Decor Dilemma: Living Room Furniture Part 2

Last week, I shared with you my problem concerning my new living room furniture. Despite really liking the furniture itself, I wasn't liking the way it looked in what were using as the living room space. You can see that post here.

This past weekend, my husband and I decided to move the furniture into what was our formal dining room to see if we would like the layout and scale better than in the other room. We shoved all of the dining room furniture to one side of the room so that we could at least get a visual and feel for what it would be like to permanently make this room the living room.

Two things that jumped out at me right away were the fact that the scale of the furniture worked really well in this space, and that it felt more cozy and "homey." I also like that the walls are gray, so instead of having a color palette dictated for me already, I am free to add color and texture how I please. 

The pillows that came with the couch are very pretty, and are a well made, thick upholstery fabric. BUT, they just don't flow with the colors in my home. I have pops of blues and greens everywhere, so I will not be using them in this space.

I threw the pillows I currently have laying around onto the sofa just to get a visual of what some color would look like in the space. While, I don't plan on a strictly blue and green color palette for this room, it does, however, let me visualize the room with pops of color and not just gray.

Now that my husband and I have made up our minds about switching the dining and living room spaces, it's time for the fun part. I get to take the neutral canvas, add curtains, a rug, textures, and accessories to make the room come alive. 

Decor Dilemma: Living Room Furniture

The Dilemma

Let me tell you, there is nothing like finding furniture that you really like, buying said furniture at a great price, only to bring it home and find that it just doesn't work in your space like you envisioned it would.

Nothing like it. 

Except maybe getting a root canal. Or waiting in line at the DMV. (Wait, have I ever mentioned that I do not like waiting in line at the DMV?)

Here is the lovely new furniture that I have waited a while for.  It's a gray color that would go with just about anything.  It has a little tufted detail on the back cushions. And it's comfy.

The only problem is that it just looks really awkward in the space to me.  Our kitchen is open to our living room, which is quite large.  There is room for a breakfast table and a sitting area in the large room. This new furniture just doesn't quite "fill up the space" like our sectional did.  If we could return the furniture and pick out something else, we might not be in this pickle, but that isn't an option.

We had had this sectional, square ottoman (which is wonderful for small children), and oh-so-comfortable-but-not-so-pretty recliner for a few years now. The couch had seen better days and the frame had broken on three different occassions. (Thankfully, my hubby is good at patching it up.) But we knew it wouldn't last much longer and it was time for new furniture. 

 Here is another view of the old furniture and the large living room. (Yes, it was from Christmas. I couldn't find another photo from this angle.) 

Here is the new furniture in the space. I love the round, teak side tables. But from this angle, which is the only way we could configure the furniture to look right, the table doesn't fill up the space between the couch and chair like I would like it to. I tried to stick a Band-Aid on that problem by adding the stool with a stack of books there, but it just looks off. 

Same thing on this side of the room.  We did have to angle this chair for the ottoman and the coffee table to both fit. It still just looks weird. 

It looks better from this angle, but this is not what you see when you walk in; the other side is. 

View from kitchen

So basically here is the run-down:

*The scale is too small for the room

*Awkward placement of furniture

*When my children eat at the breakfast bar, which is directly behind the sofa, they turn around without thinking and rub their food-stained hands all over the furniture.  (exasperated sigh)

*It just doesn't feel right (that's a legitimate basis for wanting to flip-flop your whole house isn't it?)

The Solution (or at least I hope it is)

If I am really honest with myself, our current living space hasn't ever felt quite right. I don't know if it was because of the furniture or the large space.  I have been toying with switching out our living and dining spaces for a while now. I have always been on the fence about that, but now I am convinced that it is the thing to do. 

These pictures of our "formal dining" space are a little old.....before I added curtains or anything, but they give you a good idea of what the layout of the space is. On one side is the office, and the other side is the foyer.  Actually, this room was originally the formal living space and what we use as the office was the formal dining space. We really don't need a formal sitting room so we decided that this would be our dining room. 

So, my idea would be to make this space the living room. I would move all of our dining furniture into where our couch currently is.  A switcharoo, if you will. A great big flip-flop. One that, by all accounts is going to take a little bit of logistical planning to execute. I feel like it will be a much cozier living space and more functional dining area that way. I have to find a way to get blinds for that huge window (Lowe's doesn't even cut custom blinds that big), we have to get our satellite provider to run cable to this room, and we have to figure out how to move our humongous, heavy entertainment center that we semi-built. 

If anyone has any other suggestions, I am open to hearing them.  But for now, that is the way I am leaning on the situation.  Hoping to make the final decision soon and get to work on it!

Decor Dilemma: Lamps

So, I am having a bit of a dilemma.  And I need your help.  I have been indecisive about these lamps for months now.  It's time to figure this out. 

I found these lamps at thrift store for only $5 each.  They are vintage, heavy brass.  I loved the shape of them and the fact that they are gold.  They only shades I could find for them were these slightly tapered, cream ones from Lowe's.  I wasn't quite sold on them yet in this space. 

Then, I added some faux bois fabric in turquoise and the mirrors behind them. Better. But I'm still not quite sure they work here.  

I have thought about spray painting them and moving them onto the buffet in the dining room or our master bedroom.  With different lamp shades, of course.  But I haven't been able to bring myself to paint them.  I really love the mirrors in this location and have debated getting slightly shorter lamps like this one:

via \\ Z Gallerie

 Or this one:

via \\ Target

Or this one: 

via \\ Target

I know that I want to keep the brass lamps and use them somewhere. 

Should I leave them be?

Should I paint them and use them elsewhere and buy different lamps for the living room?  

What do you guys think?