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tennisanyone I would add drapes and remove the shelf in the kitchen and the lamp on top of the wall unit. You have a nice space to work with.

Florence Brown Would you put full curtains on patio door or just a valence? Are you talking about the shelf by the patio door, the area is only small and I am lacking space for my radio/iPod docking station. The lam just gives nice soft lighting, I have no lamp in room....I thought maybe some are of some sort, about unit. I do my own photography and thought maybe enlarging a nice or couple of prints ....your thoughts

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design I think you could do a collage of photos over the large chest shown in photo 2. I'd keep it a space the width of the piece of furniture. Then in the large area to the left of the chest, I'd leave 3' of blank space and then I'd hang one large piece, such as the painting in photo 2, but in a style you like.

I'd place a rug under the dining table, but would not put a drapery on the sliding glass door.

Florence Brown Thank you, I like the college idea, what about the patio door and kitchen window.

Sheila Steelman Can't really tell what color your walls are but I think I'd go with Roman shades and echo that over the sink. Definitely take out the corner shelf unit. Change out the pendant lamps to something with dark metal and soft warm shades and echo that in the chandelier and lower all of them considerably. A nice rug under the dining table with some warm colors would work too. Need color and textiles. Very nice area.

AMN Fixed drapery panels on the patio door and a complementary roman shade or grass shade on the kitchen window.

One roman on the patio door (and one on the kitchen window) would work too.

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design I wouldn't put anything on the kitchen window. If you didn't have the light fixture over the window I would consider a roman valance, but there is no privacy issue. However, there is a light issue, so I don't want to cover the kitchen window. I think that while stationary drapery panels would be pretty in the dining area, one of them would cover a light switch and the panels can be a nuisance when opening a sliding door.

Florence Brown What is a grass shade, the corner shelf is a bakers shelf....I need the space. I don't have any counter space for entertainment centre....

Florence Brown For the collage what color frames would you use.... The corner shelf is a rod iron bakers shelf, I do need for space. It is a very small area

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design I think that a collage can have a mix of frames if the collage is made up of mixed media. If it's all black and white photos, then I'd prefer the frames to be black or white, or a mix of both. With color photos, it's a free for all! Hang the pictures with about 2.5" space between each. Start them about 6" above the chest and keep going. When I'm doing this, I lay them out on the floor before hanging, arranging them into the most pleasing formation I can manage.

If you do not have drapery panels on the sliding door, then I have no objection to your baker's rack. I might prefer that it were not there, but you need it, and I understand that!

Florence Brown I wasn't going to do put curtain on the door as it goes out to screen room, but that wall needs something.

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design Perhaps you get rid of the baker's rack and select something that offers more storage. I've waffled over this space because I know you say you need it, but I can't tell what you have there. What is on the baker's rack?

Florence Brown iPod station... wine rack a few decorative items, picture, candles decorative dish

Florence Brown What about word art above door....or a nice coloured valance

Florence Brown A photo of bakers shelf

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design If you can find other locations for the items on your baker's rack, then some stationary drapery panels would work well on the sliding glass doors, as long as you move the light switch and do not mind the panels ocassionally becoming stuck in the door. Life if not perfect.

On the other hand, rethinking this, would you consider an accent color on the back wall where both the sliding glass door and kitchen window are located? I think we all realize that we'd like something of interest back there but we have not agreed on what it will be.

Florence Brown Yes, I thought of that.. The wall is a light grey

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design Aha, I just saw the list of the items on the baker's rack. Sorry about that. So I'll help you drink the wine and burn the candles! Do you think you can move the other items?

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design Okay, so the back wall is light gray. Is it written in stone that it must remain light gray? Are there other colors, Florence, that you like?

Florence Brown No we can change it, it is open concept and the chesterfield in brown. I would like to get some accent cushions. Maybe you could make suggestion

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design Gee whiz, Florence. It's time to get rid of the baker's rack! Why did I ever doubt it.? Well, actually I doubted it because you told me you needed the storage space! I hope you are taking this all in the warm hearted spirit it's intended.

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design Yes, it does.

Florence Brown I am, what if I painted the wall and some accent coloured pillows and maybe put some decorative items on shelf. I do need the space, I realized it at christmas time. It is a small space.
,

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design Bravo, let's do it. Let's find a color for the back wall, and maybe include the left wall in that swipe of the brush also! We need help from the other houzzers on this. I'm thinking something in the limey green family. But I definitely think we need other suggestions.

Florence Brown OKc, lets do it!!!

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design It may not happen until tomorrow, Florence. Houzzers frequently climb into thir jammies early on Sunday. But stay tuned.

Florence Brown Ok thanks, thanks for your patience. I am unemployed but I think I can make my house look really nice on a budget.

Florence Brown What did you see?

krystenm I could see one of these paintings hanging above the cabinet. 4ft x 3ft gallery wrapped canvas.

tennisanyone I would not do an accent wall. WHY? What is so special about a wall with a door? I would buy a rug *when you can) for under the table and then buy drapes to match. I am not a fan of an accent wall especially in this case. The room needs texture and that is easy to do with pillows.

Florence Brown Thank you, I will be on the lookout for a nice rug

Cynthia Taylor-Luce I can see what's troubling you, Florence. There isn't any balance in this space. Let me explain.

You have the dining table and chairs as one unit. Then you have the very large heavy cabinet in the middle of the wall. Then you have your seating area that looks a little cramped in the picture.

I think you should re-think this. Put the large cabinet further down the wall so it forms the focal point of your seating area, just as if it were a fireplace/display unit. Then pull back your furniture so that your conversation group is more spacious. Without a floor plan, I'm afraid you're going to have to rely on my description.

Now you have created two distinct areas, dining and sitting.

Next I would like to suggest that you do paint an accent wall which would be the big wall with the peak, to show off the height and shape which are really special. The accent colour will serve as the background for your artwork. Have you been to galleries that have put strong colour on the wall? So much more exciting and interesting than the old-school white gallery walls, I think.

You already have grey, so I'd suggest Benjamin Moore STEEP CLIFF GRAY 2122-20. It's a very greyed silver/teal, if that helps you to visualize. I'll see if I can attach a sample below, but you really should look at the chip. It's going to need a dark primer for excellent coverage. Invest in their Aura line because you don't want to be painting six times to get rid of streakyness. This should be professionally painted because you want perfect straight transitions (the line where the accent colour meets the ceiling and the adjoining walls).

With this new arrangement I would add art to make the dining area seem more special. This could be a grouping and it should be centred on the centre of the table and the light fixture above it. It should be work of generous size and fairly bold, although wide white matts or wide frames would look great against the accent colour behind.

Your goal for the art collection should be that it visually balances the large furniture unit in the living room. Midtown Loft Lakeview Residence Entry E. 8th Street House Katie Ridder Rooms
Some of these won't be your style BUT you can see why they work--it's all about scale and balance.

Consider painting that door that's beside the kitchen window in a softer version of the STEEP CLIFF GRAY. You could paint it PURITAN GRAY HC-164 so that you won't have a pale rectangle jumping out at you. It won't match the wall exactly, but it will look like you did this on purpose (which you did!).

Then I'd like to dress the windows. I would ideally like to see a fairly flat valance on the window over the sink, like a roman but it wouldn't operate. It would be mounted at the ceiling level and come down low enough to cover maybe a couple of inches of glass on your window. It should fit exactly side to side between your cabinets. HOWEVER, I see now that there's a wall-mounted light fixture which prevents you from doing this. Therefore I would be very hesitant to recommend anything for that window because of the heat issue. The covering would have to start at the top of your trim and I wouldn't recommend putting anything there, without me being in the room and checking it out in person.

You do have a nice big window at the end of the dining area though. I would try to find a fabric that is the same tone as your white trim colour. Since you don't need privacy, I'd opt for an airy unlined curtain on a rod that will allow you to pull it off to the left side. It would be a single very wide curtain panel. with nice deep hems or weighted bottoms.

I don't know if I've covered everything, but these are the major things that I would recommend based on your pictures and what you're hoping to achieve. Have a lovely day, Florence. And don't spend money on a rug. You'd need such a large one (to accommodate all the chairs having room to pull back from the table) it would cost you significant dollars to get the right one. Spend your money on some really cool art, and something nice to display on top of the table. Cheers!

Cynthia Taylor-Luce
www.ctaylor-luce.com
ctaylorluce@cogeco.ca

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design Cynthia, that's brilliant!l, It's a well thought out design plan for Florence that created a totally different approach to her problems than I was able to see. Florence, I asked Cynthia to take the time out of her busy schedule to look at your dilemma. She very kindly agreed. I hope you will follow her excellent suggestions. My sincerest gratitude to you, Cynthia.

Cynthia Taylor-Luce My goodness, Carolyn, you've made my day :)

Sometimes all it takes is fresh eyes. I tried to keep this very budget-friendly and truly the most major changes (the furniture arrangement and the accent walls) are pretty economical. Artwork can range all over the place, but the more creative Florence is, the better she'll be able to acquire interesting art at a good price.

I hope Florence likes this too.

Florence Brown I really like your ideas, but as I look at the furniture the big piece will be to cramped in behind the table, should I put my chesterfield along the same wall as....your thoughts. I like the color, I think that is something that I will do.

Cynthia Taylor-Luce Florence, you might want to reverse your furniture arrangement and put your big sofa in front of the window with the chair across from it?

I am basing my suggestions purely on my impressions from your photos. Without having a measured floor plan (the view from above) and seeing how this space relates to the space beside it (which isn't pictured at all), it's quite challenging to see exactly how it fits. I wish I were there to haul the furniture around myself and tweak the arrangement a little bit. Do you have a friend who might have an eye for these things, who could help you with that part?

I am so glad you like the colour. It's fresh and up-to-date and it's more interesting than the more silvery grays that are being used so much now.

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design Florence, I'm confused by your comment that "the big piece will be cramped in behind the table." Cynthia wants you to move the big piece to the left, further away from the dining area, not toward it. She wants you to center it on the wall in the area where your sofa and other living room pieces are located.

Florence Brown Oh ok that makes more since

tennisanyone What is to the left of the window? I am not sure about the furniture placement yet and I don't like your back away from the kitchen for you so it is hard to decide about painting the big wall a color. I might want you to move the couch facing into the room. Can you take a picture of the space with the couch and windows and the left side also. Try to get the whole thing in one frame.

Florence Brown Here is a photo, I will also forward you a copy of my room measurements. I don't have much to work with, my husband and I are empty nesters and wanted to downsize. It is all the room we need but I want it to look nice. I love the space we have but like I said before I need help!!!!

Florence Brown i am attaching the layout, measurement of the room; hopefully it will help.

tennisanyone You have a nice space. I would move the couch under the window so you can see your guests from the kitchen. I see your front door is right there also. Once you move the couch under the window, angle the chair facing the window. where your end table is now or the other side by the wall unit, then you can take that lamp down from the unit and put it on the end table. At some point, you maya want to think about two swivel chairs. It costs nothing to try this arrangement.

Florence Brown Would you move the big unit, would I put a collage above unit. If so what could I put on the other wall? I know I am asking a lot of questions, but I appreciate your help

tennisanyone I would leave the unit where it is for now and see if you like the sofa under the window looking into the room. Probably easier to move the sofa and chair at this point. For me, getting the layout is the most important thing. Right now, at night, you are looking at a black hole. I would rather see you look into the kitchen and dining room. do you watch tv in this room?

Florence Brown It is more of a sitting room,noTV. It is easy to move the unit...slide along the floor. I will do it tomorrow and forward you a picture for your input

tennisanyone ok Florence. Looking forward to seeing the new layout tomorrow. If you don't like it, you can always move it back. :) I am sure others will weigh in.

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design I think you will enjoy having the sofa against the window as Cynthia suggested in her followup to you.
But before you move it, could you please give us some idea of how much space there is between the back of the sofa where it is now and the dining room furniture, that would be helpful. You could just take a measuring tape if you have one and get a measurement for us. Many thanks.

Florence Brown It is 70 inches

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design Between back of sofa and dining group? If so, is that about the same measuremnt as between the island and the back of the sofa?

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design I'd also love to have the measurement from the end of the island to the wall by the front door.

Florence Brown 14ft

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design Well, that's good to know. So try to push the big piece down to the middle of those 14', and move the sofa against the wall. We all will look forward to seeing a photo taken of the new arrangement tomorrow. Many thanks.

Cynthia Taylor-Luce Thanks for your clarifications, Carolyn. That's exactly what I meant! Looking forward to seeing the updated photos...

Florence Brown Here are some photos of changes..

Florence Brown More photos

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design Florence, your room is looking GREAT! The end table to the right of the sofa needs to move to the left of the sofa instead, along with the lamp. It would be nice to get a floor lamp to put to the right of the sofa.

Florence Brown Ok, thanks. Is that lamp ok, or should I get something else? Can I still do a collage over unit

Florence Brown With the brown chesterfield, I would like to get some accent cushions and colours around the room, what would you suggest. You don't know how much I appreciate your help

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design Yes, you can do a collage over the big piece. It would be nice if you could find the art for the dining area before you get accent pillows. Though for sure at least one pillow would be the wall color or similar to it. The table lamp you have is okay for now. Let's settle other problems before we worry about it. What kind of art do you like? I suggest you look for a good sized vertical piece of art that has some of the wall color in it, plus a white mat and a pretty frame.

Cynthia Taylor-Luce Wow, Florence, what a transformation already! Do you feel the difference when you're in the room? To me it looks much more relaxing and welcoming and yes, balanced. I agree with Carolyn's comment to move the table and lamp to the front door side of the sofa. You need a larger taller lamp here. And a floor lamp between the sofa and the big wall unit would be perfect.

Are you really stuck on doing a collage? I would prefer you to keep the interest in the sitting area a bit lower. Remember, you'll be sitting on the furniture and whatever is on top of the unit will seem high to you there. I would rather see you put a collection of interesting (tall) sculptural pieces there, for instance a collection of coloured vases/pots in varying heights and colours. Here are some modern ones, but it gives you the idea: William Hefner Architecture Interiors & Landscape Cameras and hyacinths Modern Mediterranean Big Round Pizza Box Office You can search houzz for photos of mantels too, because basically we're treating the top of your unit as a substitute for a fireplace/mantel combination.

But I agree with Carolyn's recommendation to find the art for the dining wall first. Then you can repeat some of the artwork colours in the pots/vases. It will be a nice way to display two different kinds of collections--sculptural and framed art--in your open concept room.

Likewise, the accent pillows, and even the lamps could wait until the artwork is selected. Your brown furniture is a good base for adding colour to, and the room will look just great when you're done.

AMN The dining area feels so much more open and airy now. Great move!

tennisanyone Looks so good. Just a few more changes in layout
Then u get to the fun part...accessories.

Florence Brown As far as art goes, I do my own photography and was hoping that I could use some of my own photos. I have some really nice water falls and sunsets, I will send you some photos and if you could let me know if they would work.

Cynthia Taylor-Luce Florence, do you have a series of six that could be cropped to the same proportions so that the six would be the same size? Then you could have them matted with wide mats and framed in identical simple black frames. Hung three over three, you'd have a nice grid happening, and the repetition would be quite nice. Waterfalls might work better than sunsets, all grouped together.

It's hard to tell, though, without seeing them.

Florence Brown did you receive the photos

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design No new photos have been posted since yesterday.

Florence Brown Ok I am going to resend, they were photo ideas to get framed

Florence Brown let me know if these come through...

Florence Brown ok I have more now, this is ideas for art work

Florence Brown a few other ideas

tennisanyone So beautiful. I say put up whatever you would like to look at. They all work. Art is so personal. Can't wait to see the end result.

auntagatha I am not a fan of draperies but for your door, if you really want a window covering, I would put a rod at ceiling height and at least 6 inches beyond the door on each side. I would have the drapes/curtains hang on the left side of the door and would pull from left to close. On the kitchen window I would do a matching roman shade mounted inside the window frame. The lamp on your buffet is way to small for the size of the piece and the height of your ceiling. Sometthing taller and more sustantial with a white drum shade would be best, I think. I would put a large round mirror over the buffet. Then I would make an arrangement of photos on the big blank wall in the living room with plain black frames and white mats. Make it look collected and not perfect. Your chandelier should be no more than 33-36 inches above the table. If all your light fixtures are different finishes, you might considering taking them down and painting them (Krylon metal paint is terrific) and getting globes more like the ones over the island which also need to be about 36 inches above the surface. I love your space and your furniture and it it is so well put together, but you should probably get rid of the rack.

auntagatha Oh yes,I forgot; for the drapes I would go with a colorful graphic and add pillows in the colors in the drapes.

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design Oh, Florence, you have taken some fabulous photos of Maine or what looks like Maine to me. I like your waterfall photos, but it is really your coastal Maine (?) photos that I truly admire. The waterfall photos are too much alike to place in a group, but the variety of the Maine photos makes them work well together while not being too similar. I think that a grouping even of 4, with two horizontals mixed with 2 verticals would be great. Let's see what Cynthia thinks.

My darling husband and I spent a week in Camden, Maine last September and have some similar photos in a book which I made. Do you ever put books together of your photos? I have used "My Publisher" to print the last dozen books I've made and highly recommend them.

Florence Brown Thanks, I thought those photos would be best as well. Actually the photos are in Nova Scotia, Peggy's Cove. I thought maybe four as well. I will check out "My Publisher"' , I took photos of my sons wedding and did a book in Shutterfly.

Cynthia Taylor-Luce Wow, Florence, I didn't know what to expect when you said you like photography. You've got some really nice images there. This will be a great way to showcase your own work and will be good conversation pieces when you have guests over. You'll have to seat the guests facing the art wall!

If you're limiting the collection to four, let's make them nice and big and frame them so they look important (which they are!). Great work Florence! I am looking forward to the next batch of pictures, when you have the wall painted and the artwork up. What a lovely transformation!

anthip Wow. What a great looking room! I can't believe what a fantastic change you've had from moving some furniture around.

I also logged in to say thanks so much for posting your lovely artwork. It's really inspired me to go home and look through my husband's photography and pull out some of his best work to have framed for a grouping in our condo. So, congrats on some great photos and thank-you very much :)

Florence Brown Thanks so much for the comments about my photos. I have seen some nice art work out and about and thought when we move again I am going to use my own photos. I have some great macro photos that I want to use in the bathrooms.

I really appreciate your ladies help. Do you think I still should paint that wall, if so, should I use black frames and 4 prints. Where do you think I should place them?

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design Against the nice deep blue wall, white frames with white mats would be a real standout, such as you see below. I'd like the frames to have a very square profile and I'd make the mats 4" wide.

Jean Tuck Love how the open concept flows inspires good conversations and I prefer a drape in a darker color for living/sliding doors .

Florence Brown Ok should I paint the wall, with the large unit, the dark grey as suggested above or get a large dark (color from one of the photos) curtain for one side of the door and use same material over the sink?

krystenm as far as the paintings go support your local artists or make your own art/take your own pictures. I posted 2 of my paintings on this forum

Cynthia Taylor-Luce Yes, Florence, I still think the room will look more put together and finished if you paint the accent wall. Please do it in the colour I suggested above.

I would not recommend dark draperies because the accent wall should be the dark element in your room. The drapes will be on the light grey wall and they should blend with the wall. If you have dark drapes, then they will definitely take away from the accent wall and make the room look too patchy and jumbled up.

I love love love Carolyn's idea of the white frames and matts against the accent wall colour. This is going to look so artistic and sophisticated. Stunning, in fact.

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design Florence, please follow the advice given by one of Canada's premier designers, Cynthia Taylor-Luce!
She has given you hundreds of dollars worth of advice, at no charge. Now is not the time to get cold feet!

Florence Brown Thanks again, I am doing it!!! I am going to get the paint. I am looking for frames this weekend. It is all good. I know you both wanted me to get rid of the corner shelf, but it is needed. I don't have space for the simplest thing as a radio, and I have mine on all the time. I was thinking that once I get my art work and items for the wall unit, I will get some items for the corner cabinet.

Cynthia Taylor-Luce Good! And please do go the extra mile and buy Benjamin Moore's AURA paint quality. It's more money but you'll have superior coverage with it, which is so important with a strong colour.

Florence if the only reason you have the corner shelf right now is because of needing it for a radio, there may be other solutions.

1. check and see, if you have cable tv, if the radio station you like to listen to is available on your tv channel menu. Many cable stations offer a number of popular radio stations in their listings. The screen will be black, but you'll hear the radio through your speakers.

2. there are radios that can be mounted under your upper cabinet in the kitchen for a very streamlined effect. http://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=pd_sl_9dkhmp93vj_e?ie=UTF8&keywords=under+cabinet+radio&tag=googcana-20&index=electronics&hvadid=8109419746&hvpos=1t2&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15953482982014566700&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e
Here's a photo of an under cabinet LCD/TV/DVD combo 9" LCD flipdown monitor with built-in DVD player, AM/FM alarm clock radio, CD player! But there are simple radios available.

If you could eliminate the baker's rack, that would be the ideal situation. So you don't need to buy things to display on it! Instead, buy another radio!

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design Great idea for the radio, Cynthia! Florence is not the only one who could use that idea!

Florence Brown That is what I originally wanted but my son got me a great one that I can dock my apple products into, and I know he didn't spare any money on it. So I am stuck with the one tha I have, it has a great sound to it...and I can play my iTunes on I t.

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design What a nice generous son you have! Can it go on a counter in the kitchen?

Florence Brown No, I had it there...not much counter space

kimdee24 Perhaps the radio could go on a shorter, interesting table, maybe a small round, in the same corner? Then you could add some smaller sized framed artwork above it, on the wall next to the sliding door.

Sheila Steelman What's she not saying is that it looks too cluttered in that corner. That shelving unit needs to go. Put the dock by your bed and use tiny portable speakers.They don''t have to be expensive anymore to sound great with Ipods, Iphones, Ipads........etc

Florence Brown I have my artwork all framed in white frames, I think that they will look great on the dark walls, my concern now is the other pictures/art in the house are not white frames