Need a ladies point of view (or decorators)

[LuvOrlando]

Looks perfect to me, the only thing "missing" is an accent color. Personally, I'd probably go with rust right now and add some pumpkins & plants with rust blooms to the sides of the fireplace (Trader Joe's had rust lilies this week at $9 or so & the stores have gorgeous fresh fall color flowers, aldi bouquets run around $4 and Wegmans around $8) even small same shade pillows to the chairs. Nice thing about an accent color is you can switch it up from season to season. My place has the same taupe and I have fresh flowers and pumpkins all over, also a fan of flameless candles for evening ambiance. Flowers are a really easy way to improve mood all winter.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

...a dog!

he’s in the other room!

 

[Miffy]

Is there a wall opposite the sofa? If there is, that's where the TV belongs. To me, it looks unbalanced and looming over the fireplace. You don't even have to hang the TV on the wall--a good TV stand would be fine.

If I were going to redo this room, I'd replace the ceiling fan with a different, sleeker one. One without a pull chain. I'd take the chairs away from the sides of the fireplace, where I'm guessing no one ever sits in them. They don't seem to belong in the room.

Then I'd get rid of the sconces and put built-in shelves on both sides of the fireplace.

I mean, how much of a budget do you have? New sofa? Something less bulky but still cozy? A lighter color paint on the walls? Replace the tile floor with hardwood (not laminate, but real wood)?

But, really, for an easy fix, if you do have a wall opposite the sofa, relocate the TV to that wall, remove the chairs from their location, and repaint the room with a lighter-color wall paint. White works just fine, you know. You don't need a designer color. Behr's Nano White is great. So is Benjamin Moore Simply White.

 

[StephMK]

It's a very pretty, peaceful room. I would just add a few pops of color in pillows and leave the rest. Shelves or cabinets would be nice on either side but with a new walker, probably not worth the headache.

That's a great coffee table for a toddler. For some reason, we had a glass one back then and all the kids had forehead bumps at some point.

 

[HopperFan]

I dunno something about my living room feels like it’s missing something…any ideas?
View attachment 611431

Not going to read all so I can make my own fresh thoughts so apologize to any I repeated.

Your tv is HUGE (I like big tvs)- almost the same size as the fireplace so it has literally taken over as the focus of the room. It is floating up there, everything else grounded and your fireplace, which is pretty, is lost. Those chairs and lights look so tiny by that tv.

If it isn't a working fireplace I would ditch the screen, and if it is I would put on glass inserts so you don't take away from it.

I would move out the dining chairs (and lights) and build out that entire wall with shelves with lighting. Maybe a cream color like the fireplace with a glaze. This connects the tv at the ceiling to the furniture on the floor. It becomes a full wall focus point instead of your eyes only seeing the tv and dining chairs. Your fireplace will stand out instead of being lost.

The rest looks fine.

NOTE: You can do an expensive built in or you could do it yourself there are so many ideas and plans on Pinterest you can connect to.

 

[antmaril]

Honestly, you have a beautiful room but the giant tv on top of your fireplace just ruins it for me. Even a smaller tv would help. It’s just too big.

This is my criticism of the room, as well. The tv really is just too big. Otherwise, I think it’s a very nice room. The tv, unfortunately, overwhelms.

 

[larissawbb]

So I’m definitely going to repaint it a lighter color with the suggestions here.

get new pillows and a rug which I was thinking anyway and a new tray for the ottoman.

also to the poster who is awesome for remembering yes I have a little man who is on his way to walking so things won’t be nice forever lol.

The big question is should I get shelving built on the sides or do something with the mantle for instance brick it???? I’m legit taking all of the suggestions you guys made as I want to improve it.

this is the decor for fall btw! I didn’t know if you I should have put it here during normal times

View attachment 611570

What is your current wall color? I like it.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Thanks for sharing the fall photo too. I love the plaid pillows!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

The TV doesn’t bother me. I figured her husband probably wanted a big one, lol. (We have had that discussion just recently in my own household!) I’m going to support the OP here and say I wouldn’t move or change it. I’d rather have a big TV and one focal point (fireplace/TV) than confusion over the focal point (fireplace OR TV). I agree with some posters that bookshelves on either side of the fireplace/TV would balance it out more, and also that putting lighting in those shelves give it the potential to make the room really cozy and beautiful. (I meant to mention that earlier.) Personally I wouldn’t change the color or anything else, just add the bookshelves.

Yeah that can be seen as too bulky these days although it's not as closed in as ones of the past (the style is considered outdated I suppose one could say)

Here's an example of one of the main builders in town:

View attachment 611530

They kept the bottom portion but opted to not have anything on top.

Here's another builder:
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This is another builder who opted to do floating shelves, a lower built-in and then a chair on the other side:
View attachment 611536



I have seen built-ins still even bulkier older style ones in high dollar homes still but they are fewer in comparison to a newer style of either not having any built-ins, having floor to ceiling windows (which the OP's house doesn't have so that's moot), or having a low-key built-in.

**All pictures are new homes in my area.

Not a fan of that style at all! I wonder if they just didn’t want to spend money on built ins because the cost of lumber was so high.

 

[TLSnell1981]

I think overall it looks pretty nice, but to my eye (and pictures don't do things justice), everything in the room seems too oversized for the room. I have similar issues in my home. While I have a spacious home, the rooms seem to be on the smaller side so I have to be really careful with furniture. But I doubt you're going to listen to us and go out and buy all new stuff! Plus, how things appear is really a subjective perspective.

I think the TV is way to big for the mantel. Realizing you don't have much choice here--it just overwhelms the wall. The heavy chairs on either side plus the heavier wall sconce candle things just seem to bulky for your size room. I'd remove those and put something "light" and airy over there. It seems so dark over there. I'd like to see something white or one of those twiggy "trees" with some lights or something? Love the window as is. I'd probably scale back the fan. Might put in a bit larger rug that is lighter/brighter. I'm not a fan of ceramic tile but I know it's big down south and everyone is used to it there. I'd cover it up more if I could. If you're going to use a throw and pillows, here's where you add some color.

DH would disagree. No TV can be TOO big. Lol

 

[tcufrog]

The TV doesn’t bother me. I figured her husband probably wanted a big one, lol. (We have had that discussion just recently in my own household!) I’m going to support the OP here and say I wouldn’t move or change it. I’d rather have a big TV and one focal point (fireplace/TV) than confusion over the focal point (fireplace OR TV). I agree with some posters that bookshelves on either side of the fireplace/TV would balance it out more, and also that putting lighting in those shelves give it the potential to make the room really cozy and beautiful. (I meant to mention that earlier.) Personally I wouldn’t change the color or anything else, just add the bookshelves.


Not a fan of that style at all! I wonder if they just didn’t want to spend money on built ins because the cost of lumber was so high.

There's lots of great IKEA hacks online for using IKEA bookshelves and putting trim and new knobs on them so that they look built in.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I wonder if they just didn’t want to spend money on built ins because the cost of lumber was so high.

Nope that's been the style around here for a while. It was a style back in 2013 when we were starting to look at home plans and has been gaining popularity ever since to where these days you're less likely to see new builds with older style built-in (which is what you just simply expected to be done). Those homes I pictured are larger homes and aren't shying away from lumber whatsoever and they'll cost you a pretty penny (well all real estate around here is but still). Lumber pricing during the pandemic has nothing to do with the style adjusting.

 

[maxaroni]

A good paint color to use, if you want to lighten up, is Sherwin-Williams Pediment. Now if you go look at it at the store store you might go YUCK. I know I did, but I've ended up using it all over my upstairs and am going to take it to my main level. It is a "gray" but it's got some warm-toned taupe in there. I ended up seeing a few of the rooms done in it online and it match a darker accent color in my new bathroom tile perfectly. I started using it in my master bathroom and found it was very restful and anything I had worked well with it (I've got a lot of 90s wood tones on the floor that I can't change now). It's really made my house feel so much fresher. I think it would do great with what you already have in that room and will lighten things up but still contrast with the wide trims you have.

Our house is a similar color and we love it. It’s Sherman Williams City Loft, with white trim. We have a brand new home, new construction, this is the color the builder used. I would never have thought about this color (or similar) if it weren’t for our son and daughter in law. They bought a house and had a similar color in their house when they moved in, fell in love with it. When it came to us painting our prior house, we opted to go neutral and used it throughout. We were pleased when this was what the builder used.

We have 9ft ceilings throughout this house, too. We have crown molding and love the higher ceilings. In our prior house, we had a 9 ft ceiling in the family room, the rest of the downstairs was 8ft. However, our upstairs was 7 ft ceilings.

 

[disykat]

I like your room. Even the tv doesn't bother me, because function is worth sacrifice IMO. I'd remove the two pillows closest to the tv and also that chair - for give some visual space. Depending on how that looked, I'd add some small artwork on the side walls to draw the eye out like another poster suggested.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

Can I just say for the record how awesome you guys are So what I think I’m gonna do is look into the book shelving I’m calling a company Monday to see what they offer.

I know I’m sorry I’m bothering you guys a question but does anyone have an idea for a rug that would pull everything together as it is now?

Because I feel the rug ties everything together and without knowing exactly what color to paint the walls which I think has to be a bit brighter..

 

[ronandannette]

Can I just say for the record how awesome you guys are up so what I think I’m gonna do is look into the bookie shelving I’m calling a company Monday to see what they offer.

I know I’m sorry I’m bothering you guys a question but does anyone have an idea for a rug that would pull everything together as it is now?

Because I feel the rugged ties everything together and without knowing exactly what color to paint the walls which I think Hass to be a bit brighter..

Again, my tastes run towards lush, cozy textures and shag is current. I’d go with something like this to soften the tile but as has already been mentioned, it should be bigger and cover more of the floor.

 

[Christine]

Can I just say for the record how awesome you guys are So what I think I’m gonna do is look into the book shelving I’m calling a company Monday to see what they offer.

I know I’m sorry I’m bothering you guys a question but does anyone have an idea for a rug that would pull everything together as it is now?

Because I feel the rug ties everything together and without knowing exactly what color to paint the walls which I think has to be a bit brighter..

There's about a million rugs online so it's kind of hard to pull out an example. What I think you need to do is just decide on what your "pop" color will be. Let's say you decide to do the Sherwin Williams Pediment that I mentioned above. With that you've got the white trim, the dark sofa/loveseat, the bland background walls, etc. You will use your pillows, throws, and carpet to pull out a color.

For me, I have the Pediment walls, a white painted fireplace, an off-white sofa, dark espresso furniture so there is neutral, neutral neutral. I've decided to go for a mixture of blues as my color. Predominantly Navy, with some touches of teal. The "tchotchkes" on my fireplace mantel include these touches of blue. My throw pillows are Navy and Navy/tan/white striped. I have a big area rug that covers most of my family room floor that is a combination of many blues that are similar to what's in the pillows and walls (even with tiny splashes of other colors added in). That's how I pulled in color and brightened things up. And, with a whim, I could change all that one day if I decided that green was my new best friend.

 

[unrequited23]

I'm not a fan of the look of any TV over a fireplace. I'm short and it puts the TV at an uncomfortable angle to watch while seated. Several people mentioned not using/covering/removing the fireplace, that seems like a good option if the main purpose of the room is to watch TV. Put the TV on a stand to store components and flank it with shelving/bookcases preferably with doors on the lower part to quickly hide kid clutter. These will give you a place to display holiday decor and hang stockings for Christmas (if you celebrate that holiday).

I might be biased as we have a full wall brick fireplace with a mantle placed 6-8 inches too high that has been a challenge to decorate around. I've been tempted to just put the 65" TV on the elevated hearth.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Depends on what you are looking to do. When your space has mostly the same neutral shade everywhere it has a soothing effect, which I personally prefer, with little bits of removable pop that suit what I'm going for. Other people like bright colorful cottage like things 24/7, which can be pleasant and upbeat. My family spends a lot of time here with everyone hybrid working from home frequently so disengaging from work stress is the goal in our comfy space. They work then we sync up in the TV room for lunch & shooting the breeze, they work again then we reconvene in the same space to turn it all off.

Maybe instead of thinking about what works for the room think about what you want the room to do, like when you walk into the room what is it's purpose for you and your family? After that look up house designs online or some of those awesome design shows to see what you and your family might enjoy.

Home sense & TJ Maxx have lovely rugs, I used to say department stores but they are all empty these days.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I like the way it looks