Decorating Dilemmas is a weekly column in which our stylists answer your design questions, so you can tackle your home decorating project with complete confidence.
Dear Style Studio,
We have two small children and have never really finished our living room since moving into this house five years ago.
We like the colors and most of what is there, but would like to add more seating and update or replace the coffee table.
This room connects with the entry and it’s visible from the front door so the colors and style need to be cohesive. The walls are a camel color and sage green and the accent colors are persimmon and aqua.
We are thinking of adding a small chest under the peacock between the entry and living room – thinking something blue?
I have contemplated ordering a pair of your Julia chairs in the Spa or Teal velvet, but don’t really like ordering chairs without being able to see or sit in them.
Also, my husband would love a leather club chair (possibly in the reading area by the floor lamp), but I am concerned our cat will destroy it like she has done to a leather chair we have upstairs. I’m considering leaving the chair that’s already there but I also love the Luxembourg chaise.
We both hate the coffee table (it was a freebie when we moved into our first apartment), but the size and scale and fact that it has a glass top works well with our kids—for tea parties, play doh, art projects—so I am quite ready to replace it with a nice table which the kids will most likely destroy. There’s lots of wood in the room, so I thought about replacing the glass with mirrors and painting it grey as an update until the kids get older.
We would also like to replace the floor lamp and possibly the lamp on the console table to the right of the fireplace it that seems like a good idea. That’s about all we’ve come up with so far.
Thanks!
Chrisy
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Chrisy,
As we consider your living area, one of the first recommendations is a larger rug. It is important for new chairs to appear as part of the conversational group, so we recommend a larger size of the Vashti Rug as an option.
We suggest two Melrose Club Chairs in Spa next to the sofa … perfect additional seating. If space allows, tuck our Bornova Side Table, in warm gray, between the chairs and then throw Velvet Teal Pillows on the chairs for your pop of color.
For a tweak to the furniture layout, consider moving the console over to the left of the fireplace and shifting your existing chair over to the right. Select one of your larger art pieces to center above the console and then another single piece to hang behind the newly moved chair.
Let’s punch up your repositioned console with color by replacing the existing table lamp with a blue Luciana Table Lamp. Try our Julian Apothecary Floor Lamp in the corner to the right of the fireplace. It has the perfect silhouette to enhance your existing chair.
With all the other smaller art and photography pieces in the room, consider creating a tightly-spaced collection over your sofa. A compliation of smaller pieces will have a grander voice within a space when they are hung together.
Your entryway has gorgeous natural light, so we recommend transplanting your peacock artwork to hange over the long cabinet. Next, add a leaner mirror to fill the wall space left by the displaced peacock artwork.
A few tweaks will give your living room a cohesive look and provide a fantastic space for time spent with friends and family.
Happy Decorating!
The Style Studio Team
