Living Room Plan

I mentioned recently that we’re in a bit of a redecorating mode (Ha ha. Aren’t we always?)…

We have one year left before our youngest starts college, so this could be a very narrow financial window to make that investment.

We’ve always bought our furniture piecemeal in the past, with budget as the primary design element. Here’s the typical scenario:

“Wow, that chair is a good price!”

“Great…buy two.”

“But they don’t really go with anything…”

“They’re a neutral color; we’ll make it work.”

Probably not the best design approach.

We’ve never selected things with any kind of plan, or designed a room from scratch, so I’m exited that we have a little opportunity to work on multiple rooms, make some decisions, get some guidance, step out of our comfort zone, and have a “real” room.

I showed you this room last fall.  First, I’d added new accessories for the season, then I virtually painted the room:

Opposite the dining room, the living room is to the left of the foyer as you come in our front door. It’s already home to our piano so there’s not too large an area left to furnish. We call it a “living room”…but Kelly (the dog) is the only one who spends any actual time living in that room.

Here’s the current layout:

Mr. D and D gave the green light to get rid of anything and everything, and then fell “in like” with this Chesterfield-style sofa:

Mrs. D and D felt the sofa was fun and was a nice choice for a formal room: like a piano room that only the dog uses…

Amanda says we have room for it.  So, Done!

Yes, the sofa will have silver nailheads and, NO, I refuse to paint the piano hardware as I did with the kitchen counterstools. Not happening!

Do you think that will be an issue?

 

Next, while visiting Amanda in the store to look at chairs, I zoomed in on this fabric on the selections rack.

No surprise there! (Have you seen the blue and white border on this blog?  It’s safe to say I like damask patterns:)). The actual fabric is a creamy white raised chenille print on a grey-green background (despite how the blue-green the photo looks).

Then Amanda showed me the chairs she recommended. I know she was focused on the shape, but HA! The floor model was in a pink version of the very. same. fabric.

That was serendipitous enough for me. SOLD…to the indecisive woman with the look of relief on her face!

Ms. Amanda thinks we have room for two matching chairs (in the grey-green) and it will be up to me do scrounge up tables and accessories. (Hey, budget is still a part of this! 🙂 )

Upholstered pieces? DONE!!!

She also recommended we paint the room a very pale grey, and suggested this fabric (also grey-er in person) for the window treatments (noting the impact of the pops of orange).

I DO like the fabric and it continues to grow on me…but four windows to cover with fabric at 30-ish dollars a yard is a tad out of my financial comfort zone. While searching (for days) for a less expensive option on line (many of which I pinned on Pinterest), I came across this print:

That swooning noise you hear is me… I LOVE (love, love, love) those birds!!! (I would type the word “love” five more times but I’m pretty sure you get the idea.

And that fabric is ALSO is $30 per yard (sigh).

(And, no, I haven’t mentioned it to Amanda yet, or the fabric cost to Mr. D and D.)

It’s pretty clear I have a thing for birds, but did you know I have birds stuck in various places in the house?

On the walking sticks in our umbrella stand:

On random picture frames:

And on light fixtures.

So…I’m wrestling with this… there’s definitely less contrast with the bird fabric than with the Jacobean Floral Medallionish print that Amanda suggested. The bird fabric isn’t very modern looking.  And I DO like the other colors in Amanda’s print.

But me loves also loves those birdies! They DO offer pops of color… but not much contrast in the background, though…

But is it too much motif and comfort zone and not enough departure?

Could I go with Amanda’s fabric in the LR and put the birds in the DR? Or is that too busy to have those fabrics so close together in the front rooms?

Or aren’t they really “close” together at all?

Can I justify the fabric purchase thinking it’s still less than the cost of a chair?

These are the things I’ll be mulling over while waiting for swatches to arrive in the mail and furniture to be delivered.

Any advice is welcomed!