Brown Be Gone

In order to brighten up my very brown family room, I started by removing all the movable brownish things from the room:

• I tossed out all the brown pillows (well, I just put them into a closet).
• I removed the red-orange-yellow-brownish flowers on my round black marble-top end console.
• I took all the brown books off the glass coffee table.
• I removed all brown-colored frames from my white fireplace mantle.

But, even after I removed all this brown stuff, the room still looked really dark!  In order to soften up this masculine furniture I went straight to Target and bought 2  white twill throw pillows and put those on the large sofa.

Then, to add some fresh color I bought this white pillow with these abstract light greenish-yellow applique flowers, lined in black/brown, and I threw a very light and delicate white throw on the back of the other sofa.

On top the black marble-top end console table, I put these silk white/yellow orchids in a mustard yellow vase (they look real!).

On my white fireplace mantle, I put an exquisite glass candelabra in the center.  But, the mantle still looks really bare, especially since the ceiling is 2-stories high.  So, I am thinking of getting or painting a large canvas with maybe some abstract large creamy yellow orchids (with tinges of pink) hanging on dark brown branches on a cerulean colored background.  Very almond-branches-in-bloom by Van Gogh.

Pictures to come soon …

The Family Room

Our family room is an enormous 2-story room, with giant towering windows,  and an open floor plan that connects directly to our kitchen.  It’s also entirely brown. Well, everything in the room is dark brown – brown leather couches, brown coffee table, brown pillows, brown ottoman.  I am so ready for a different color.

Now, I don’t plan on buying any new furniture,  just re-purposing our old stuff and throwing on some new colors and accessories, to save some $$.  I am thinking I’ll use a lot of white and ivory to hopefully brighten up the room and make it look cleaner and more elegant.

Time to look for some inspirational pictures!

Lovely crisp light green, white and dark brown living room color scheme

I found this beautiful, crisp and clean living room design on BHG.com.  I love it and I want it!  I never would have thought about using this type of subtle yellow-green color on the walls – but it really makes the white fireplace, bookshelves and accessories pop!  I will definitely be keeping this in mind as I design my family room. Reminds of me of english spring, fresh and green, with a sophisticated touch of dark ebony wood.

Vintage bottles, Pottery Barn

I’m  in love with these huge, old green-blue-clear vintage bottles, that I found at potterybarn.com.  I don’t know if I will use these in my family room since there’s a high probability that it will get knocked over or broken (we play a lot of boardgames/wii games).  But, I WILL find somewhere for them (maybe as the centerpiece on my round glass kitchen table or on my huge black granite island).

Here are some more inspirational ideas:

Neutral and comfy living room

Fresh modern cottage

Dramatic gold and black family room