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Living Rooms Home Decorating Design Dilemma

Living room design around this sofa! Mid century modern

4 years ago

We are planning a fairly radical redesign of our living room and have found a sofa we love today (pictured). We are thinking about getting grey Besta units from Ikea to go with and oak wood floor (to match rest of our downstairs). Now looking for inspiration for wall finishes/colours and curtains and a large square coffee table. Any inspiration?!

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Comments (5)

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Yasmin Chopin Interior Design
4 years ago
With such a neutral backdrop (oak floor, grey/white unit, and grey sofa) you could go in any direction with colour. I think you need to understand whether your sofa is a 'warm' grey or a 'cool' grey and then go in the same direction for the colour. To clarify with an example of what I mean...

If your sofa is a warm grey a buttermilk or a buttercup yellow would work well. Summer Glow from Fenwick & Tilbrook is a warm yellow.

If your sofa is a cool grey a citrus yellow will work better. Concorde, also from Fenwick & Tilbrook, is a good example.

I've used yellow here but the principle is the same for any colour. Go with what you fancy but if you want to learn more about colour and its effects I recommend a good book about colour from Karen Haller. It's just out and an excellent read: The Little Book of Colour.

Regarding furniture, and in particular a large coffee table - there are plenty available in the shops but if you want something a bit different and not overly expensive I suggest looking in second hand shops for a good quality wooden dining table - if the top is the right size and shape for your room cut the legs down so it's the right height. Depending on the condition of the table you might want to paint it. It would be an opportunity to inject some really bold colour!

Good luck with your re-vamp. Don't hesitate to get in touch if you'd like further help.
Lyse Edwards
Original Author
4 years ago
Thanks, the sofa is a petrol blue/green (colour called Mallard). I’ve seen these accent fabrics, both of which pick up the gold, which is very ‘now’. I’m not sure about it as a wall colour though....
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Hello, thanks a lot for the valuable advice, the problem that the TV is situated internally in the wall i.e: no stones behind the TV as it was planned like that by the previous owner. We like the idea of dark varnished wood pieces, we decided to add a plant to the left and wooden shelf to the right. The main issue that we try to restrict ourselves with 3 colors, but we already have three built in, the stone wall, the floor is dark gray pvc, and the rest of the walls and ceiling are white. The sofa we want is below in a photo, and the chairs, the piece under the TV can be also varnished wood (all in Dark) the sofa color and dining table are the challenge. The chairs can be black leather. my husband insists on a modern look.
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Juliet Docherty
4 years ago
The dirty yellow/mustard colour above the sample you are holding looks fantastic with the sofa colour. I would go for a neutral on the wall and a more saturated colour on accessories and artwork etc. Slaked Lime or similar from Little Greene could be a good starting point.
Sonia
4 years ago
The two pictures of the sofa look quite different. The top one looks a deep grey and the bottom one looks more blue. I agree with colourhappy, a pale neutral would be best, and then you can add yellow or blue as accents in cushions and accessories. I’ve used Slaked Lime on a bookcase and it is a lovely warm neutral as in my pic below.
cheekyc
4 years ago
This John Lewis Prism cushion would go (out of stock at the moment) and then you can pick out the other colours

I have just painted my walls with Slaked Lime and have a few of these cushions and some wool texture mustardy yellow ones and plain beige ones too. Go together perfectly. I have an ancient brown leather sofa but have various sample for a new one including just like the one you have chosen and they all go well together.

Similar style for curtains - Harlequin Lulu fabric

https://www.janeclayton.co.uk/product/lulu/44989

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