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Long before Gary and Cecilia Peters moved into their home in Florida, they had been collectors of western art. They were particularly fond of the authentic art of the Sioux and Zuni Indians. The Peterses’ splendid living room has been decorated to set off their favorite pieces.

Lavish leather sectional sofas and chairs are arranged to take advantage of the panoramic landscape, both exterior and interior. The impressive expanse of window is covered with soft sheers, but cornices and draperies in a dark-patterned fabric frame the windows. Mixing textures, and combining tailored elements with more graceful lines, contributes to the pleasing feeling of the room.

The Peterses’ warm colors, personal artifacts, and graceful window treatments add drama and excitement to this comfortably luxurious living room.

With their own hands, a young career couple with two children has lovingly restored this ninety-four-year-old New Jersey farmhouse. Redoing their home on weekends became Judy and Jim Knox’s hobby. Together they plastered and painted, replaced the windows, uncovered pocket doors, and recreated moldings. They were delighted when they saw the gracious floral fabric in wine red and cornflower blue on an ivory background because it was exactly what they had in mind. Walls were painted a daring dark winterberry color and the moldings and trim a clear oyster white. The Knoxes’ old living room furniture was moved to the family room, clearing the way to create the traditional English feeling they desired. Two comfortable wingback chairs in a blue mini-print, and a camelback sofa in the charming floral, brought the glorious new colors into the room. An additional small-patterned fabric was used to skirt a table. A glass and brass coffee table over a bordered rug made a lovely accent area, while matching Queen Anne cherry end tables complete the new furniture. The elegant lined floral swag and jabot installed under the restored molding allows lots of natural light into the room. This bright and inviting room has now become Judy and Jim’s very special place.

A fashionable young Illinois wife and mother, Jeanetta Sutherland, wanted a more dramatic look for her living room. After installing a textured wall covering with a warm, neutral background, a white Haitian cotton sectional sofa, and vinyl pinstriped vertical blinds, she felt the room was too bland.

Jeanetta and her husband, Randy, love black, so she was delighted when she found a contemporary floral in mauve on a black background. She then cleverly brought in two other fabrics in the same pattern, but in two different color schemes. The result was a living room without the blabs.

A simple treatment of a cornice was installed over the vertical blinds enhancing the overall look of the window. The teal fabric was used for extra large throw pillows and a skirted table. Jeanetta painted wicker accent tables and black. Rearranging the sectional sofa opened the room up and made it look more spacious.

With the daring use of color and prints, and a little of her own labor, Jeanetta was able to convert this once plain living room into an exciting oasis.

 His house began its life as a builder’s model, but it quickly became home to a couple who had retired to Florida. They couldn’t help but be attracted to the soothing atmosphere of the serene southwestern interior decorating.
 

Steering away from the more vibrant colors usually associated with this look, Carole Ponzio decided to decorate in more muted desert colors. She let the deep greens of the cactus and other plants provide color contrast, as well as the rich color and texture of the rough-sawn cedar fireplace.
 

A classic durries rug warms up the white vinyl floor and anchors the furniture arrangement. Pleated shades at the windows softly accent the arches. The textured sheer shades are framed by a cotton fabric with a flame stitch pattern.
 

The pine entertainment center houses the TV and VCR. Cube end tables and a large coffee table resemble marble, but are laminated. The recessed brass bases of the tables pick up on the diagonal brass strip of the fireplace.
 

Faux stone lamps and vases complete the southwestern feeling of this earthy room that was really decorated to be lived in.
 

Pulling It All Together
New
Furniture
Area rug
Window treatments
Lamps

The owners of this spacious home felt the need to warm up their living room. Used primarily for entertaining family and friends, the all-white room appeared forbidding and uninviting. 

“We’ll replace the wall-to-wall carpet with hardwood floors, but we want to keep all of our furniture,” was their plan. The eclectic collection of French, Oriental, and contemporary furnishings needed to be pulled together to provide a striking, but comfortable feeling. 

Introduction of a rich raspberry and accents of teal was the starting point of the transformation. The sofa and sectionals remained white, but a paisley pattern in the new colors was used to recover two French pickled wood-frame chairs. White sheers at the window were replaced by tailored balloon shades in a sumptuous teal fabric, and over layered with pinch-pleated draw draperies in the raspberry and teal paisley. Colorful throw pillows softened the white sofa. 

The sophisticated calla lily pattern of the custom area rug brought together all of the colors of the room. The owners’ collection of fine Oriental art and objects, grand French armoire, and personal accessories were given a new life in their new warm, colorful home. 

In preparation for the return of her children for the Christmas holidays, Alice Newsome, the recently widowed owner of this gracious North Carolina home built in the early 1900s, wanted to update and brighten her living room. It had been twenty-five years since the house had last been decorated. Alice’s idea was to give this room a cheery and inviting feeling, but she wanted to achieve it with a minimum amount of disruption. She wanted to keep her existing furniture and not recover the cherry red sofa. She also didn’t want to repaint the avocado green moldings and trim.

Introducing a bright, but soft, floral pattern fabric in shades of reds, pinks, leafy greens, with a touch of cornflower blue, produced an extraordinary transformation to the once subdued room. This charming cotton fabric was used to recover two comfortable wood framed chairs, for pillows that updated the red squat arcs en; tea softly swagged drapery treatment. White mini-blinds completed the new look at the window.

An ottoman from another room and a chair were greatly enhanced by being recovered in a small rose-colored print. The addition of ruffles softens the hard lines of these two pieces of furniture. An existing dark rug was replaced with an Oriental that incorporated the new color scheme on a rich navy background.

Alice’s charitable, like her grandmother’s shadow box, took on a whole different meaning in their bright, new surroundings. When her family returned home for the holidays, all of their favorite things were still in place, but their spirits were lifted at the sight of the new look, which managed to bring the old and updated together in beautiful harmony.

The eclectic taste of a young couple, Angela and Leonard Mindlin was the springboard for turning their first house, a typical ranch, into a charming and sophisticated home. They began by replacing three plain, narrow windows with one large, mullioned picture window. Besides adding more light, the new window created an impressive focal point for the living room.

The pale yellow tint of the luxurious brocade sofas and chairs is repeated softly throughout the room. A large Oriental rug in pale blue, rose, and apricot introduces new colors to the elegant palette. Framing the window is an elaborately swaged, bowed, and puddle treatment in a shimmering silk plaid.

Bleached pine Louis XV-style tables continue the bright, airy look. Rather than using a solid wood coffee table, the glass top reflects light and opens up a view to the rug’s center medallion. Fulfilling one of Angela’s wishes is a white baby grand piano romantically angled in the corner?

The soft colors, appropriately scaled furniture so artfully arranged, and personal style of the Mind lines gives a small living room a spacious and inviting ambience. Their eclectic selection of accessories adds character and the finishing touch to this luxurious living room.

Pulling It All Together

New

Window

Swaged drapery treatment

Furniture

Area rug

Baby grand piano

Wanting a real change from the old earth tones, they began by painting the dark paneling, and even the upright piano, bright white. A dusty rose carpet and a glorious floral fabric in red rose, pink, and plant green gave this Victorian living room a fresh new look. All the charming accessories from Joan’s Heart & Home country craft business, and the classic 1928 Wurlitzer jukebox, had finally found the proper setting.

In the beginning Joan doubted that this room would come together in the extraordinarily short time she had. When the decorating was completed, she was more overwhelmed by the beauty of her gorgeous new living room than by the absolute miracle of having met her deadline.

Pulling It All Together

New

Interior restoration

Paint colors

Fabrics; large floral, mini print, small pattern, and solid

Upholstered furniture

Window treatment

Table skirt

Tables

Area rug

When it was time to update the mood of Marian Welch’s living room, this North Carolinian knew that she wanted a lighter, more elegant look something more in keeping with the beautiful Oriental pieces she and her husband had collected while traveling all over the world. A decorating theme was devised around two things she didn’t want to change, the rust wall-to-wall carpeting and a favorite armchair. 

An Oriental-inspired print, appropriately named Kasumi, a subtle mum pattern, in shades of pewter and parchment with cinnamon the newer version of rust was used at the window. The generously swaged valance and jabots frame the soft-colored pleated shades. Two tuxedo arm loveseats replace the old armless ones, and their new arrangement allows for a more spacious looking room. 

It also shows off the custom mum design of the new area rug. Laid over the old carpet, the rug lightens up the once dark floor. Parsons end tables in black lacquer blend well with the Oriental mood of the room. Brighter colors and more formal furnishings, carefully rearranged, give this living room a refined elegance befitting the lady who lives there. 

Once upon a time living rooms were decorated, then  reserved for company only. But, despite their intended purpose, these formidable-looking rooms did nothing to welcome guests. Instead, everybody retreated to the family room, where they could feel comfortable, and the living room remained empty.
 

An even worse scenario is the furniture-empty living room. People buy a home and then put off decorating the living room. Rather than settle for something less than their ultimate dream room, the new homeowners wait sometimes for years to furnish their living room. In the meantime they have to pass a barren room every day.
 

The appeal of the living rooms shown in this chapter is that they are lived in. However beautiful and finished they appear, these rooms are used daily not saved for company only. The unique decorating style of each room reflects the individual taste and personality of the owners.
 

A gracious living room should be one that welcomes all, but most especially you. After all, shouldn’t this be the place where you are living now and happily ever after?