Need help with living room
I'm trying to figure out what to do with the living room. We just bought our first apartment and moved in with our previous furniture. It's exciting and also somehow intimidating to think about what decoration we would like and how to get there.
We would like a bright and comfy living room. I think that before we buy new furniture such as big rug, coffee table, cushions, curtains and arts, we need to figure out the color scheme first.. The issue is I don't like the current colors but I can't seem to find what colors would work instead.
I attached some pictures of the living room as it currently is with a dark green couch set (3 seater, loveseat and recliner) and dark red fireplace wall. The walls are currently beige, the ceiling is plain concrete. The pictures are pretty dark but it reflects close to truly how it feels in the living room, whether it's sunny outside or night.
We are open to paint. We bought the couch set last year and are price conscious so we would prefer to keep it fully or partially.. we may potentially consider getting something else if we can't find a good set up that would work with them though. I'm sure there is great potential in this room but we're kinda lost! Thanks for any inputs you may have
We would like a bright and comfy living room. I think that before we buy new furniture such as big rug, coffee table, cushions, curtains and arts, we need to figure out the color scheme first.. The issue is I don't like the current colors but I can't seem to find what colors would work instead.
I attached some pictures of the living room as it currently is with a dark green couch set (3 seater, loveseat and recliner) and dark red fireplace wall. The walls are currently beige, the ceiling is plain concrete. The pictures are pretty dark but it reflects close to truly how it feels in the living room, whether it's sunny outside or night.
We are open to paint. We bought the couch set last year and are price conscious so we would prefer to keep it fully or partially.. we may potentially consider getting something else if we can't find a good set up that would work with them though. I'm sure there is great potential in this room but we're kinda lost! Thanks for any inputs you may have
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Barbara - thanks for all the inspiration. When you say no accent wall, do you think that the fireplace wall should be the same color as the other walls?
HomeCheckDallas - we are on the 4th floor so privacy is not bad. People from other units at higher floors can see through the window which is behind the couch though. The balcony was a primary criteria when we bought the place. When weather and temperatures allow, we'll use it for planting flowers, having meals there and doing bbqs.
Next, see if there is some way to wall mount your TV above the firebox. It should be possible, and if you have to run some sort of moulding around the fireplace to hide the wiring, it would be more architecturally interesting. Then, you could move the existing TV stand to the right of the fireplace and still use it for A/V equipment with a great, colorful big piece of art above, or it could disappear. I would try the bookcase either to the left of the fireplace or on the wall to the left of the sliding door. The recliner could be placed in the area to the left of the fireplace, maybe with a floor lamp as a reading spot. At some point in the future, a lounge chair with an ottoman might be nice, because the ottoman can also double as extra seating.
A substantial coffee table, perhaps something funky, or even a glass-topped barrel or architectural fragment, or antique round table cut down and painted white or ivory would complete the look. I would probably try to find either a black/white or brown/ivory graphic design or zebra-print rug to anchor the seating arrangement. Or even a big cowhide. I would move the rattan chair to another room. You will probably need some sort of table on the window end of the sofa as well. Perhaps a trunk or good-sized storage cube. Or a table with a shelf to corral magazines and other "stuff." In this corner, you could maybe swag a lamp to hang over that table -- maybe one of those metal upside-down buckets with a single big bulb.
Colors -- If you like simple color schemes with a dash of bold color and pattern, I would suggest you shop for an Ikat print that catches your fancy -- something that will go with your green sofa and loveseat. Use the fabric background as as your wall color, painting all surfaces the same. Use the same print for a cornice board above the window, and for a simple panel which you could push to the left side of the sliding glass door. I would hang the panel on rings from a simple black metal rod, and let the rod extend all the way to the corner, so that when the panel is pushed back, the glass is completely clear. If you sew, you could make these yourself, as well as a couple of large throw pillows for the sofa.
Find someone to install window blinds that can either pull up from the bottom or down from the top -- they are wonderful for regulating light and assuring privacy when needed without making you feel claustrophobic. The light-filtering translucent honeycomb shades are great.
Then pick bright pottery or glass accents; add books and family photos and it's done. Enjoy your life in your new place.
I actually found online a picture of another apartment in the building that has the same living room structure and size, and that pulled the sofa forward with a thin desk in the space created behind it. See attached. Per the picture, if we do this we will definitely have to get rid of one of the sofa I think due to space constraints. It also shows how painting the diagonal beam in black would look, as Barbara was suggesting.
In this picture, the owner painted the walls in blue and painted the area between the walls and the ceiling (also along the corner of the room) in cream. Do you think we should also paint this area another color as the walls, maybe white?
Also, what would you think about painting the ceiling in white... We're not big fan of the concrete feel in the ceiling (the bedrooms have the plain concrete ceilings as well), although we understand that it's part of the loft/industrial style of the apartment, and that if we paint it in white it would be tough to remove later and could potentially decrease the value of the apartment.
http://www.blindsdirectcanada.com/drapery-toronto/sheer-drapery.html
http://www.blindsdirectcanada.com/drapery-toronto/panels/ripplefold-drapery.html
I agree Ripplefold sheers look absolutely beautiful! We were thinking to use that for the bedrooms and may get tempted for the living room too.