In this month’s subscriber Q&A, a design challenge was presented for a living room.
How can this traditional space with a touch of English style be tied together with a few new modern touches?
These items had to stay:
Black Windsor rocker
New modern style chairs at the window
New wood coffee table
Round antique marble top table
TV above fireplace
Other Factors:
The room needs to seat 8 people in there as it does now, preferrably.
The sofa could possibly be replaced, this one is long, but still in good condition.
The yellow sideboard could go, but she didn’t know what else to do with that wall.
She doesn’t like the angled ceiling, but has to work with it, obviously.
The homeowner is English and you can tell from the photos below, she has a bit of that English style in the home which she didn’t want to lose.
Living room needing to be tied together design-wise using some more modern touches.
What to do with this wall? The yellow sideboard can be replaced.
Living room with view into the kitchen. And a cute pup!
I love a good design challenge and this one looked interesting. I think this can be pulled together a bit more while keeping almost everything she had with just a few new pieces.
My Thoughts about this Living Room
I think the sofa is fine to keep. That will save a chunk of money to spend on other things. It is a neutral fabric, in good condition, and the style isn’t too dated and works for that English look.
Because it is facing toward the windows, you don’t see that rolled arm detail much there, which is probably the only dated feature about it.
I thought about the rug, I would almost go with a seagrass rug here and cut the angle at the fireplace, just to make it bigger. It makes a big statement though and it looked like a purposeful choice.
I like the style and colors of the rug though. I thought the black would be good to work with.
The first thing that looks off to me is the brown bergere style chair and its location, by the sideboard.
It could be reupholstered, but I don’t like it’s location. The size of it is cramping the entry to the seating group and it just feels “extra”. The sofa wouldn’t feel so long if this chair’s depth wasn’t in the way.
The brown bergere style chair here is cramping the entrance to the seating group and doesn’t look intentionally placed.
All the other seating looks good to me, so that means we only need to add one more chair to get 8 people seated in here.
Regarding this wall, it feels washed out and the art and furniture feels randomly placed. I’d like to see all the art pieces in the room hung lower or in a grouping.
This wall needs some attention with artwork placlement, etc.
I would keep the existing sideboard and paint it black. Painting antiques or older furniture black makes them look more modern, dramatic and stylish. Touches of black here will help relate this wall to the rug.
I would move the console down the wall to the left and put the Windsor rocking chair beside the console.
She could reframe that one beige framed landscape piece in a dark frame and then put a vertical art piece beside those for an intentional grouping.
I’d do a smaller, simpler gourd style lamp here to not get in the way.
Sketch of console wall with art gallery - Carla Aston, Designer
Storyboard - Console Wall Elevation Living Room
Regarding the other side of the room, I’d do a new chair where the Windsor rocker was. I love a spool chair in a black frame. Upholster it in neutral fabric like the sofa and adjacent chair.
I feel like this chair is comfortable but lightweight enough to fit at the fireplace.
I think it would be nice to add a sofa table. This one is super thin and has a modern look with a little trad detailing.
Sketch of living room with a few adjustments - Designer, Carla Aston
I would do new drapery panels here. The dark ones are quite opaque and a light fabric would let more light in.
Right now, the dark fabric accentuates the angle of the ceiling and the lower height of that wall. With a light, neutral fabric, it will blend in to the whole envelope of the space.
She was happy with the Q&A, so I hope I get some photos if she does some of these suggestions. I’d love to see how it shapes up. :-)
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This blogpost was thoughtfully written by me, Carla Aston, and not by AI, ghostwriters, or guest posters.