Room with a View

Endless possibilities abound when the room is not focused on a TV. I love television but for these reading and birdwatching homeowners it was not a requirement. In fact, they were adamant about no TV in the living room because they have a fabulous view. The living room was set up to see the view and enjoy all that nature had to offer but they wanted to add more color to the space. Though the home looked nice as it was when I arrived, we decided the room was begging for vibrant living color. Let’s take a peek at this Ivy living room before and after it received a color splash somewhere in the heart of The Villages.

• Foyer
The foyer was bare so they purchased a teal cabinet as the entry way table. We added a 5×8 rug to the foyer. The Ivy looks best with a large rug in the foyer.
This often shocks clients but once the rug goes down they will not go back to a smaller rug. Larger rugs look better!

• Wall color
The homeowners loved the gray walls but the home felt a little cool and the color palette of the art was very soft. Altogether, it looked nice but not vibrant. They were trying to get to vibrant but were not sure what to do first.

• Start with the art
Even though there was no TV we still had to have a strong focal point on the wall to define the space. We accomplished this by hanging a large 60wide by 40high canvas titled, “Clarity” on the wall behind the angled loveseat rather than behind the table and lamp. The room is built off of that point. Every room no matter what needs a strong focal point and I love that focal point to be art; this picture is taken in the Dry Tortugas about 70 miles from Key West.

• The view
These homeowners wanted the room to be all about the view. Without a TV the room has so many options for furniture placement and I love what they did with the space. The furniture was angled to look out and see the view. The room feels very large, spacious and inviting. We did add one more chair to round out the seating area for greater comfort.

• New Rug
We added a rug to ground the space and pull the color around the room. This rug is layers of different blues blended in a wave like motion that is reminiscent of the sea. The 8×10 rug added a huge saturation of color to the space re-enforcing the color blue. The homeowner’s ottoman looked amazing on the rug. I love the addition of two seafoam trays to the ottoman; their color ties into the new artwork.

• New side tables
We added in two new side tables that were a bit larger than the current side tables and they had a mid-century modern look that tied into the two midcentury modern chairs.

• Two new lamps
We added two lamps as well. These lamps are hand blown glass art and the colors are perfect with the rug, pillows and art. The lamps are teal with metallic lines running down the lamp and when light hits the lamps lots of iridescent colors can be seen.

• Greenery
We removed the ficus tree and moved the palm into its place. The palm tree seemed to capture the feeling of the room better and looked a little lighter in the space.

P.S. –Attention, club presidents! I give free decorating programs! It is lots of fun and very informative. Call and schedule your club today or call Ruth your full service decorator at 352-804-2056.

Before and After Pics Below