Does this coffee table work in this Living Room???
Got a large coffee table for our living room, which is a large Great Room w a wall of glass in the back and 18 high ft ceilings.
But i don't think the coffee table works - mostly bc of its 23 inch height. Also not sure the glass is a good idea.
But like the fact that the table is simple, elegant and also feels like it has 'weight' wo being heavy.
What do you think? 3 pictures below, from different angles.
But i don't think the coffee table works - mostly bc of its 23 inch height. Also not sure the glass is a good idea.
But like the fact that the table is simple, elegant and also feels like it has 'weight' wo being heavy.
What do you think? 3 pictures below, from different angles.
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What's going on with the table that's behind it - close to the wingbacks?
Another thing to consider is that at least in the photos, there is a reflective glare from the top of the table. If it is present in real life, this might not be a good choice with your big and high windows if the glare is uncomfortable when sitting in that area.
And lastly, in general, I love floating arrangements and dislike furniture lined up against walls, but floating arrangements can be a bit tricky in a large space because it is difficult to create an intimate feeling that draws people together to that spot. You didn't ask for advice about the arrangement in general, but there are lots of photos where designers have managed to create a very intimate spot in the middle of a large room. Maybe you already own some things that could be utilized to make this spot feel more intimate and then your coffee table might seem much better to you in that spot. What you should be trying to achieve is a place that people immediately want to occupy when they enter your room. By the way, do I see three grand pianos? Fantastic!
I do wonder about the two tables lined up though. Perhaps an ottoman would work and provide some flexible seating for concerts?
Anther idea is to have the tabe pushed toward either the sofa or chairs just a tad, and then have two small - 18" circle or so, just below or at the height of the seat- pick up colors from the rug and chairs in fabric ottomans or little bench like tables placed near either end of each chair or sofa that would hold one glass or a small magazine...then you are not reaching out to the ' high center tabe' and it makes a nice little accent grouping.
I am sensitive to glare (many people are), and I tend to pay attention to situations that would be uncomfortable for me, so I appreciate the challenge you have with the large beautiful windows. Someone suggested that you turn the couch and chairs 90 degrees, but if you do that someone will be looking directly into the glare from the windows, which makes the people's faces opposite a blank black blob - and it is very uncomfortable to be talking to people when we cannot see their faces. I would also have trouble reading the music at the pianos and would need to have them spun around so the light is coming in over my shoulder to illuminate the music.
Your coffee table has very pretty form. Is it European?
I'd like to write back to each of you - esp'ly those who posed questions or requested more photos. But I can't figure out how to do so. If someone could let me know how to individually respond to comments, i would do so. I see an email tab, but the ID names that appear in comments are not email addresses, so....?
My husband and I live in Morristown, NJ. If anyone would like to stop in a to share a glass of wine, I'd love to meet you.
Many thanks again, and happy holidays to everyone.
My husband loves this table so much, he wants to cut off about 2 1/2 inches from the legs - making it 20 1/2 inches tall - and keep it. I think he's a bit nuts - and the change would probably make the table look too squat - but when he feels strongly about things, I tend to let him follow his druthers (as he does w/ me, when I feel strongly about things), so....?
While I fully understand why an ottoman would be much warmer and cozier, personally, I'm not a fan of them, since one spill by one child (or me), and....
For the individual who asked: The table is from Ferguson Copland, but I think it's been discontinued.
For those who wondered if I could provide addtl pictures of the room, I'd love to but don't want to take advantage. However, if you go to the contact page of my little corporation's website, and send me your email address via that page, I'll certainly be glad to respond individually: My firm's website is www.pharmacybenefitconsultants.com.
We had the wingbacks and swivel chairs swapped for a while - but the wingbacks were too heavy looking w/ those huge stupid stripes, and the swivels too slouchy and short so far back near the windows and also rather dwarfed by the huge pianos, so we swapped them back again to where they are now. Also, the wingbacks are great chairs to sit up straight in - near the windows during the winter - and look down into the woods, whereas the low back chairs are much nicer near the fireplace which is directly behind them....
Jagood - Your comments about the need to create more intimacy in a floating arrangement - esp'ly one like this one - w/ high ceilings - really hit home. While the room doesn't feel sterile to me, it certainly isn't warm (other than when the fireplace is roaring). It's better in the spring-fall, when the trees outside are covered w/ leaves and color. But in the winter when the view is of nothing but bare branches, it's very pretty but definitely quite "cold" feeling....
We do reduce the glare - and make the room feel more used and warm - by opening up the grand piano hoods when guests are over. But generally we keep them down and covered to prevent the sunlight from ruining the instruments.
I'm not sure what else to do to warm up the room: Huge tall plants??? They feels a bit contrived and florida-y for a place in NJ??? Vases w/ flowers on the pianos??? Again, feels a bit decorated and contrived. ....?
Anyway, thanks ever so much for all who so generously shared their thoughts. They were immensely helpful.
Notwithstanding a few of you who urged me not to worry about breaking t rules - I'm still trying to figure out what the 'rules' are before I start breaking them! I agree about the lines of this table. And its pretty legs. And changing its proportions. And also looked at more pics of high tables. And after all of the above concluded that the table either stays as is - and we get used to it being 'too high', or we find a different one. But wasnt sure which would be the best course. And lo and behold - this morning my husband woke up and said: "That table is too high. When we were talking last night, it was in the way." So...??? Maybe the 'rules' are there for a reason. And for now - I should try to learn 'em, which you have all helped me do, and also follow them, at least most of the time!
Do you have a throw cover on it? Is it near a window so you have to worry about sunlight?
As the attached pics reflect, when you enter our home, you walk into a large foyer, a curved staircase on both sides, and a large living room directly behind, with 18 ft of glass windows in the rear.
We moved the wingbacks from in front of the windows, and they are now opposite the sofa. We moved the 2 swivel/rockers so they are now in front of the windows. But to create yet another possibility, I've also taken the pictures with an alternative chair near the windows (of which we also have a pair).
Questions:
Suppose we lower the table by about 1 1/2 inches:
1) Does that help - or is the table still too large?
2) Are the wingbacks better near the back windows, or better opposite the sofa? Does it matter that the wingbacks are "stiffer" and therefore make the seating arrangement less cozy and warm? And also that the wingbacks obscure the bronze dancing lady statue directly behind?
3) And does everyone agree (other than my husband) that regardless of where the wingbacks go, we should dump the ugly stripes and cover them w/ something more soothing. And if so, any ideas?
4) What would be best next to the windows? We like to sit there, turn the chairs around, and share a glass of wine in the evening, looking into the woods. So we've consistently thought of 2 chairs together. If we stick w/ that idea, does everyone agree that neither of the currently shown chairs work? If so, what type of chairs would - how high should they be, how large, with what style? Or -- What else might be good in that spot besides chairs - given the two pianos and high windows? For a while, we had the bronze dancing statue there, but my husband and several others have said it doesn't work next to the windows - and it's so dramatic, it dominates the room.
5) Any thoughts on the two little blue love seats under the stairwell? I inherited them from my mother, and love them. But my husband - and a few bold friends - have told me their color is way too baby blue and the fabric should be changed.
6) Finally, any thoughts on the rugs? The front foyer rug is a rust/navy blue, and the current LR rug (on loan from a rug store while we look at it) a tan/navy blue. Is the latter "too geometric" w/ all of its rectangles? Also, should we try to get a rug that matches the foyer colors better? (We wouldn't change the foyer rug, b/c we love it, and it goes w/ the harpsichord colors....)
OK - enough already! As you can see, I have no idea what I am doing. NO idea at all! So any thoughts to any of the above questions would be most helpful.
The swivel chairs do not work in your living room. They would probably look better in a bedroom. The blue love seats located in the foyer are beautiful. I think the color looks great next to foyer piano. Your rugs are nice too. Have you ever tried placing the sofa in the other direction so that it's perpindicular to the fireplace with the back facing the front door and the front facing the windows? Doing so would break up the linear look you have right now. I hope this helps you some.
The grouping around that lovely harpsichord is just fine. The benches are lovely and their simple, elegant lines are perfect with the slim lines of the harpsichord. But I do agree that they should probably be recovered in a darker blue fabric, probably something that would complement the recovering on the wing chairs. And I would also suggest a simple, tall, slim table lamp to join the bust of Clara (?) on the table between the benches.
I almost didn't see the fireplace, which is a shame since it is a lovely feature in this room.
Can you move the sofa over to the fireplace with it's back toward the harpsichord and facing the windows / piano, with the fireplace to the side? Make sure there is plenty of space to walk all the way around the sofa. Place that lovely coffee table in front of it and (for now) use that same rug under to ground the grouping. You might consider something like this open chaise for the other side of the coffee table - [houzz=
Where the sofa was - place the two wing back chairs at right angle to each other - one facing the window, the other facing the fireplace, with a small square or round table between them. Again, if possible a lamp on the table provides a bit of light and makes this a more cozy spot.
The two low-back, comfy chairs and small table by the window, between the two pianos can stay where they are. You may want to eventually make this a seating area with four low-back chairs placed 2 by 2 facing each other with a small table between each pair.
The idea is to make it less "straight shot" to the window, and provide several smaller seating areas while still keeping everything open to that magnificent view and be able to enjoy the music.
Just a thought, and perhaps a starting point.
You have a beautiful space and I can just hear the fun and beautiful music you create in this lovely space.
Forget the chaise with the sofa grouping - too many benches and too much upholstery in one area.
Instead you might consider the open chaise piece centered against the wall under that tall center window with the two low back, swivel chairs at right angles on either side - creating a U-shaped configuration. Small tables beside each chair would create a space to put down a cup of coffee or a glass of wine or.....
1. For right now, I wouldn't cut down the coffee table. If you try it over by the fireplace, with fewer other pieces of furniture around it, it might be just fine. Try it and live with it for a few days.
2. I think - for now, if you try the wingbacks by themselves in a grouping on the other side of the room from that rug, you may find that they work just fine. Those bold stripes echo the geometry in the rug that would now be in front of the fireplace.
3. see #2 - at least for now.
4. See my suggestion above with the open chaise and swivel chair seating configuration. As for the Dancer, once you move the couch, could you simply move her to the other side of the fireplace? Between the piano and the left side of the fireplace where she would show up beautifully against that simple white wall.
The two pieces of framed art that are there now could be "stacked" one above the other.
5. I do think the little loveseats are beautiful, but most of the blues in your room are darker, and redoing the upholstery in some sort of darker blue, velvet-ish fabric would tie them in a bit better.
6. Rugs - for right now, try the blue "geometric" rug in front of the sofa-fireplace combo and see how it works.
I promise - this is my last post - at least until someone else says something.....
[houzz=
Right now, it looks like all your lighting is from over head, and with 18 foot ceilings, that's a long way away.
If you placed a lamp on the table between the loveseats in the harpsichord area; another lamp on the table between the angled wing chairs, and then the lamps behind the sofa you will have created 3 separate but open, "cozy", pools of light. In addition to the special lamps on each of the pianos.
It brings the light down to eye level and makes the seating areas more inviting.
And rather than completely reupholstering your beautiful loveseats, you could bring in the navy blue color with a pair of small, simple velvet or silk, navy blue pillows on each loveseat, like these - http://www.etsy.com/listing/62336474/navy-shimmer-throw-pillow-covers-16x16
or these - http://www.ebay.com/itm/150846004830?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649
I've also been re-thinking where to place your Dancer. How about moving her to the other side of the room, between the arch top door and the window? Could the piece of framed art that is currently there be incorporated elsewhere in the room? If She was over on the other side of the room she would really have her own splendor since she wouldn't be competing with the fireplace and your niche.
I hope you don't mind my re-arranging your Living Room, it is such a beautiful space.