Some of you may recall that last month we held a little contest. Readers submitted pictures of a room in their home that needed some love in the form of a Basil + Tate SIX FIX. This is where we give six suggestions as to what they could do to give their space a mini makeover. It was so much fun to have free reign of this virtual design and suggest what we would do if it were our own. The reader that won the contest submitted this pic of her living room and I couldn’t resist… this room was calling my name!
This room has so much potential! I love the hardwood floors, the abundance of natural light, and the earthy/organic feel of the faux fireplace. As with every room, it also holds its own decorating challenges - mainly the walking space to the kitchen and the small, upper windows. However, we found our way around the obstacles and came up with a plan to make this room crazy cute!
Here is the design board that I created for this space, but be sure to read to the end and see an actual illustration of my vision for this room!
Below are my SIX suggestions as to how to FIX up this space:
1 - Move the furniture away from the walls.
This is a really common mistake. People think that walls were made for furniture and furniture was made for walls. Not true. Not only does the current position of the sofa in this space leave it awkwardly far from the television, it also leaves a front door between the sofa and any other seating in the room. To fix this problem, I moved the sofa forward and added two chairs across from it making it a much more intimate and conversational space. I also chose swivel chairs so that anyone wanting to see the TV could easily swing around to do so.
2 - Frame the space with an area rug… or two!
Area rugs are one of my favorite pieces in a room design! It visually grounds the space and pulls the entire room together. Not only that, but it can add color, texture, and another layer to the room. For this space, I opted to use not one but TWO rugs to achieve one of my favorite looks. This can actually be a great way to save money on rugs, too! I chose a simple jute rug for the larger, 8x10 bottom layer (typically very inexpensive for their size) and then used a smaller patterned rug on top. Since the top rug only needs to be a 5x8 it doesn’t break the bank. A general rule of thumb when trying to decide on a rug size is that the front legs of all of the furniture should sit on the rug. I say ‘general’ because I have broken this rule several times myself when I felt it actually looked better positioned in front of the furniture. Sue me. :)
3 - Add a sideboard.
After moving the sofa forward, we were left with the perfect spot for a sideboard (console, credenza, buffet, call it what you want…). It became the perfect spot to add some accessories… and accessories are what make a room feel like home! I found a larger piece of artwork that complimented the colors of the area rug and helped to fill the vertical space between the two high windows. I’m a sucker for ambient lighting so I love to add lamps whenever possible. A lamp paired with a few accessories (layered books, family photo, plant, etc.) makes this a great focal point when guests arrive.
4 - Add pillows. And then add more pillows.
I love the color, texture, and feeling of comfort that pillows bring to a space. For the sofa and chairs, I found a collection of neutral pillows that work great because their subtle colors and patterns don’t compete with the color and pattern of the top area rug.
5 - Add curtains.
They’re magic. Trust me. I’ve made believers out of non-believers with simple white curtain panels. I’ve had a handful of clients who told me they didn’t want curtains only to admit to me when it was all said and done that they totally made the room. Hang them as close to the ceiling as you can and make sure the bottoms are barely touching the floor. It makes the room feel taller and kicks the whole space up a notch. Do it. I dare ya!
6 - Make the fireplace more of a focal point.
My last suggestion is to make the fireplace feel like it’s part of the room by doing something to draw your eye towards it. A simple fix would be to find a large basket, fill it with something like aspen logs, sticks, a pillow/blanket combo, etc. and place it where there would typically be a fire. (Note that in the illustration, the basket wouldn’t be easily visible from the angle of the picture so the illustrator set it off to the side.) This room doesn’t offer many places to accessorize, so that would really help to warm up that side of the room.
And now… to see it all put together! (Be sure to click on each pic to see the ‘before and after.’)
And the other side…
That was too much fun! I hope my dear reader is inspired to make some of these changes herself. If you saw some items on the design board you liked, I am linking them below. (You’ll notice there is a mix of price points but this can give you a starting point if you want to look for visually similar products with a different price tag.) I can hardly wait to do one of these SIX FIX designs for another reader… so stay tuned!!
