. Add a pillow mix.

Why? Fabric and labor $? A WING chair in a solid is seven yards max. The loveseat/skirted is 15 ish yards.....and probably 3 times the labor cost.: )

Before I did a single thing? I'd sit and stare at the rug. I'd add that the previous designer is probably not the ONLY designer in your area. It might be worth a bit of investigating and save your thread: )

One on one and on your site is different and better than fifty voices here, no matter how well intended they may be.

How united do the rooms need to be? Are they that conjoined?

It's like the designer came up with a bright cool color palette and then discovered you were keeping the Asian screen and Aubusson rug. They are so beautiful together.

What if you introduce more gold tones into the dining room and more blue tones into the piano room? Keep the white drapes and add blue trim. Keep the pink wingback and upholster the striped chair in solid pale blue as proposed above.

Hi again tracefloyd....and that's a good question. The two rooms are separated by a center hallway, so they don't have to coordinate perfectly. But having some borrowed elements feels right. I went bold with the chartreuse velvet seats in my DR, and it feels like something similar should be in the LR since they are opposite each other. You mentioned adding blue in the LR, and that's been suggested to me before. But there is absolutely no blue in the rug; other than a light celadon/aqua in the border. So it seemed odd to me to just randomly add it. But I'm not great visualizing these things! The green feels like a good unifier; even if they are different shades, the sage green wing chair seems like a cousin to the chartreuse.

I'm adding some closeups of the rug....it does have some lilac and the celadon green, along with the traditional green. So it has some cool tones in it but the gold dominates.

Thank you for your ideas and those visuals are wonderful!!

It's always fun to play......

There are "walls" you can't achieve in paint, but can be had in paper...especially grass cloth

Sometimes the toss pillow tosses in yet more unity

Jan, you are sooooo good. And I am a big grasscloth fan; in fact have it in my Family room which does open up directly to this space. I'm almost afraid to show a pic, as there are a variety of cool/warm things going on there too haha. I think I'll have to work with paint here...but hoping that some new colors pulled from the rug and the art will help. Paint maybe after the holidays...??

Take a pic, (several) of the family room.....do another of the dining room as well, angles we can't see. No fear......just trying to get an overall pic in my head

I might add sage pillows but I'd leave the sofa light.

Photos coming....after I get home! But the light may not be good then...but no fear in any case :)

pardon the pencil........

But color is a season.it's a feel, it's warm , it's cool it's anything you want.

But it really never works as an afterthought color, whether it is white, a shade of white, or a more definite "color"

pretend....... the rug is go with anything toasty toned sisal ( I said...pretend lol ).....there ARE limits to pencil . And the author...

Why do I say this? Eon and eons ago, I had a friend who didn't want to paint mauve walls, or change the curtains. She ended up with a boatload of money spent , changing everything BUT, AND a 20 year deep hole of the same room. : )

Oops my bad, I thought the dining room currtains were blue and white...

Jan and trace, you both make me laugh, which is good, because I took some quick photos of my house and they are not prize winners. But here they are; the good, the bad, and the ugly:

Hallway that divides LR and DR

Dining Room wall; can see it from the hallway.

Family room that adjoins the LR (to the left)

TV wall; (TV needs to move over to the right but hasn't happened yet)

View of FR from LR

Hallway stairs to second floor (more white walls up there...)

View from Kitchen To FR; sorry, just couldn't take a full pic; too messy today

another view into FR

LR to FR view

Close up of DR drapes

Last but not least, powder room...

And just for fun a look at my LR today. Already have a scrap of green velvet on the chair... Drapes really pop as too white to me.

SO that's it; and it was helpful for me to do this. Some things I like and some I really didn't. The chartreuse on the DR chairs looks bad in full light, and that is something that I didn't love at first but had kind of grown on me. But seeing them today...not sure those should stay. I could have them redone or slipcovered. Also not loving my FR rug, it's an old standby but I'm kind of tired of it.

Thanks for your thoughts and ideas. I never thought my question about a couch would give me so much to think about, but it's good!

Hands and feet.....: )

You have rug curtain issues. You love pattern.....

For me just a bit haphazard....but thats jmho , I like a tad bit of serenity

Can you NOT move the living room rug to the family room?

that room perhaps needs a pick between rug and curtains??: )

Love the art in dining room

Jan, I appreciate your thoughts and they are spot on! The LR rug is only 8x10. FR rug is 10 x 14, so it won't work. I am thinking about everything you have suggested, and you have helped me very much! I especially like the story about the client who stubbornly refused a couple of suggestions and then, after many "fixes", was still left with a meh room. And your advice about room color being a priority, not an afterthought, was very good. In general, you're seeing a change from a house that was very warm to one that is cool in some places and not in others. We've been here a long time, and the house has seen many color palettes come and go. I'll get there. Taking the photos of my house was really helpful and I'm so glad you asked for them. I'd welcome your advice anytime. Thank you again!

Very nice.

So the living room and dining room are at opposite ends of the hallway? You don't really move from one room directly into the other. Really one only sees both doorways when in the hall.

When you enter the house, you are in the hallway and the LR is on your left and the DR is on the right. The hallway isn't large; so you see both rooms. It acts as a buffer, and is very neutral, so the two rooms can have their own personalities but still should relate to each other in some way, at least I think so. The FR does open directly to the living room; you walk from one directly into the other.

Jan,
Would you be willing to share the pain color you used in the beautiful bedroom you designed and showed as an example ? Love the entire house! You are so talented!

I just love your home, and your aesthetic!

I had an idea for curtains in the living room--if you don't want another pattern, how about lush silk curtains with a tape trim on the leading edges? Make sure they are lined and interlined for maximum fullness. You could do a lemon yellow with a greek key trim.

These are yellow, green and orange striped silk curtains I made for a client:

Refreshing a suburban home · More Info

Silk curtains with tassel trim:

Mary Evelyn Interiors · More Info

Plain yellow silk curtains with a french pleat heading:

Jennifer Brouwer Design Inc. · More Info

A greek key trim really dresses up solid fabric:

San Francisco City Chateau · More Info

I think......... step back for a bit. Really think about some rug and wall unity. The past few years have found many ,many folks in similar shoes, because it takes a while for many, if not MOST to realize they're on the end of a trend. Often, the trend sailed right past them. Example: As the entire universe cooled, seemed to turn to gray, white and indigo? As it finally and thankfully faded.......THESE FOLKS JUMPED IN!!lol Late to the party - In full cocktail attire as everyone else was in jams and slippers ! and headed to bed: ) is a decent analogy.

Now........the pendulum swings back. Warmer, earthier ; you even see deep warm green in fabrics, missing for a decade unless you were willing to do a bit of dig, but I am talking about the mass/ ready to go market. Deep warm camel in the RH modern catalogue, even in the baby RH. Warm olive chairs at Pottery Barn.

Do you follow , do you have to? Are there rules? No! As with traditional furnishings versus modern, it will just mean a deeper dig for what you love. Make sure you love it.....and want to keep it. It's nobody's home but yours.

That bedroom paint color for someone up there ?? I'll do a dig in the am! Brain cramp!!! Ben Moore......aurggh. WAH. I'll be back. : )

Your overall design theme is nice....Discerning Collector. Eclectic.

The white sofas in the two rooms really relate each other, really the only two neutral pieces. So keep those to unite visually.

More than the color of one or two pieces, I'm thinking make themed areas. The music room is exotic. Move the tropical pillows in there....two for the sofa, a bolster for each side chair. That will introduce your green.

I agree about the white drapes being wrong, dye them or something.

The fam room has that very strong modern architectural element with the stacked gray stripes in the curtain fabric. Use gray bolsters and round throw pillows in solid gray to echo the graphic design. Get another modern element, a modern lamp/shade, replace side chair next to the tv, that sort of thing.

The dining room reminds me of a garden room...add some live plants.

The paint is fine as a backdrop for now and of course it will differ under daylight conditions but at night it's uniform. Decide on accent colors and wall colors after you decide on the rugs.

Ta da!!! BEN MOORE 1637 BLUE SPRUCE

Traditions refined · More Info

Diana, I am thinking along the same lines for LR drapes. I love dupioni silk, always have. I have a set of similar silk drapes, very tailored and sleek, in my BR and love them. I also love the Greek key trim...can't get enough of that haha; in my LR it's already in the mirror and around the border of the rug, but one more dose can't hurt.

tracefloyd, thank you so much. You have a great eye and your specific suggestions are so helpful. Sometimes it's just so overwhelming when things aren't right, and you don't know where to begin. I also love your concept of the house having themed areas. I have a lot of stuff that was gifted to me by my mom, who was the champion of eclectic decor (the rug and Chinese lamp for example), and then of course the art, which changes a lot, so I have to be ready to shift things whenever the mood strikes my husband, who paints. All of that is ok, since I love a house that is interesting, and different. But it should make sense when it's put together. You are really helping me see how mine can work. Your fresh eyes are just what I needed :)

Jan, what a pro you are! Your description of trends was so good, and it gave me a lot to think about. I will stop, look, and think about everything, and evaluate carefully what works for me. You are a wonderful source of help and good advice for me and so many others here. Thank you. And that BR paint is stunning!!!

@jjam, if you dont mind sharing, would you tell me the name of the artist whose work is above your dining room sideboard as well as the piece of the blue house?

TIA

wsea, it's possible that her husband did the paintings in her home--she mentioned he was an artist and she changes things around a lot.

"so I have to be ready to shift things whenever the mood strikes my husband, who paints"

@Diana Bier Interiors, LLC ty. missed that when reading through.

He's very talented--love all his work!

Questions

Why not TRY the green bergere chairs from The FAMILY room in the living room?

I bet you don't need two chairs in F.R.....but that RUG? It's gotta go, hon. sorry...

Try it. It would save the labor and fabric - on frankly more old ladyish chairs.

You can snag a nice NEUTRAL non competitive sisal in 10 x 14.

You don't need a pattern on every floor.

Get a new chair for the family room....quiet down the visual noise, just a bit

Jan, I agree about the rug....it's done its duty. You've got me thinking rugs...and I think one pattern, not two between the FR and LR. So one would be a sisal type, another?? I've pictured a Heriz in the FR with muted colors, for awhile now but haven't looked for one yet. If I did that, then the LR would be home to a non competitive sisal (love the description) instead. In any case, do you have a fave source? Also, have a fear of stains in FR; as it's the TV place and food + grandsons have a way of making those happen. Would sisal be best there, or maybe one of the lookalikes that might clean easier?

Truth is, we do make use of both chairs in the FR. When the fam is together, then we all have a place to sit. I used to have one chair only, and the room felt a little off balance to me. But, I see your point...maybe two swivels? I will try the chairs in the LR.

Sisal in the living room would free you.........

But I want you to reconcile the love of pattern at windows.....with a love of pattern on the floor.

Not saying you can't. But it needs a relationship, better than the one in family room??: ) and the windows a lot of them will be in this color family...or "faux"

Example.....

Or................

Jan, I see your point. The pattern at the windows in FR is actually a buffalo check; which feels calm to me, and one that could play well with others if I want pattern on the floor there. So, backing up a bit, will need to decide which rug will be the pattern and which will be "non competitive". Might take a bit to get there but my brain is spinning that one around.

The real game changer here could be moving the bergere chairs to the LR; I am not sure, but tried one and it's gorgeous. Time got in the way of trying both, but I will. And if that works, then all kinds of possibilities open up. I'm encouraged...things are moving in the right direction.

wsea, I have those artist's info. My husband didn't paint those pieces. He's more of a watercolor guy. Is there a way to message me on this site? I can send it to you.

@jjam thank you. i believe there the ability to message but i just looked and dont see how. hopefully someone else will chime in and let us know. :)

That family room...... wallpaper on walls.... ..... buffalo check curtains......?

Makes me want this.

Visit a high end broadloom store. You'd be amazed at waht you can create from broadloom. To the rug INCH.

The living and family? You can absolutely mix it up, without changing entire CONTINENTS in feel between the two: ) rooms.

Ohhhh, for a free morning! I got my DR rug at a high end carpet store. They cut and bound a piece of some stock they had which was being discontinued. I'm a fan...just need to have the time to visit and get inspired. It will happen. Thank you Jan. Your rooms all have a calmness to them while still being very interesting :)

I like @Diana Bier Interiors, LLC ’s idea for more luxe drapes. Gold silk could be amazing in your space. Or even a linen in a flax type color.

With the current drapes, you could try a green throw on sofa. And maybe a green shade on one of your lamps.

If your husband painted that picture, tell him I did NOT vandalize it. It was Pittsburgh Paints. Their visualizer did it. All their fault.✅

I will only take responsibility for the scribbled green mess on the sofa. ( I never said I was Picasso. :)

This one is pricey. Fortuny.

freedomplace, no harm done! Plus, my husband didn't paint those. He's mostly into watercolor and those are all oils...that's why the colors are so vivid. And I do have a green throw, and often use it on the couch. I will likely do so again once I get pillows figured out and a plan for the two chairs. Thanks for all of the ideas...never knew there was such a thing as a green lampshade!

@jjam i found the messaging details. if you click on my profile there should be a message button on the right. if you dont see it, you may need to update your settings. under advance settings select the ”everytime” drop down under messages.

thanks again.

Jan, can you tell me the source for the rug you showed in this moodboard you did? I'd love to know more about it. Thanks so much for all of your time.

Not sure.......this is pretty close ?

https://www.rugs-direct.com/Details/LoloiIIRugs-Rosette-ROS08/141207

close, but it doesn't come in a 10 x 14. I'll keep it as an inspiration photo, thanks

Living room rug is 10 x 14??? Are you sure? Angled doesn't seem possible. That mock up was living room, not family room.

Jan, you are right! Got too many rugs on my brain. My LR is 8 x 10. Thanks....