Sofa Furniture Buyer’s Guide Blog

Question Details: The carpet is beige/off white. there is a center oriental rug that is predominantly wine. The curtain is wineThe only source of light is from the glass door and once the curtians are drawn the room is really dark and I sometimes have to put on the light during the day. What color can i repaint the walls in the living room?

I would go with a warm mocha. It will complement the wine nicely and also tie in the lighter beige rug. Don’t forget to get some mocha accessories (throw pillows) to bring the wall color and wine couch together. Also, add some gold or mustard, it will brighten it up.I think you’ll be pleased with the color combo. Otherwise try a med/ steel blue (if your not tired of the grayer shades), it will cool down the wine color for a more contrasting look. Hope this helps.

We have oak-colored wood paneling in our living room and we want to paint over it. My first question is what do we need to do to it in terms of sanding, priming, etc.?

My second question is how do we go about choosing a shade of "white"? Our living room is big but is a little dark. I want it to look lighter, but still cozy. We have dark wood furniture and a light beige carpet. We could paint the walls white or more of a cream color. Even a light yellow or blue would be ok. I want the feel of the room to be clean but warm. I just don’t know how to decide what kind of undertones the paint color should have, or how to go about deciding. Thanks!
We like the look of the painted paneling. We don’t want to remove the paneling, cover it, or fill in the seams.

Wash it down and paint it with Killz, then use the regular paint. Try a buff color. It’s warm & goes with everything.

I have three floor lamps in my living room,all of them with flouroscent bulbs.I live in a apartment so I cant install any wall mount lights.The problem is that I do most of my work in the living room and only use bedroom for sleeping.I want more light to help me with my reading and laptop use,coze these lights are not enough.They were throwing white light in the beginning but now they are all yellowish and I hate yellow lights.It gives strain to my eyes and I can’t read continously.I looked at some departmental stores lighting department but none them fills my expectations.
Any ideas, solutions, suggestions.
Thanks…….

Lighting an apartment where restrictions prevent you from installing the proper lighting for your task is a common problem for many of us. Incandescent light has the best color, but it is not efficient and/or environmentally friendly. One way you can increase the lighting in the room and make the color more comfortable is to use a halogen torchiere. Halogen lights are more efficient than incandescent and give more light. Using a torchiere that has an upward facing shade will give you ambient room lighting and will work together with your fluorescent lamps to create a more comfortable color for your tasks. I have found with fluorescent light bulbs it is better not to use the bulbs that advertise "just like daylight" or "sun light", because they mix a color in with the phosphor coating that, with time, can yellow. Try to find a compact fluorescent light bulb that shows the lumen p/watt of 69 (lumen=light output) and color temperature of 3000K for your lamps. Be careful of the wattage requirement on each fixture so that you get the right bulb for the fixture. So, basically if you purchase a halogen torchiere and change the light bulbs out in your lamps you should see a great difference.

Anyone have any ideas to help me organize a living room with a radiator, sectional couch and a non working fireplace with bookshelves on each end? Help! I’m at a loss.

You can put your sectional couch in the middle of the room. Use it to "enclose" the living room space. Just don’t put too close to the radiator. You could put your tv (if you are using a tv) inside the fireplace (and if it would fit) and could hide it with a fireplace screen or doors when not watching. Put one of those long tables behind the couch and add a lamp and some decor and/or a plant. Your sectional does not have to be up against a wall. Play around with it and see what looks good.

I just bought a new living room set. My couches are chocolate brown, my drapes are a cream color with a romantic floral design in maroon and green. I want to get some accents to pull the room together. I want to have a classic french, romantic, but simple style to the room. Does anyone have any ideas?

for the wall color, Id go with a sage green that has undertones of brown. Behr: "Lion" would be a perfect color. with the trim in a cream color.
for the classic elegant French look, use some bronze candelabra, picture/mirror frames, vases.
try to get some of the drape fabric to make sofa cushions, or just pull out the individual colors for the cushions.
A nice antique or faux-antique piece of furniture like a Louis XIV armchair would add a nice touch…maybe upholstered in green or marroon silk. An Art Nouveau lamp would look great on a side table or fireplace mantle.

What color should a living room with honey colored wood floors be painted? The room feels skinny and long right now at about 11′ 17′, if that makes a difference.

There’s not specific furniture colors to correspond with, but we are planning on selling or renting out the house soon, so nothing too drastic.

choose a color that won’t take away from the beauty of the floor but compliment it Honey can be tricky with its orange undertones so stay away from yellows ,oranges,reds, beige’s and taupe’s .Best for resale would be a light grey based sage or light grey based blue.I generally use Benjamin Moore paints they’re more true to color than others i’ve used check out benjaminmoore.com for ideas

I will be sleeping temporarily (a few months) in someone’s living room and am wondering what can be done to give me some privacy in the bed area (I don’t expect complete privacy–just don’t want people to walk in and see me or my bed clearly with no view obstruction). I have been wondering about room dividers or privacy screens but I don’t know which ones would give enough coverage for a queen size bed. Any recommendations? Please help.

A lot depends on how much you want to spend and if you can put any kinds of hooks or brackets in your friend’s/family’s ceiling but here are some options. Ikea…and other places have these inexpensive wire drape rods with clips that you can hang anything fairly light(even a pretty flat sheet) on and you can just slide the drape to the wall to get it out of the way. You could hang blinds easily and just pull them up during the day but that would be more expensive. If it doesn’t matter that it be out of the way during the day they have very inexpensive bead curtains everywhere (try ebay) in plastic and wood that are easy to hang. You could also use a trellis( they often have really cheap ones at places like Oddlots) and you can decorate them any way you want. Hope something helps and you can get some sleep without worrying about people seeing your hair sticking up on end as you sleep!

My family and I are moving to a new home and never really decorated any room in our house. I am pretty sure I want to do a bohemian style for the living room any ideas.

Bohemian style is usually based on lots of ethnic elements. It is kind of a foreign gypsy look and lots of items can be bought at import stores like Pier One, Cost Plus etc. Even Target has introduced a "foreign marketplace" line of accessories that would work.

Use rich colors (no neon) and choose accessories with carving, beading, and other hand-done elements. Natural wood for the furniture & lots of unusual and artistic
accessories will help create the look.

Have fun!! Boho decorating really gives you a chance to show your artistic side!! : )

We live in an apartment and therefore our living room is very small and it looks quite dark too because of dark furniture and wall color. We would like to paint it and also cover the dark green sofa and armchairs somehow. They are still quite good and therefore my parents dont want to throw them away. They however need to be somehow protected because our dog sleeps there often and they are always dirty:-) Theres also a PC there which i think doesnt look very good but because our apartment is so small it is the only place it can be. So could you please suggest appropriate colours, materials for covering the furniture and just anything that comes into your mind that would make our living room look better?

Paint the walls a light creamy yellow and the ceiling a bright white. This will make the room cheery, bright and very inviting and also make it appear larger. White walls are nice, but show no personality. Paint the woodwork and trim a bright shiny white (if you can paint them).
As for the furniture, go with slipcovers. They make all kinds of sizes and patterns. Easy and much less expensive than having the furniture reupholstered.
If you have wood furniture that you don’t like, sand it and paint it a pretty color. Get a nice armoire for the computer. It will take up less room and hide the computer.
Accent with red – it will make the room pop. Use throw pillows, pictures, knick knacks … I use old books and stack them. I set items on top of them. A great way to display them. Don’t clutter; but do use things to accent.
Good luck! Get a slipcover that will not show the dirt. They can also we machine washed and dryed. Go with a pretty green.

I am a college student and im moving into an apartment. I am living in the living room and thinking of turning it into a room. I have ideas for what to use for my walls (cubicle partitions) and i have a basic layout of a room. What are some good ideas of saving space? and whats a good way of making a door since i dont have real walls. I was thinking of using a shower curtain or something liek that for my door.

I’ll TRY to help you here.

Wall partitions are great. They’re like a free-standing, fake wall. I’ve seen two types: a small, tri-fold one used for a small section, or a really nice, big-sized one that will cover almost an entire wall! That’s nice, because you could divide the room in half.
Another choice would be to have a sleeper couch that you turn into your bed only at night. If you can spring for it, consider a computer armoire, so you can close the doors during the day, but use it as a desk. If not, find a different type of fol-away desk.
I HOPE this is what you were asking. However you do it, I’m glad you’re thinking about doing this. If you’re that cramped, it’s best to have a way to make it a living area during the day and a bedroom at night. Hopefully it won’t be too long before you can have your own bedroom!