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By: Todd Marsha
Decorating our home has become a labor of love for us.
By far, our favorite room to decorate has been our living
room. This space has become the centerpiece of our home,
in addition to being the room we spend the most time in.
We've used color, a mix of traditional and contemporary
furniture, wall art, and eye-catching accessories to create
a stylish living room design that is still functional and
comfortable. We hope by giving you some ideas from our own
living room we'll spur your creativity and point you in
the right direction to making your living room your favorite
room.
Paint
When we moved into our house, the walls were off-white.
Not bad, definitely versatile, but not for us, and definitely
not for our furniture and accents. We used our favorite
wall color, Sherwin Williams Latte , and...WOW!!!! The room
just popped! When your paint colors complement your furniture
and accents, and your furniture and accents complement your
paint colors...you win. Your style starts working for you.
Maybe you live by the water and nautical fits your style.
In that case, blues, whites, greens and yellows may work
for you. If you live in a downtown loft, you may want an
industrial look with white and silver elements. If you're
in search of the perfect country look - try some softer,
blues, reds, browns, and maybe some yellows.
We choose a neutral color scheme for our living room. Brown
is Jen's favorite color and I love all the tones and colors
you can mix into a neutral scheme - like red, gold, bronze,
maize, and orange. Next we're going to mix in a bit more
black.
After the color was set, we had to think about what to
put on these walls...
Wall Decor
Just so happens that in one of our previous homes, the
walls were about the same color. It was time to sell and
there was this empty space above the mantle. What would
be just right there? Wrought iron? Something black and white?
Some professional wall art?
We had the color scheme...our favorite latte, a little
red, a bit of of gold...we knew the size...then we saw it
in the framed art and wall decor section at Kirkland's.
The frame was the perfect thickness...the colors were just
right and the size looked like it would fit pefectly above
the mantle. Sometimes you just have to go for it.
With all the online resources these days, it's really easy
to find pieces that go with your colors, before you even
leave the house.
Lighting
When it came to add lamps to our decor, we had to figure
out the answers to some pretty important questions.
Where was our primary light source? For us it was recessed
lighting over the mantle. In other words, not alot!
Did we want to separate a TV watching area and a reading
area? Not really, because there just wasn't enough room.
What kind of lighting did we want to use? Add a light to
the ceiling fan - table lamps - floor lamps? Eventually
we combined table and floor lamps with a style somewhere
between mission and contemporary. Believe me, these two
styles go together better than you might think.
Furniture
Our living room has two focal points, the fireplace and
our TV armoire. Unfortunately, the armoire ended up next
to the fireplace, simply because of the cable jack. It does
work there quite well, but ideally we would have liked to
move it around to some different places to get a feel for
where it worked best. Just goes to show you that sometimes
you have play the hand you're dealt.
As for the rest of the room, our favorite piece is our
sofa table. It's not behind the sofa, though. We use it
as an anchor piece against one of our walls. There are lamps
on both ends and it's filled with photos of both our families.
It's always a great conversation starter.
I hope what you've gotten out of this article is that style
is not confined to a single term; like contemporary, traditional
or country. Style is your state of mind and what appeals
to you.
My wife and I aren't professionals. We just know what we
like. When we run into a problem, we face it, break it down,
and decide what looks best. With good information and a
little bit of time to spend, you can make your living room
"the" room that everyone talks about when they
come to visit.
About The Author
Todd Marsha is just a regular guy who enjoys living room
decorating with his wife. For great ideas on decorating
your living room, visit http://www.stylish-living-room-ideas.com
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