DECORATING ADVICE : To Brighten Living Room, Begin With Paint
Question: I would like to perk up my living room. It has antique white walls, off-white, beige draperies and dark brown carpeting. There are two large sofas--which I would like to re-upholster--a large dark-colored coffee table and a dark-colored piano. There also is a large window that receives plenty of light. The only things that have to stay are the carpeting, the table and the piano. Do you have any suggestions for the draperies, the sofas and any other room accessories?
T. Serizawa
Answer: Begin brightening your room by painting the walls a happy jonquil yellow. Paint all of the trim white. Re-cover your sofas in a flower print of red, green, soft blue and pink on a jonquil yellow background. Cover a club chair or two with a rich emerald-green tweed. Leave your beige draperies, but top them with a valance of the same print you use on your sofa. Line the drapery valances in a rich yellow. Accent your sofas with bright-red throw pillows. Your coffee table and piano can stay, but accessorize your coffee table with a big basket filled with magazines and some pots of yellow chrysanthemums in clay pots set on glass liner dishes.
Q: We live in a 3-year-old house with an open, two-story foyer. As you walk in, the living room is to your left. All of the walls are painted off white, the carpet is light beige and the foyer tile is white ceramic. My living room is furnished with two mauve wing chairs and a sofa upholstered in teal green with a beige, mauve and blue flower design. The dining room has mahogany tables, and the windows are covered with off-white lace curtains. Everything looks too “vanilla” to me, and I’d like a little more splash. I would like to cover the foyer wall in a paper that would pull these rooms together. What do you suggest?
Martha Callahan
A: Wallpaper the two-story wall in a trellis design of teal green on cream or soft blue on cream. Hang a series of botanical flower prints on your trellis-covered wall. There are lots of trellis designs on the market, and I’m sure you’ll find one to suit your taste.
Q: Is blue the most popular decorating color?
Kathy Williams
A: It may be, judging from all the blue rooms I’ve seen lately. Blue comes in many shades, ranging from Thomas Jefferson blue (my personal favorite) to the skipper and navy tones that are often found in libraries and family rooms.
Why not try this library decorating scheme for a new and popular look? Cover the walls with a rich navy blue paint and the trim with a white semi-gloss enamel. Paint the ceiling flat white. For carpeting, choose rich kelly green. Cover your sofa with a print of bright-red flowers and green leaves on a skipper-blue background; the print can have some white in the design. Accent your sofa with some bright lipstick-red throw cushions. If you have wing chairs, a club chair or an ottoman, make sure that the upholstery features bright-red accents. At the windows, select white wooden louver shutters, topped by swag and jabot valances of bright plaid. The plaid can be lined in a rich blue or in your accent red.
If you are in the mood for a softer blue room, paint the walls light blue and the trim white. The bedspread, bed curtains, valances and bed skirt can be made of white toile. I would choose a rich skipper blue for the club chair and the carpeting.
Decorators who are inspired by the Orient like to use blue Cantonware and Chinese blue and white figurines in their rooms. A pair of blue and white Chinese vases fits into many decorating schemes. The vases are even more appealing when placed against rich blue walls.
Finally, blue is a natural choice for country decorating. It looks so handsome with pine furnishings, as well as with country colors such as goldenrod yellow, rust and cream.
