San Francisco Bay Area - Stuck with our living room, please help!

by ohpavel

Stuck with our living room, please help!

This room used to be an open terrace and this year it has been rebuilt into a living room which is going to function as a main one. The house is in the middle of a forest and the winters are harsh here so we went for cork flooring. The ceiling is wooden, the walls are covered with natural bamboo. Now we are not sure which way to go with the colors of the furniture, window decorations, etc.

Some more details: the room doesn't get much of the natural light. We'd like to have a sofa in the area on the right from the inside door (the longer wall with the paintings and without windows). We are also planning to have a small kind of home office with a table and furniture to store documents and install bookshelves in the area on the left from the inside door (the shorter wall without windows).

The floor area is 302 square feet (equals 28 square meters)

PS: Sorry for some mess on the floor

We'd appreciate any piece of advice.

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ASVInteriors What is your style (or what would you like to be): contemporary, traditional, mountain style? With a bit of understanding about your style and tastes, I could provide some guidance....
PS lovely space!!! Love the view!

3 months ago · Like

ohpavel @ASVInteriors Thank you! We'd like it to be a chalet kind of interior without being way too 'country'. The rest of the house has log walls and much darker color scheme than this room. So we'd like it to be stylistically balanced with the rest of the house but have this fresh touch too, I'd say. That's why we decided to have a wall covering instead of the logs here.

3 months ago · Like

olldbobbi You have a lot of hard surfaces already in this room, for your window treatments I would advise staying away from wooden blinds and go with something softer. You could add roman shades (pic 1) or even bottom up fabric shades (pic 2). An area rug will add some interest and is nice with bare feet.
[houzz=Burlingame Residence Two]
[houzz=Window coverings - Silhouette]
[houzz=Moda Area Rug]

Burlingame Residence Two

Window coverings - Silhouette

Moda Area Rug

3 months ago · Like ·

JAMEITE Hand-painted Silk Wallpaper Co., LTD I’m a fan of simplicity.

3 months ago · Like

michigammemom The bamboo walls and cork floors suggest a more modern, sleek interior...almost a Zen look.

Christensen Remodeling

3 months ago · Like ·

janishill Log cabin & chalet don't mean country! It can mean modern rustic: soft furnishings, Roman shades and rugs.

A slipcovered sofa with a wooden coffee table (the one on wheels would be perfect for your space) a swivel chair in oppostie corner and a couple slipper chairs that can float around and you will have a cozy, inviting room.

One thing I want to add...the single picture between the two lights is hung much too high. You could incorporate 'trophy heads' in with the pictures to make a unique and interesting wall grouping.

3 months ago · Like ·

ohpavel @olldbobbi thank you for the ideas!

3 months ago · Like ·

ohpavel @janishill thank you for the idea with the modern rustic, sometimes it's hard to classify your own ideas and perception. By the way, the picture is hung so high because we have ordered a wine cupboard which will be placed right under it.

3 months ago · Like ·

hazeldoodle Nice room! Is that rope lighting installed on either side of the ceiling beams? If so, what a great idea. I'd stick with light neutrals for your large furniture, sofa, chairs, etc. to keep the space light. Also a light area rug under the coffee table to contrast with the cork floors and ground the space. Since you have darker walls and ceiling, I would defiantly go light on your area rug. A wall to wall book case unit would look great on the short windowless wall. I'd add lighting to it to add more light into the room.

3 months ago · Like

hazeldoodle Also, if you do install a whole wall bookcase unit, painting the back of it a color you like would add some much needed color to your space. Maybe a soft green or a terracotta color?

3 months ago · Like

ohpavel @hazeldoodle "Is that rope lighting installed on either side of the ceiling beams?" - Yes, exactly.
btw, really like your vision, thanks a lot!

3 months ago · Like

ohpavel @hazeldoodle nice idea about the back of a bookcase unit. we are constantly thinking how to introduce a different color as we want the room to be more or less in the same color scheme but without going too matchy

3 months ago · Like

ohpavel here's our dining room/kitchen which is attached to the living room. as you can see it's way darker than the living room we are working on now. (on the photo it's extremely dark because it's against the window but still it is dark). so we want the living room interior to be a bit different BUT not unbalanced with the rest of the house. take a look

3 months ago · Like

Felicia Whitehair I would go with a bali modern look based on decor on floor , textures and colors.

3 months ago · Like

janishill It looks like the windows are covered. Have you thought about hanging Roman shades? they could actually go just above the windows which would allow in as much natural light as possible. If the windows don't have to be covered you could use faux Roman shades.

Mirrors hung here and there help to bounce around light which makes a room not only brighter, but it appears larger as well.

If you can post pictures from other angles it would give us a better idea of what's going on in this space. :-)

3 months ago · Like ·

ohpavel here are some details
the switches and the sockets are made from porcelain. the visible wiring in this room is done using the fabric-covered wire

3 months ago · Like ·

ohpavel here's some additional views. the inside door is matte glass.

3 months ago · Like

Miller's Paint & Wallpaper Thanks for posting your kitchen/ dining area for it is important to see YOUR style and carry it thru to the new living room. I think the most important thing is to bring in some fabric COLOR. It can be in the form of valances, pillows etc. ( especially if your furniture is solid) and maybe a little artwork with some nice colors ( in the few places you can hang it.) An area rug would also be a wonderful asset. This is a beautiful room and just adding those few things should make a big difference. It doesn't look like you need any blinds on your windows and you have a lot of them ( windows) but if you were thinking about it the Woven Woods by Hunter Douglas would be beautiful. Many other companies sell them also and are less money than HD. You still would need the area rug, fabric in some form, and art work to pull this room together.

3 months ago · Like ·

Miller's Paint & Wallpaper Just saw the new photo's you posted ...pull the colors from your wall picture! Make sure you post the room when you are finished! Good Luck!

3 months ago · Like ·