Betsy in Maine Part II

Today's post is a continuation of yesterday's on Betsy from Maine's beautiful old home. Yesterday I went over furniture arrangement. Today I wanted to go over some specifics.

1. Ottoman. Add an ottoman in front of the sofa. This room – because of its shape makes it hard to have a conversational furniture arrangement. Essentially- the sofa is by itself- and the two chairs and desk area a separate element. The sofa with an ottoman is a more pleasing combination than the sofa with a coffee table- because it is by itself. Does that make any sense? The ottoman above is from Wisteria.
2. Drapes. I would say audios to all of your window treatments. Radiators are so annoying. If you just had a shorter one- you could do full length panels in the living room…. But- assuming that you don’t want the expense of changing that- I would put in woven wood roller shades and patterned Roman shades- layered. You could also reverse that and have a sheer roller shade underneath- with woven Roman shades on top… Or- you could have wood shutters- try to keep them consistent with the style of the home- not looking all vinyl. Use the same material to add drapes in the dining room. Have them drawn to the side, the one on the left to the left, and the one on the right to the right. Keep the roller shades in these windows.
3. Empty your display area. Then re-introduce items very deliberately. This is not a library- it is your living room. Notice that I referred to it as a display area- not a bookcase. Fly me to Maine and I will re-do it for you. My ancestors are from Maine- I would love to visit again.
4. If you leave the area in front of your radiator blank- it throws the room a little off balance. There is only about two feet that you can use without cutting off your traffic flow from the dining room. You also want to keep air flow around the radiator pretty open. I added a desk. (again from Wisteria) I would put a little stool under it- you could use it for many different things- from a lap top to letter writing- to game playing.
5. Your rug. I really like your rug- it is beautiful- and the current size looks good- what doesn’t work is having a rug that has a pattern that tells people where the center is. The focal point of the room is the fireplace. The visual center of the room should be the fireplace. Your fireplace, however, is not centered- so the center of the rug lines up with the right side of the fireplace. It makes the room feel off balance. Get a rug without a center pattern. This could be any rug with an overall pattern- or a rug void of a traditional pattern- like a sisal rug- shown in the pictures above.

I hope you can get an idea of the look I have in mind for your place. With such a pretty home to start with- I am sure it will turn out wonderfully. Especially if you do absolutely everything I told you. ;)

Thanks, XOXO

Christine

Room photos crom Country Living