With my dining room coming along, I am loving this part of my house more and more! However, all this progress is making the rooms next to it (the kitchen and living room) look worse in comparison. The kitchen is obviously in need of work and something I plan to take care of down the line, so that is to be expected.
However, my dislike of my living room decor isn’t expected, although it has been lingering and growing for some time. While I feel like the dining room shows my taste/decor quirks in the best light, I feel like the living room shows some of the ways that it can go wrong. I like everything in there but something just isn’t quite right.
I’ve been thinking about this for some time and haven’t been able to figure it out, so I figured it would be worth talking about here and getting all of your help deciding what is wrong! While I don’t plan on doing work on this room in the short term, knowing what isn’t working will help me plan.
Admittedly, the room isn’t done yet. At the very least I still need to cover the ducts, get a proper piece for under the window and to put the TV on, and replace the coffee table (which is a lone hold-over from my college apartment). However, I am pretty good at looking ahead, and I can tell that even when I do those things, I still won’t be in love with this room.
As I’ve been sitting in this room over the last few months, I’ve come up with a handful of ideas of what could be wrong:
- The rug – while the shag rug is really comfortable, the white, blocky pattern isn’t in line with my style. I’d do better with a flat-weave, patterned rug like I have elsewhere in the house.
- Too many rectangular, dark pieces – with the book case, coffee table, and couch, the room is too heavy.
- Too many random pieces pushed up against the wall – I’ve got 9 different pieces (cabinet, console table, vertical bookcase, TV stand, shelf, bookcase, side table, couch, side table) all around the perimeter of the room.
- Too many small pieces – most of the furniture is small and mismatched, making things look skittish and busy.
- Only red, gray, and wood – unlike the dining room where I’ve got a wider variety of colors, there is mainly a lot of red and gray in here, with some dark wood furniture.
- Too many finishes – I’ve got ORB, silver/chrome, gold, and brass in here, making it look unplanned.
I am not sure if it is some or all of these things are the problem, but they all suggest different solutions! For example, if there are too many small pieces, I may replace a bunch of them with a large built-in arrangement to hold the TV and provide storage along the perimeter. If there are too many dark, blocky pieces, I can get a round, light-colored coffee table for a big improvement.
So I would love to know your opinion! Let me know in the poll below what you think the issue is:
Thank you for your help! Let me know your advice on what I should do with this room in the comments. I can’t promise I’ll do anything about it anytime soon, but I will think about it and get to this room eventually!
(Updated to add: Thank you all for the thoughtful and helpful comments! At the time, things got crazy busy and I didn’t have time to respond to each, but I did read them all carefully and they’ve given me SO MUCH inspiration to think about fixing this room. Thank you!)
I would just say that the room looks unbalanced, with all the heavy-looking furniture on the right side, and that the furniture arrangement makes the room look like a long tunnel. Easy to fix!
Agreed! It’s the arrangement that is the biggest problem, IMO. The red chair centered in front of the couch has become the focal point of the room, and that feels a bit stilted.
Additionally, Naomi, you may simply be trying to fit too many big pieces into the room for its size.
First off, can I say how much I love your guys blog! I discovered it a couple of months ago, am a fellow diy-er, and love all the pieces you guys find, and how you create your space!
As for the living room, I personally love the rug! Have you considered putting one of the bookshelves in the corner where the tv is, and have the tv in between them? Just thinking of more ways you could balance. Also with the bookshelves, painting or changing the backs of the shelves?
Love checking in here during the week!
I think that’s one big bookshelf with a divider/support down the middle.
I kind of want to see what happens if you flip the couch and the chair. Its hard to tell if that will create flow problems, but it would hide the legs of the plant table, making itfeel like fewer peices, and maybe less busy. Try to group peices so you dont see it as 9 peices, but like, 3 groups?
I wondered about swapping the couch and chair too – but then I think the narrow console table might be too high. If the couch works on that side you could probably shorten the legs to bring it to a good height with the couch.
I think there are definitely too many small pieces in that space. Have you considered a matching set of bookcases on either side of the window at the end mimicking built-ins? and painted? That would probably give you added storage space and perhaps create a space for the TV. Maybe go for built-ins with shallow cupboards below and open shelving above.
It might help you to empty the room of everything but the largest pieces, rearrange them til you’re happy with the balance & configuration. Then add back smaller things you think contribute rather than detract from your arrangement. Don’t let the smaller, less important pieces dictate the arrangement. Things like plants & pictures & lamps can be the last & finishing touches.
Pick a great paint color for that current coffee table and see what happens. Then if you want
you can paint the bookshelves. Once those pieces are painted you can rearrange a bit and
see what happens. This will be inexpensive
and may just give you the look you desire.
I was given a stained wood armoire that holds
a ton of crafting supplies and books but really
wasn’t doing anything for me. I painted it white with turquoise doors and drawers and it made all of the difference in the world. I just moved and gave away and donated a lot of my furniture but I brought Big Bertha with me for her storage capacity and I know at any point in time she
can put on a fresh coat of paint::):):):)
I agree with the above comments. I think if you switch the couch to the other wall, it will fit with the console/plant table better. Having the chair and the arrow table (forgive me for lack of a better name for it!) will visually balance the heavier bookshelves. But I think it’s a nice space!
I agree with Mary Ann. Emptying the room and then re-adding pieces may give you better perspective. From the pictures, I have a hard time letting my eye “rest” anywhere, which indicates to me that there’s no central focus for the room. The dining room has the obvious focus point of the table which is enhanced by the symmetry of the large pieces behind it. However, your living room doesn’t seem to have that. Many living rooms–like mine–have either a fireplace or an eye-catching window, like a bay window, that help craft focus.
Love your blog and that y’all continue to “keep it real.” It takes the pressure off the rest of us who also have those “disaster” experiences. 🙂
the big tall heavy bookshelves look like they’re throwing the room off-balance
First thing I noticed, the red chair looks too big for the space. It looks like it’s crowding the room – maybe only because of the table behind it though?. Also if the bookshelves were painted a light color and went all the way to the ceiling (looking more built it) I think that would help the room feel taller. Maybe if you made built-in’s along that wall, the tv could telescope out from the left side?
If you can part with the small round table next to the chair, that would help the room breathe. You can still use the two pieces of furniture behind it for drinks.
The coffee table could be replaced with a smaller upholstered ottoman with a tray on top.
I would get rid of the book cases for now. Put the couch in front of the table under the window. That way it’s a try sofa table. Move the red chair to the bookcase end of the room on an angle.
This would solve the problem of too many small things, as well as all the pieces on the walls.
Don’t worry about the rug and coffee table for now. Nothing is ever permanent.
Keep up the good work. Your blog is fun to read.
I agree with everyone here. There is too much stuff for the space which makes it hard to find a resting spot for your eyes. I think the bookcases feel like a black hole in the corner and the chair in front of the plants messes with the flow. I like the idea of moving the couch in front of the window but the room seems just too narrow to have anything in front of the plants.
I would literally take EVERYTHING out of this room and add things back in one at a time. Stop when it feels good. You will know when you’ve hit that sweet spot of form and function. My guess is that will happen for you with about 25% less stuff. Good luck!
All great comments above especially about starting fresh by taking everything out and slowly adding till your happy. I would also recommend if you haven’t tried it yet (first time here :)) to try putting the couch on the wall straight ahead where the plant sits on the racking. You can give it some balance by putting g another painting on the opposite side of the window. You can also move your cool chair across from the couch but all the way to the right. This would open up your window and make the place seem larger and more open. I love all the plants maybe some plant hangers would look pretty too? Maybe this way you wouldn’t need your sofa table/plant stand giving you some more room and plenty of light beaming in. Also I would evaluate everything you have in your book case to see if you actually need the stuff or just trying to fill it. This is what did for years and I’m so happy I got rid of the two I had.
I hope this helps. This is a great site and I’m grateful that I came across it. Good luck!!
whatvabout swing the red chair around so it’s facing the tv area, but centered between the couch and plant table. Lose the round arrow table. Split up the bookcases and put the tv stand in between? That looks like a tricky space, and there’s a lot happening.
I chose Other. How about moving the wing chair at an angle, adding another chair with more curves for balance, getting rid of the coffee table, and either using the small tables by the chairs or replacing them? Coffee tables aren’t necessary, they’re just traditional and blocky.
What looks awkward to me about the room is the placement of the single chair and couch, as if they’re facing off. It’s a fabulous room, from what I can see, it’s just a bit rigid. You really do have excellent taste.
I agree, Jessamyn. The placement of the big red chair across from the sofa somehow looks more confrontational than conversational!
I’d angle it, and get a smaller, curvy chair echoing the same red (which adds great vibrancy), also angled, for balance.
And, I’d add a couple of solid red throw pillows on the grey sofa to echo the red. All the patterned cushions add to the visual overload.
This is a living room, so comfortable seating is top priority. I’d lose a lot of the other stuff that’s adding clutter and weight. Like, the tall dark heavy bookcase. If the storage is important, how about something white or light with doors?
The advice to take everything out and bring back pieces one by one is brilliant!
Also, the very high arms on the sofa emphasize its boxiness and are somewhat forbidding. Another reason why it’d be well worth it to empty the room and add back pieces one by one. Would the sofa work if “floated” across the room (instead of lengthwise, which contributes to the long narrow look)? Why not find out?!
Too many different styles. Eclectic is some surprise not everything a different style. Try to find something small that unifies them….same leg style, general finish or even time era. Then just have one or two surprise pieces. The legs on the coffee table are grandma fussy and the laminate looking bookcase is college dorm looking. Then you have some cool mid century modern stuff with a few unusual pieces. The scale of things are not flowing either. For example, sofa table under the window is taller than the chair and all the plants are at eye level which seems weird. I agree with the comment to take everything out and put things back in one at a time. You have some great things…but a lot of them are leggy. I tend to the same thing. I love all my finds and want them all out, but it just looks funny.
After reading everyone’s comments, I would like to add:
I think flipping the couch and lowering the plant table height to console table height, plus putting the chair next to the couch at an angle will provide the best flow, but may force you to put the TV in a spot where you’ll get a lot of glare, depending on what direction your windows face.
Personally, I think the bookcase needs to move out of the room. You can put something low on the short wall to take care of storing a lot of the items currently on the bookcase, but I do think it’s one of the main things taking up visual weight in the room.
(as well as preventing you from putting the chair next to the couch instead of in front)
Your living has so many cute things, I love love love your bird lamp!
I agree that it may be all about balance, I once read a couple of posts from apartment therapy on the matter that may be helpful to you:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/train-your-eyes-to-recognize-visual-balance-235645
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/designer-secrets-to-great-rooms-its-all-about-balance-221340
And also agree that paint can be a great (and cheap) aid, you could paint the bookcases the same colour as the wall so they look lighter, or make all the picture frames match…
Well, I have a similar situation in my apartment so I shouldn’t be lecturing much…
All the heavy dark things are on the same side of the room. I can’t comment on the rug since I hate rugs but it’s pretty busy. In opposition to the people who are saying take the book case out, I’m saying get another one for the other side of the window, since I’m in the camp of “Too many bookshelves? Not possible!”
There might, as some people say, be too many legs, but I just went and counted my living room: 63 legs, not even counting the folded-up butterfly chair. The wood stove has four legs, and one of the footstools has six, and to me, it’s not at all busy. Oops, forgot the couch, which only has three legs in front where you see them. 66.
The only thing I noticed about this room is that the chair and couch look like they are in a stand-off and also that there are a lot of small-ish furniture peices for the room so it looks busy. I never thought it looked bad, though, every time you have posted photos of the space. My first thought is always that your plants are lovely and add so much life to the space!
I would say to move everything out and then put it back in again, trying to keep an open mind about arrangement. Add back the must haves and then layer in the smaller stuff until it looks right.
I hope your commenters have helped. I think it’s neat that you can use your blog to solve this problem and that we will get to see what you do with the advice!!
I love your home and have never been of the opinion that this room looks bad. It is vibrant and fun and unique. But once you posed the question, a few things did come to mind… personally I love the rug and think the light color is really helpful, but I think the rug is way too small. A larger one could do a lot to unify the room. Also, I think it would be worth painting the bookshelves and maybe also the coffee table white to bring in the rug and lighten up the space. I also agree with the idea from other commenters abt taking everything out and bringing less back in. There are a lot of small pieces and having fewer of those would probably help it to feel more cohesive. I can’t wait to see what you do!
I think the brown bookshelf and brown coffee table really don’t look right. The coffee table is temp, but maybe paint the bookshelf to make it look more planned? My instinct is white, to lighten up the room and fit with the trim, but other colors could work.
(Grain of salt – I’m a big fan of white bookshelves. ^_^)
I’d paint the bookcases white or get rid of them. Or split them and flank the windows. Add a little drapery to soften the windows.
You could also look at consolidating your color scheme a bit. I like bright and happy, but it’s not terribly cohesive. Try that rule of three thing where you repeat your pop color around the room.
To me, it is the tall bookshelf. A built in bookshelf that is about waist high on either side of the window, and continues under the window painted in white to match the window trim would give you storage/display options and a place to put the TV on top, and would fit the style of the house I think, based on the existing traditional window trim. I love the couch, red chair, console table and the plants!
I agree with those who have suggested flipping the couch and chair and with adding similar red cushions on the sofa and possibly putting the chair at an angle.
I would suggest too that the coffee table is turned 90 degrees and, hopefully if it will fit, the rug too so that they visually widen the room and deter from the look of it being a corridor. Depending where the door is, your couch might also work at right angles to where it is now too making the ‘living space’ a contained, cosy area as there is no need for through traffic.
The rug fits with the room, it echoes the windows and other elements and brightens the room. The bookcase is balanced by the picture, cabinets, console etc., and heightens the room and the black lamp and round table seem of ‘a type’ and may benefit by being either together or just closer. I would place the coffee table on the floor and not on the rug.
There is nothing in your room which yells at me it wants to be removed it just asks, for the time being, to be rearranged and to use visual ‘tricks’ to widen it.
I really enjoy the blog and thank you both for the ideas you’ve given me.
I only skimmed the comments above but I saw quite a few about the balance of the room and I think that is where the issue is as well. You’ve got primarily green/red on one side and gray/yellow/brown on the other.
To me it almost looks like a room divided down the middle by two different people’s taste. If you covered up half the picture you’d assume what you weren’t seeing was very different. The left/window side is a bit electric that bold chair and lots of plants, while the other side looks a bit heavier and stuffier. There are still some more fun pieces mixed in on that side, but it almost looks like they snuck over uninvited, if that makes sense. The chrome end table feels out of place in that room, and the I’m not feeling the rug – but that could be the mom of three humans and four dogs in me talking, lol – but the rest really just needs a remix.
I would change out the bookshelf to something more open with less of a college dorm/first apartment vibe for sure. I’m personally a big fan of the VITTSJÖ series from Ikea, but with the glass shelves replaced by chunky wood (something like: http://www.ikeahackers.net/2015/09/hack-a-rustic-and-industrial-vittsjo.html) Which would compliment your new bar in the dining room. You could even do the double to the right and then the shorter one on the left as a TV stand, maybe with a second one going under the window, although I’m not sure your measurements and how that’d fit.
Then move some plants over to the right, even if you have stick a fake one or two over there there is enough real that most people won’t notice a good fake, and that will get some much needed green on that side of room. You have so many thriving plants (#goals) that the green is is its own accent color in the room and some of the balance (or lack thereof) is coming from that.
Two smaller chairs in place of that big one and then the awesome arrow table in the middle of them would help too, you’ve got a lot of surfaces going on.
Also, what if you turn the couch 90 degrees so it faces the small window and ‘floats’ in the room to make the room more defined and less ‘hallway’ feeling, then you could angle out the red chair in the corner in front to the bookshelves