Decorating Dilemma: Amy’s Keeping Room

Decorating a keeping room off the kitchen

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 How to Decorate,

My husband and I just built our dream home and had a baby. Do we know how to have fun or what? Seriously, it is such a joyful time for our family, and we are loving every minute of it!

We moved into the house in late September, I went back to work in October and our house is still a mess. We spend all of our time in the kitchen. We have a great big island, breakfast nook and keeping room all in one space. The problem is furniture arrangement in the keeping room. Please help!

I love your catalog and have actually ordered the braided jute rug in natural (9×12) and it should be here any day. But, what’s next???? Thank you so much for your suggestions!!

Amy

window corner sitting area
looking into sitting area
sitting at table towards tv
back corner of sitting area

Amy,

Congratulations! A new house and new baby? What more could a girl ask for?

Scale is very important in design, and in your space, we feel the sofa and loveseat are overpowering the room. We suggest you replace the sofa with two chairs and move the loveseat to the sofa location. This will allow for better traffic flow and provide better scale.

The 9×12 Braided Jute Rug you have already purchased will be the perfect foundation on which you can build the layout of the room. We suggest placing two of our Eton Club Chairs with Trilby Basketweave Bark Slipcovers, at an angle on either end of the loveseat. Next, we think you could liven up the upholstery pieces with pillows that add color and pattern. Our suggestion is to introduce two 22” pillows in Hadley Taupe to the loveseat. Next add one 12×20 pillow in the Ryder Stripe to the loveseat and two 20” Ryder Stripe pillows to the chairs.

The Concorde Medallion Drapery Panels in Taupe will frame the window and add a texture punch to balance the room. Opposite the window wall, we suggest adding the Ananda Serving Table in Rustic Black. Top it with two Maria Buffet Lamps in Aged Silver, and finish off the space with a collection of Red Rhododendron Prints.

Happy Decorating!

The Design Team

Decorating a keeping room off the kitchen

Do you have a decorating dilemma? Send us your own questions here.

Caroline McDonald

Caroline lives for pairing together patterns, mixing furniture styles, and oogling over our newest furniture pieces. As you can imagine, her little 1920's craftsman is in a constant state of flux. Here on How to Decorate, it's her goal to help you turn your home into your own little slice of paradise.

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