If you have dark, traditional DR furniture

nicole81

Wed, Sep 21 2022, 11:41 pm

amother OP wrote:

my problem is that my couch is gray so it really doesn't match with the rest of the room. Sad

idk how to tie all these colors together.

I have a 100+ year old house, dark traditional living room, and I made it work with gray. Gray/white/brown works perfectly. What I did was inexpensive but a bit involved. I have a dark table and dark wood chairs but linen upholstery. I painted the wall a super super light neutral to warm gray, with white trim. The built in cabinets, instead of dark brown, I painted the doors the same colors as the walls. The wood doors are accented and looked old fashioned, but making it two-tones with a gray background and the white trim and inner accents was a huge upgrade. Everything that wasnt the doors, I painted a very light cream tone that matched the linen upholstery. I changed all the cabinet pulls to modern shaped, super clean bronzy gold handles. I found a tall and slim rectangular bar/table that was $80 on Amazon that had a faux marble top (gray and white) and the same shade of gold legs as the cabinet pulls. Based on the geography of my home, I was able to remove the window fixtures from one side and maintain privacy. The main window I put a plain white fixture that leaves space at the top of uncovered.

For artwork, I found watercolors looked fresh and airy. I actually purchased some small judaica watercolors from Etsy that are beautiful, put them in super slim frames, and they light up the room.

My floors aren't terribly dark so I left them. But if they were dark, I'd stick an area rug under the table that brought in the same hues of gray and white.

For me, the key was since the wood was all neutral or warm toned, I used warm gray and warm white. And when I mean gray, I mean barely and it's the perfect contrast. I played on the clean lines and geometrics both in the wall and cabinet painting as well as the window fixtures, cabinet pulls, and, additional piece of furniture. Wall art was on the smaller side and bright colors, and nontraditional in style.

I leave the table uncovered during the week. IMO that looks more modern and light. White on shabbos again with geometrics or crocodile texture.

I don't even have spotlights, only an old classic chandelier, but the room looks great and bright. I still have some finishing touches but the painting was soooo worth it. I did it myself so it wasn't expensive, just labor intensive.

Oh and I also changed the plates on the light switches to upgrade the look, as well as put in new outlet covers (and one new outlet bc it was so old it yellowed lol). The little things add a lot.

Start by figuring the undertones of your wood and then playing with versions of the colors you want with similar undertones. If they're warm but your couch is a cool gray, then I'd throw on light warm gray or warm white/ivory pillows.

Librarian

Thu, Sep 22 2022, 12:00 am

nicole81 wrote:

Wow! Impressive!