Timeless Art Is Timeless Style

You can find them on the coast of Florida eating small fish for dinner. They rarely move over 40miles inland and they have beautiful blue feathers. This bird is the Louisiana Heron captured in art by James Audubon and it creates a beautiful focal point in this space. In 1827 there were no zoom lenses to capture a close-up picture of a bird on film so that it could be painted. Each of Audubon’s’ paintings represents painstaking efforts to capture, kill, and study the birds so that he could paint every detail on canvas. When you think about it, more than just art was occurring; the Audubon pictures are studies of a naturalist and they are still relevant today. Let’s take a peek into the living room of Begonia model to see how James Audubon’s timeless art inspired the homeowners to implement big changes somewhere in the heart of The Villages.

• PaintOpen, Light and Inviting, Interior Design - in the Villages of Florida, living room of Begonia model.
The homeowners did not want to paint because they liked the brightness of white. You don’t always have to paint but if you are doing white as the wall color you will need to do some things to warm up the space.

• Reposition the furniture
In the before picture the entertainment unit was placed between the two windows. This made the entertainment unit look very large and dark in the space. This happens because there are two windows on each side of the entertainment unit bringing light into the space. Anytime the human eye has light shining at it, the human eye will see whatever is in front of the light as darker than it is in reality. The way to lighten the space is to move the large dark object off the wall between the windows. We moved the entertainment unit to the wall opposing the sliding glass door. The room becomes very light and open when the wall between the windows is open. We moved the sofa onto the wall between the windows. The sofa is a wall hugging sofa so it can still be used with its back to the wall. The recliner was placed opposite the TV unit so that the main TV watcher in the house could be straight in front of the TV. The homeowners wanted two new chairs to finish the space and they wanted them to be a chair that did not look like a recliner but did recline. They found two and bought them in a navy blue fabric. The solid color chairs flanking the space adds warmth and diversity of texture and color to the room.

• Side tables
We added two dark metal tables on each side of the sofa. The metal and glass added lightness to the space and highlight the couch. The table between the tan leather recliner and the navy recliner is round. A round table works best when a chair is angled into the space. The angled chair and the straight arm of the recliner create a pie shape and a round shape works best in a pie shape. It is just geometry.

• Large rug
We added a large rug to the space. The rug size is 9’x13’ and fills the room. This house is tile and echoes very easily. The large rug helped to calm down the reverberating sounds and it added soft color to the space. The rug was purchased online and we used technology that allows us to put the rug in the room before purchasing by uploading the room online and the vendor placed the rug in the space virtually. We added the same rug to the dining room as well and the two rugs really helped to calm down the sound.

• Stationary side panels
We added stationary side panels to the windows and the sliding glass door. The side panels measured 96” long and that brought them right up to the ceiling line on the windows in the living room. We hung the panels outside the window so that they just barely encroach on the window light. They are white with a tiny line of navy blue running through them. That little touch of navy worked great to visually tie the side panels into the space. We also installed them at the sliding glass door as well at the 96” height. The fabric really helped to absorb sound and regulate the acoustics in the space. These side panels are decorative only and make the space look warm and finished.

• Lamps
We added two matching lamps on each side of the sofa. The finish on the lamps is a fire glazed teal-ish green that looks metallic. In the light the finish reveals undertones of soft pinks and purple. They are such a great complement to all the color in the room. Finally, a third lamp was placed on the table between the chairs and that lamp was blown glass with speckles of navy blue and tinges of copper. All the lamps in the space are like works of art that perfectly complement the star of the show ….the art.

• Art
The art that was chosen as the star of the show is The Louisiana Heron by James Audubon. This picture is timeless and in this presentation it is large. The large bird shows off its deep blue plumage in its natural habitat by the coast of the southern states. The picture is a large canvas that is housed in a floating frame. I like floating frames because they make the art look finished and framed but do not take attention away from the art. Finally, the wall opposing the entertainment unit received a grouping of sphere shapes wrapped in earth toned twines. The piece is a great complement to the art over the sofa. Holistically, the room looks finished and everything in the space is working together visually to create an inviting and comfortable living room for the homeowners.
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Before and After Pics Below