Please help me decorate my new living room (where to start, colors, etc)

Our new living room is ready to decorate! I am so excited but I feel overwhelmed. We painted it a very neutral light beige. We have hardwood floors. The room next to it is the dining room, which is painted a light sage green and has burgundy and gold accents. The opening between the dining room and living room is large, so I would like the rooms to flow together a little bit. And the house is almost 100 years old, so I like to stick with things that could be a little antiques looking, or at least very traditional.

I was thinking navy blue with maybe yellow or gold accents. But I'm just not sure!

I also definitely want to have some interesting things.... Maybe a solid sofa, maybe a striped chair, some kind of scrolly pattern on an area rug, and curtains of some sort. But I have no idea how to decorate and don't want to go too crazy with patterns. I am soooo lost, I just don't know where to start. Any advice? I also love to see pics if you have any you like!

TIA !!!,!

ETA. The stairway is also in the living room, and somEday we might want to add a runner...so I want to keep that in mind when decorating, too.

Message edited 4/14/2013 4:09:24 PM.

Re: Please help me decorate my new living room (where to start, colors, etc)

We are buying a new home and starting to look into decorating also.

I like Pinterest and Houzz.com for ideas.

Also we went to Bassett Furniture and really liked them. They do custom upholstery so like you were saying about the accent chair with a patttern, they do that, someone comes to your house and helps you design also!

We started with color schemes, we have two we are deciding bw, navy is one of them! We like the idea of navy couches bc they are dark (we have a son) so they won't get dirty easily and you can use almost any other colors as accent colors.

HTH

Re: Please help me decorate my new living room (where to start, colors, etc)

Thank you so much!

I love the idea of navy, but after reading stuff online last nit about how to have "flow" from room to room, I am thinking I should skip the navy, since we have that nowhere else at all in our house. Uh, I wish I were better at decorating!

I am thinking burgundy couches to help it flow with the green/burgundy/gold dining room next to it.

Any one else have any advice ?

Re: Please help me decorate my new living room (where to start, colors, etc)

I found decorating my formal living room to be the hardest. It's open to the formal dining room, so they are both painted the same color -- BM Par Four, which is a pale green.

My living room color scheme is -

Cream/pale gold couch with striped accent pillows of dark red, olive green, and pale gold.

The same striped fabric on the accent pillows are used on my 2 chairs.

I have dark wood furniture.

Hardwood floors with a traditional area rug in sort of an old "oriental rug" pattern in colors of cream, light green, burgundy, etc.

It sounds weird, but goes together well.

So from what I've learned, I would say:

1. Start with one piece and build off of it. I knew I wanted soft green walls, and after that, the first thing I bought was the area rug. And then I built my color scheme/furniture around the colors and style of the area rug. But it definitely helps to start somewhere, so just pick something you like and start creating your room around that "anchor" piece.

2. Go for accents that pop! You mentioned stripes, and I love how it came out in my living room. But even ifyou want to keep the big investment pieces neutral, you can really play with accessories or smaller furniture pieces.

3. Seek help from in store designers. I got my furniture at Bassett, where you can customize fabrics, and I found the complimentary designer there very helpful in making my "vision" come alive. She helped me select furniture, pick fabric, even layout the furniture (by drawing a floor plan for me). And she incorporated the area rug and other pieces I had already.

4. While you want cohesiveness and flow, I think you don't want to be too matchy/matchy. So I wouldn't worry about going with a color that is nowhere else in the house, as long as it flows with the house. For example, if you have all neutral earth tones, I wouldn't then go with hot pink in a room, but if you are sticking with traditional, bold colors (e.g., burgundy, gold, etc.), then navy would probably flow fine. And I think the furniture shouldn't all match ... as long as there is something to tie it in (same wood finish, for example), I think it looks good to have mismatched pieces or accent pieces for visual interest.

Good luck!

Re: Please help me decorate my new living room (where to start, colors, etc)

I think you're correct to try to creat a flow especially since the rooms open up to one another. A PP mentioned Bassett so I thought I'd show you what we did. All the big pieces are from Bassett and it great because you can choose your fabrics and coordinating furniture. Also, these rooms aren't 100% done yet, but you get the idea!

Re: Please help me decorate my new living room (where to start, colors, etc)

here they are:

Image Attachment(s):

Message edited 4/16/2013 1:31:43 PM.

Re: Please help me decorate my new living room (where to start, colors, etc)

Re: Please help me decorate my living room (where to start, colors, etc)

Thanks so much! The color is BM AF-490 Tranquility.