Adding Luster to a Living Room
This 100 year old home was in good shape but in need of a little help. It’s a great example of how a bit of detail and design can complete a home. The owners were ready for a change to make their first floor one cohesive space.
The green color in the dining room was a great choice, but the room was not living up to it’s potential. The living room was fine but it needed to be more than fine to match the homeowner’s warm personalities. The wall to wall carpet throughout the first floor added nothing to the space.
Removing the carpet and adding 9” wide plank floors in a dark stain throughout the first floor helped to create a warm and cohesive space. The floor is a detail that would have been in a home of this age, but it had been removed long ago. A light cream color paint in the living room is the perfect complement to the green walls in the dining room, and offsets the dark hardwood floors. A crisp white trim color, in both rooms, makes all the details pop.
The sofa was originally against the wall next to the front door and blocked the flow from living to dining room. A new sofa pulled away from the wall and floated in the living room, not only creates a walk space to make the rooms flow into each other, it helps define the living area. Two storage cubes in a wooden open weave pattern placed end to end creates a versatile coffee table and two swivel chairs in a chocolate brown color creates balance and whimsy opposite the sofa.
The built-in shelves in the living room, creates a space for pictures and family mementos. The wall in the center now becomes a focal point. Two candle wall sculptures placed corner to corner creates a geometric design that draws the eye into the living space.
The use of two different fabrics is a great way to visually join two rooms together. The living room drapery fabric was also used as the table runner fabric. The dining room drapery fabric is repeated in the living room pillows. The jute area rugs with a green border used under the dining room table and in the living room further ties the two rooms together.
The homeowners have a love for travel and honeymooned in Italy. Pictures of that country placed in glass matted frames, draws the eye from the front door straight thru to the dining room, defining the walking space. This design trick of the eye makes the first floor appear longer.
A beautiful hardwood floor, coordinating fabrics and repeated frames on the walls ties these two rooms together making this first floor one cohesive space.
