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Home Decorating Flooring Design Dilemma

Is this house too modern? How can I add some character?

3 months ago

We just put an offer on this house and thinking of ways to make it a little more homey, less modern.

We feel the kitchen is a bit small, how can we add additional storage? Also, not a huge fan of the marble floors, would a rug on the entryway look good?

Thank you so much!! :)

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HU-0228123141598721

3 months ago

Replace the awful fake marble floors with wood is where to start.

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Comments (14)

BlueberryBundtcake - 6a/5b MA
3 months ago
It's a lot of white, but can you define homey? It's hard to give recommendations without knowing your taste/style. Can you give us some inspiration photos? You've pretty much got a blank slate there ...

You can add color using furniture, rugs, and decor. The staging furniture went for silvers with a touch of rust (so staying neutral), but what colors do you like? Bold? Muted? What do you have currently? What are you bringing with you?

For adding storage, can you give us a dimensioned floor plan? Are you looking to do a major renovation or just add a piece of furniture?
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Rachel
Original Author
3 months ago
I think we like more muted decor but not a big fan of golds and silvers. We’re bringing with us a tan/caramel leather couch (see picture below for reference) but we’re also buying a new couch for family room, some decor and seating for the living room, new dinning table and barstools.

I wish I could get rid of the fake marble floors but not an option for us right now.

And as far as kitchen storage, we were thinking just adding a piece of furniture.

I also added the floor plant and some inspo pictures of the type of decor we like, but we’re open to any suggestions that might help make the place look better.

Thank you for your help!
shirlpp
3 months ago
Replacing all of that marble with hardwood flooring would be a good start.
remodeling1840
3 months ago
The first thing I do when we buy a house is buy a notebook, a tape measure, and blue painter’s tape. I devote two pages at least to each room and label the pages. Before we even move, I start listing ideas I have for the house. Example: blue and cream rug, brass lamp…living room; striped rug, drop leaf table…entry; the bedding from the linen shop downtown, bedside tables with drawers…our bedroom…….. on these pages I also list the basic colors I think I want and drill down to the exact paint chip color I think I want. Then I wait. There is no rush. If you start ordering random furniture and accessories before you move, the sizes might be out of scale or the colors clash with the existing flooring, sunlight, etc. you already have a sofa-move it in and you have a place to sit while you plan the other family space. Buy your bedding before you decide paint. They can mix paint colors to match or compliment, but once you paint the walls, you are confined to trying to find something that “goes”. I have always found that my wants and ideas morph as we live in the new house. In our previous house, the center hall entry had wide openings into the dining room on one side and the library on the other. Dining room-blue, entry-red, library-green. The colors were perfect together. Unfortunately, when I started the green, a rich, deep Williamsburg BM color, it was horrid. I ran down to the paint store, told the owner the problem, and he asked a couple questions. “Easy fix”, he said. Two squirts of black corrected the color so all three rooms completely complimented the others. This notebook still has the formula for the custom paint mix. Now, as each room is painted, I ask for a second sticky label like they put on the can. This second label goes in my notebook on the room’s page.
la_la Girl
3 months ago
I would cover as much of the marble flooring as I could with a natural floor covering like a sisal - large area rugs could go a long way in grounding the rooms

-the floors are super bossy so I would want to knock them back a bit before anything else - congrats on the house!
Maureen
3 months ago
last modified: 3 months ago
Instead of removing the flooring, a huge saving would be to leave if feasible and add engineered hardwood (even if doors had to be shimmed). Match to wood tone in the room you showed. Put your entire budget there and eventually make other changes. Given your couch and inspiration room, the flooring is never going to suit even with rugs (which may even make it worse).

In regards to other changes, make a list and prioritize. Take your time researching, getting ideas/analyzing your needs and save everything. I have also found that once we moved in, I changed my mind on a lot of things. One way to add additional storage in kitchen is to increase the size of the island with cupboards (bonus is also more seating) , maybe a banquette with cupboards to store less used items. Once you move in you wil have a better sense of the space and what is possible.
Kendrah
3 months ago
Do you have budget to paint the house? Finding colors other than stark white will really help achieve the look you want, along with very large area rugs with a lot of texture. Swapping out light bulbs for warmer ones will also help. The kitchen seems large enough to put some kind of storage piece in there. Post again once your offer has been accepted and you have some measurements and a list of your furniture. Fingers crossed your offer goes through!
Rachel
Original Author
3 months ago
Thank you all! Our offer was accepted :)
dan1888
3 months ago
Don't think about lvp. This is a direct to consumer European Oak engineered floor. 5.50. Link. Lyon
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Everything Home
21 days ago
It looks like you might be able to extend the island, or take it out, and put cabinets under the windows that are across from the refrigerator. Either way storage would be added, and if you extended the island you would have more seating options.
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Urbanology Designs
13 days ago
Why not try adding some other colors with paint and furniture? Maybe try some rugs to help the space and look at doing all hardwood floors in the entire place. Here are some designs we have done for our clients which might help more:
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HU-910663146
13 days ago
https://noskidding.com

The above link is for a website that sells anti-slip products for your floor. Rugs will help, but the No Skidding works very well.
Susan Davis
13 days ago
I think adding bamboo blinds with linen side panels would help to make it charming.

The have a neutral carpet you love cut and bound on all sides to put down in the social rooms. Also a warmer paint color like cloud white by BM or Alabaster by S-W will warm it up too.

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