SFGate

raeleemllr Grey and yellow is such an awesome color palette. For a grey couch I would love to see something with curves to break up all the angles in the rooms. Tufted? I'll attach some pictures but if you know a price point you would like to stay at I can recommend specific couches.

nononanna Will you be adding any other chairs, etc.? Is there a color scheme in another part of the house that sees into this room?

juvi205 Thanks for responding! The problem with the room is that our shelves are a little more on the brown side (the attached image). So would the gray still work? Our price point is under $1000. Thanks for your help :)

juvi205 Yes, we will be adding 2 armchairs as well. So far, no color scheme.

DIAspoton a big comfy gray slipcovered sofa . four season or pottery barn have good choices. find large wonderful accent pillows.a square white coffee table.

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design I would select a fairly simple sofa in a taupe/gray color which would perhaps be a blend of your drapery color and the bookcases. This sofa from Room and Board is slightly over your price range, but it will give you an idea of the style I think would work for you. Note the slim arms that don't take up space unnecessarily.

Yellow pillows would perk up any gray sofa, and you could even add a purple pillow.
Carolyn Albert-Kincl, ASID

Kevin Wild - IBB Designer A dark grey is a perfect color. However, I would first focus on floor plan before buying any furniture. Your space looks a little narrow, so it's important you maximize space.

raeleemllr I do honestly think it will work because both colors are neutral and it is a cooler "brown". As long as you layer the room alot it will just add another shade. If you are leaning toward eggplant I think that would be really pretty also! the 1st photo is the Greenwhich from homedecorators.com and the 2nd is a chester sofa from westelm.

juvi205 Thank you so much for all your ideas! Really appreciate it :)

Jill Coert I think you should go with a soft sage or olive green sofa. I have attached some pics to give you an idea of the color scheme you could go with. The green would blend the grey and the brown together and also introduce a fresh color into the room - you could use splashes of bright yellow and eggplant to accessorize. The sofa here is from Ashley and is not very expensive.

nononanna You don't have much in the room, so you can really go any way you like; I love the fabrics that Jill and Carolyn have shown because they really take into consideration the vanilla color on the walls and carpet.

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design That sofa I showed you above comes in 3 sizes. As Kevin pointed out, it is quite important that you have a floor plan of what pieces, or perhaps more importantly what size pieces you need to buy. So many people purchase furniture that is too big for their rooms. You need to go shopping armed with a plan and a tape measure!

juvi205 I saw this couch today, yes or no? I like it, it fits the space. I'm just not sure
About the color..

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design Computer screens are notoriously bad at depicting color so I can't say. I would prefer something that has a little more leg, and just 2 cushion on the seat and the back. I would not rush into buying something because it's on sale this week. It will be on sale again.

juvi205 You're right about the sale, this one is on sale but I really do love it. It's more on the gray side rather than taupe. But yes, no legs. We also saw this one which is on the darker side (don't mind my daughter)

odessalight It's always a dilemma picking furniture I think. So take your time don't get into a rush and wish I would have remembered what Nate Berkus said always do neutral and then add pillows.

Here's a great sofa store we found....http://www.lovesac.com/sactionals.html
They are really nice as you can add to them and the covers are washable. Although I would probably never wash unless absolutely necessary. But really nice when you have guests over you can move around etc.
Best advice I can give being and artist is to get yourself a coloring wheel and study the colors that you love. Also note the way your house faces which side gets the most sun etc. that will determine what colors you use. Maybe it's a cold lower floor that doesn't get any afternoon sun....so warm it up.....!!
Accessories are worth a million! Just get your basics! It's like makeup right....get the foundation. Easy right. I am working on a entry way will have to post photos..it's giving me trouble. Good luck ;)

odessalight Hey that couch looks really nice....if you want to add legs...home depot has wooden legs you could probably add yourself....or go online..that's a great price....etsy too for cool pillows;);)

nononanna Perhpas you need to think about what else you're going to put in the room - you don't have to buy it all at once, but you need to know what all you'll want at some point so that you don't do anything now that will make the future decisions harder.

juvi205 Well I know I wanna go with yellow/gray theme. And on the other side of the room I'm going to have 2 armchairs and an end table. And after everyone's ideas I know I want to go with a gray sofa. I just don't know what shade. I feel like if I do taupe, than my drapes will be left out and everything will br blending in too much. I really do like te sofa that I saw earlier and that's a great idea that someone mentioned about adding legs.. Would that look good?

hollybar I'd start by deciding the exact size & style I want. Length,depth and height. Length,depth and height.(err,can you tell I've bought a couple beautiful sofas of the wrong size or style in my life?) The color(s) you've chosen can both work with the right accessories.
If you are into a more modern line,check out Younger Furniture. I recently bought their Michael sofa in a deep Teal for (just) under $1,000.
Good Luck.

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design The sofa in the picture with your really cute daughter looks bigger than the other one. Did you check dimensions of either or both? If you add taller legs to a sofa it throws off the proper seat height, so I wouldn't try that.

joannpb How about a gray and yellow plaid sofa? Most furmiture companies have at least one gray and yellow plaid in their swatch collections. Pick a style you like and order it in your choice of fabric.

joannpb Here are a couple of examples.

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design A solid neutral fabric sofa will be in style for a longer period and you can easily change the look with a change of pillows.

juvi205 I don't want to get a colored sofa because than I'll be stuck with it long term. With a neutral sofa, I can change colors around in the room later on if i want to. Thanks for the suggestion though :)

Carolyn, yes the dark gray sofa is bigger than the other one. My husband really likes that one, I'm not too fond of it though. It will definitely take up more space.

juvi205 It will take up more space, but we do have the room for it. The room looks much smaller in the picture than it is in real. I just don't know how the dark gray goes with the gray-brown shelf/stand.

raeleemllr I would say the first sofa is really nice looking. The 2nd one...while basic..looks a bit dated. In terms of adding legs type "couch legs" into etsy and you will find all different types. Pretty much any leg would look good on that couch except maybe the legs that just look like upside down bowls.

odessalight I too like that couch that has the pillows on it with your daughter....suggestion.. Wish we would have done this ourselves...get some tape and get the dimensions of the couch and tape it out....see if it is too big or just right....and tape how high it will go up the wall....this will give you a visual somewhat....sometimes the furniture in the store looks like it will be ok for the space but the store is big so just keep that in mind!
Good luck and I agree about neutral also...you can always change your colors with pillows ;)

DIAspoton the sofa in the photo with your daughter looks very dark, making it less neutral than a greige color.
have you considered painting the wood furniture?

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design juvi, it's not just a matter of your having space for the sofa. You also have to figure out what other furniture you'll add to the room....such as 2 chairs, a coffee table, maybe an end table, etc. If we knew what dimensions your room was, we could better advise you as to what other pieces you'll need. But perhaps you already have other pieces that we have not seen.

juvi205 These are the dark gray sofas.

Carolyn, there is a whole other side to the family room haha. Our family room is around 15x15. It's a square and on the other side in the corner there is a fireplace. I have a really bad picture of it lol, I'll attach that.

juvi205 The room is actually very bright, the pics are dark.

juvi205 We need all new furniture, minus the tv stand/bookshelf.

juvi205 And here is the dark sofa set: http://www.arrowfurniture.com/living/contemporary-charcoal-living-room.html

DIAspoton juvi, i'd be cautious with this sofa. a 96" soaf for that price ssounds like poor quality. i had never heard of this store so i pulled it up. they have some pretty discouraging YELP reviews. a good sofa will coat more up front but it should last for years.

i suggested slipcovers in my 1st post . they're washable and many people buy 2 sets of slipcovers in different colors so they can switch them for a completely different look.

spmm Perhaps you could take pics in daylight the colours will be better, also the carpet and wall colour is not clear.

manvisudan Add more vibrant colurs to room.if u wanna keep the same colour on walls add orange and grey colour theme like grey couch with orange decor and pillows.orange curtains and large floor lamps in cream will work

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design A 96 x 40" sofa is not only quite long, but also quite deep. It's the sort of thing that a good sized husband would love. They buy sofas like they buy TVs...the bigger the better. So sometimes it's just better to leave a husband at home if you're the one in the family who really pays attention to how the house looks.

If you plan to put the sofa in front of the window, you must make sure that you can center the sofa on the window. Otherwise it will look odd and misplaced. How wide is the window, including trim? Of course you could place the two chairs in front of the window, and that might work better since then your draperies would not be partially hidden by the sofa. But you'll still want to center the sofa on the opposite wall directly across from the window. So the window size still matters even with the sofa across the room.

Another option would be to place the sofa on the right hand wall and have the chairs perpendicular to the sofa, facing the fireplace. You could then place a third chair near the bookcase. Or instead of a chair, you could use a large round ottoman for extra seating at parties.

alwaysdesigning I really like your sofa too. Have you considered just having it reupholstered along with your chairs? Do some "non-matchy" accent material for smaller chairs as accents. You can even have the upholsterer add piping and more tufting anywhere you want. I did that to two love seats I loved and it saves money and saves "finding the right one" because you already have it. Research the type of fabric you like and it's not terribly expensive. Try something in a denim for durability. I would love to see it in a dark grey "something". Try to avoid all the chairs being matchy-matchy; create more interest with varied but coordinated fabrics. Good luck
[houzz=A Ginebra Sofa]

[houzz=Ziggy Chair, Gray][houzz=Crash Pad Exposed Chesterfield Sofa/Bed, Gray Felt]
[houzz=Bailey Accent Chair, Linx]
[houzz=Zigzag Armless Settee, Grey]
[houzz=Spa Slipper Chair]
[houzz=Paisley Settee]

blindsdirectcanada The drapes looks great though I would recommend putting in a cellular shade to soften the look a bit.

http://www.blindsdirectcanada.com/blinds-toronto/shades-toronto/cellular-shades.html

alwaysdesigning Also in front of your window I would also consider the sofa along one wall, and the two chairs across from it, with a very eye catching rug in the middle that they all sit on the edge of it. A table in the middle would not be necessary but add end tables for lighting. This will open up your window and the length of the room as well. Create that as one sitting area. A long sofa table under the window can be a focal point with family photos on top or things of interest.

I would hate to have something "in the window" but you could add tall hefty accent lamps at each end of the sofa table as well. Or, add a "window seat" under it; can easily be made and add pillows as cushions. Building out bookshelves on each side of the window can also tie it all in together. Readjust the lengh of the curtains by cutting and sewing or sewing horizontal pleats along the bottom to take up the length without cutting off the length.

Add any other sitting spaces in the room as needed, but that window I would treat as a focal and not have a sofa under it if you don't need it to be. Try out some room arrangements before buying any furniture. Good luck.
[houzz=Traditional Family Room]
[houzz=Staying Put by Duo Dickinson]
[houzz=Christoffersen]
[houzz=Woodbury Kitchen/Main Level Remodel]
[houzz=The Little House on Cape Cod]
[houzz=Home Farm 1]
[houzz=Living Room 1]
[houzz=Living Room 2]

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design Your current sofa is interesting, but I know you'd probably prefer one with arms. I've drawn a possible furniture layout for you. You will not need end tables, but you will need a table between the chairs and a small table behind the sofa. The tables should not match.

juvi205 Carolyn, LOVE, love your plan! It looks really great and I think it would work so well with the family room. I've been going crazy drawing out plans but I did not come up with anything like this. I really appreciate you going out of your way to draw that out! I know it's not easy, I'm an interior decorating major.

Everyone else, I really absolutely love your ideas! And I've taken so much from this discussion already. If I get a chance I'll post some pictures of the room in daylight.

@alwaysdesigning - the thing is we're really on a budget, so I don't think doing a window seating is doable right now. But yes moving the chairs to in front of the window is a good idea (like shown in Carolyn's plan). And to be honest, the sofa (or futon) is temporary. We used to have a leather sofa that fell apart. So I don't want to keep it, it's going in the basement! And I do want something with arms. I want to keep the family room as casual and comfortable as possible because it is where we spend the most time. I do love the pictures of the chairs you posted tho, thanks for the suggestions :)

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design You are very welcome, juvi. You can probably whip out plans in CAD, but I'm still doing it the old fashioned way, and I do enjoy doing them. However I'd be lost without my little magnetic furniture pieces which make it easy to see how things will look before I do a drawing. Best of luck with your future design career!

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design Juvi, I wish you'd take a look at Macy's sofas, in both leather and fabric, that fit your budget.

juvi205 I'm in a suburb of Toronto, there's no Macy's here :( that's why we were looking at local furniture stores.

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design You may lack a Macy's, but Toronto seems to be the center of great contemporary interior design. At least that's the impression I get from some of the photos I see on houzz. Good luck with the furniture shopping. Try to hold off until you find the right sofa at the right price, and in the right color, even if you have to order it.