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kellie_noelle

Design advise for new to me 1920 house

last month

I have been dabbling here since the GW days and know that there is a wealth of knowledge here and people who are very generous with their thoughts and expertise despite peoples budget or design styles. So now I am here to ask for some advise. We bought a 1920 house in the midwest in a great neighborhood with awesome bones. It does need some updating so we are in process of a remodel. The infrastucture is mostly decided so now comes the fun part! It is a small (or shall we call it cozy) house so I would like the lower floor to be cohesive and flow. It is a living room, kitchen, mudroom, dining room, and sleeping porch. We have 3 aussies so we can't do fancy becuase it certainly won't stay that way. Overall we want a cozy lived in vibe that is updated, but still staying semi-true to an older home


Kitchen and powder room elements are selected already: more earthy and organic for kitchen, bolder dark and moody for powder room. I am fine with the powder room either being a one off or spread to the rest of the first floor).


Kitchen is a galley in one space with a small reach in pantry with coffee bar area in the adjacent mud room. Cabinets are QS oak with quartzite counters. We are adding in some black accents on glass fronted doors, hood, counter on the coffee bar and possible mud room cabinetry.



So here is where the overwhelming but equally as important decisions come in. We are looking at design for the living room, keeping in mind semi-cohesion. I have my heart set on a green performance velvet sofa and and already have an almost ochre color chair. We thought about changing out the fireplace tiles but they are original so will try to live with them. I really wish I had one of those amazing 1920's untouched wood mantles, but it has been painted, so for now will stay as is


Listing photo - it is a little rougher for wear but does have lovely large windows and nice wide baseboards and crown molding

(this color but doesn't have to be this design)

(not exact chair but close)


Flooring - they matched the 1 inch oak planks throughout the house and all will be refinished. I am really liking the natural look here (as pictured in the kitchen pic above) so am considering even just a clear coat but would love to know if that would be a mistake. I do know from experience that lighter colored floors do best with the dogs.


Paint - we have always done cooler colors but this house just reads warm so are moving toward a warm color palette. We tried this combo which is SW creamy for the trim and SW Classical White for the walls. It is either too yellow or my brain is slow to adopt the warm.



Am I creating the space that I described above? If not, where am I veering off. I love rugs of all types so once I settle on a overall color scheme (hopefully incorporating green velvet), I will start the hunt. This is probably awfully vague and rambling but I think I have hit the decision fatigue portion of this project.

Comments (7)

  • last month

    I'll give you a bump and hope the pros come along. I'd say you should plan your living room furniture layout so you know the rug size you need, then go buy a rug. Could you post a close up of the tiles on the fireplace?

    Creamy is a bit yellow for my taste but it will look different when the room is furnished. You don't have to decide until you have the other pieces worked out.

    Kellie Noelle thanked emmarene9
  • last month

    Thank you for the bump, I think I was super vague because there is so much going on with the remodel I have about 100 burning questions but didn't ask a specific one. Let me see if I can focus. Haha


    1. Paint color for the kitchen needs to be selected by this weekend, at least for the trim throughout the house and the kitchen/mudroom area. If I want the rest of the lower level professionally painted, also needs a decision this weekend. We are not opposed to painting so could just do the rooms that "have" to be decided on and do the rest of the painting for the lower level at a later date ourselves. But that goes back to the whole lower floor cohesion question so I am not sure which comes first in this chicken/egg scenario. I repainted "muslin" to tone down the yellow and it looks the same to me at least at night when I saw it. We aren't living there and I work during daylight hours so I feel unprepared to make a truly informed decision. Thoughts?


    2. Floor is red oak to be refinished throughout the entire house. Decision to be made in a couple of weeks. I am loving the look of the natural and would love to just sand all and do a clearcoat but not sure how it will look with other elements. Thoughts?


    3. I mentioned the powder room but didn't give information. It will be board and batten about 3/4 up the wall painted deep sea dive by sherwin williams with an art deco style wallpaper above. I love color so could paint the whole house this color but want to be a grown up and try for cohesion. However if I could wiggle it in any of the other aspects of the first floor I wouldn't be opposed. Thoughts?


    4. Here is the best pic of the tile I have for the fireplace tile, we are open to changing it. We did get gas logs for both this and the master bedroom fireplace so it will be used. Here is closer up of the tiles




    5. I am probably jumping the gun on furniture/rug/etc since i am still working on foundational elements but was thinking about what I would like to have to make sure it "goes" (again thinking cohesive vision). It can come later for sure.


    6. This is the first time I have done a remodel this extensive (also doing the upstairs but that is a post for another day) and dang, this is hard.

  • PRO
    25 days ago

    Your home sounds absolutely lovely—having a warm and cozy feel like that is such a great foundation. I noticed the hazelnut-toned cabinets paired with black elements in your kitchen, and I honestly think a copper or stainless steel

    range hood would fit in beautifully. It would work perfectly with the wall behind it and add even more warmth to the space.


    As for the sofa, I wouldn’t overthink it too much—go with what genuinely feels right to you. Sometimes even small adjustments, like softening the indoor lighting, can make a big difference and enhance that cozy atmosphere. I can’t wait to see how your renovation turns out in the end!





  • 25 days ago

    And it’s hard to comment about your powder room without seeing the paper you have chosen with the paint sample. If you want best advice you’d post a floor plan and more photos so we get a better idea of how the rooms flow together.

  • 25 days ago

    Grab a sample of SW Pure White as that’s the white that coordinates best with the paints I noted. It’s also a very elegant look to have your trim match your walls - I like that look 9 times out of 10 as it’s very calming.

  • 25 days ago

    I don’t personally like a clear stain on red oak as it naturally leans very pink which won’t play well with your fireplace tile or kitchen cabinet color. You will want a wink of brown in it to give it some depth compared to your cabinets.