I am still ho-humming over our living room. We recently had our housemate leave, taking with her a lovely oatmeal colored recliner and making me miss the soothing color and wonder if I should cover our sofa with something similar. This would be radical.
The thing about our sofa – it’s a 1960’s Hide-A-Bed with atrocious fabric, but beautiful lines. It fits perfectly in the space, is no-nonsense, but so cozy, AND so low to the ground that nothing can get underneath it (read: glass from a broken wineglass, cat toys, cat hair, lost socks, slippers, ETC…). The only thing is we had been wanting a leather couch, and I hate to go to any expense/effort (and covering a couch IS effort) if we’re going to get something else. But as it turns out our tastes are pretty expensive in the area of leather couches (here is one place I have no interest in IKEA-quality), and as I have mentioned before, I don’t know if I trust that much costly leather around the cats (or myself, for that matter. I have been known to get nail polish on a brand new bedspread).
So, after examining the couch and discovering it to be gloriously compartmentalized, here’s what I think I am going to do. Cover the couch in a lovely, soothing oatmeal color using an inexpensive fabric and staple gun. . This can be accomplished by buying unbleached canvas painter’s cloth from Home Depot ($19.99 for a 9×12 foot spread) for the structure, and then buying something softer for the cushions. I am excited by the two-toned effect that will come from having two different fabrics, and the durability from using painter’s cloth (which is built to withstand liquids). Then I can get my leather fix by covering the coffee table you see above using a feaux-leather vinyl and padding, transforming an ugly wood piece into a table/ottoman. Ta-DA! I will keep you updated 1. If I actually get around to all this and 2. If it looks any good.
It’s always hard to find an exact replica of what you would like to achieve, but here is a cozy living room with blue walls, an oatmeal-toned couch and a dark brown coffee table, mimicking the shade of leather I would like to use. The main differences between this room and mine are that the wood floors are much darker, the walls are lighter, and I am using red as an accent instead of pink, but this is actually a pretty close match. I am very interested in rooms that use cool colors but appear warm -this is definitely one of them!
Okay, now I do want to see/hear more!!
Can I hire you to decorate my place when I get to la la land?? Haha JK