2nd and Strand

My friend Alicia allowed me to rearrange her room while she hosted my family over Thanksgiving Break.  I thought I would continue my hands on trend from a distance and answer her husband's calls of, "what else?".  

This is a good size space, plenty of seating, plenty of room to move about, and I've already arranged the furniture.  My biggest priority would be to add more color.  Alicia thoughtfully sent me a fabric swatch.  I picked a Benjamin Moore color to go with their drapery and pillow.  This color is fernwood, I think it would look lovely on all of the walls in the living and dining room area.  I wouldn't use it on the stairway wall, unless you want to paint the hallway this color as well.  I think this color is a good way to break up all the medium brown tones; the wood floor, brown upholstery, espresso wood furniture.  Luckily all the browns work together, yippee!

I love the idea of adding fabric to the sofa.  I found this fabric at Calico Corners, it's a Ralph Lauren madras print.  I would buy the fabric and use it on your three seater sofa, just like it's done in the picture below on the right.

Alicia told me that when the Christmas tree comes down there is a bookshelf that will go up against the back wall.  At that time I would move the square ottoman over to help anchor the corner.  I would use a round coffee table with visible legs, like the one below.  I like this table because it is light and airy, but still substantial looking.  The sofas are quite large, so they need a big coffee table to keep everything in balance.  

In order to further delineate the conversation area I would add an area rug that follows all of the rules we talked about here.  I like the one below; it adds color, and the pattern helps break up a lot of the square lines in the room. 

To further break up the right angles of the room I would add the following inexpensive wall decor to the area above the storage cabinet. 

 I would also consider moving the cabinet closer to the love seat, and adding a lamp.  This storage piece definitely needs some height to it, and this bright lamp from West Elm would really pop nicely off the fernwood wall as well as add reading light to a comfy seating area.    

My favorite things I found for this room are the pillows below.   The first pillow is FANTASTIC, and it's on sale.  I truly love this pillow for Alicia's room, it's got great colors, a not too linear stripe, and texture too - a winner all around!

But I also love the following two accessories for the window area, what a great spot for some glass.

If you love any of these items just click on the images and you'll be taken to a retail website.

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