Beautiful view demands more seats to see it

THE NEWS & OBSERVER, Raleigh, NC Saturday, November 22, 2003

Dear Designer: When we have four to six people over for dinner, there is not enough seating in the family room. We want the family room to be a comfortable place to watch television and read. Our teal green L-shaped sofa does not feel right with our blue kitchen. We have no other seating in the family room. I would like a chair.

There are three walls in the family room. One opens to the deck, the other is the fireplace with windows above on either side with a view of 1,500 acres of trees. Our 9-foor-high mahogany entertainment center is on the third wall. We need advice on Furniture, furniture placement, wall paint and any other accessories. --N.O. Chapel Hill

Dear Designer asked Sally Williams of Colorful Concepts to take the challenge of this family room.

Dear N.O.: The view of the North Carolina Botanical Gardens from your family room is to die for! So much wonderful natural light streams into this room through the many windows on the fireplace wall. The furniture problem you are having is understandable, considering the open floor plan to the kitchen and breakfast area, and the additional seating you are trying to achieve.

Make a Furniture Plan

This plan must allow for four to six guests and include comfortable sofa space for you and your husband to stretch out for TV viewing. Second, we need to be sure that the color scheme of the family room flows perfectly with the cobalt blue of your kitchen.

Assess the space we have to work with. One full wall of your family room is taken up with your large entertainment center. The fireplace is on a “wall” of windows, with a fabulous view that we simply have to leave open. The opposite end of the family room is almost completely open to the kitchen, across a blue counter. The third wall is half open to your breakfast area.

The size and shape of your sofa doesn’t allow for space to add seating in the family room. My suggestion: two shorter sofas, with your end table placed at the corner where they meet. A 7-foot sofa and a 6-foot sofa will allow you and your husband to stretch out comfortably, and free up space at the fireplace end of the room.

Move the sofa table out of this room and shift all the furniture closer to the kitchen. This will free up enough space to place a pair of small club chairs and a short ottoman near your fireplace.

Color Scheme. With the open floor plan, you can select a new wall color, knowing that you won’t feel surrounded by four walls of color. Consider the blue of your kitchen counters and tiles, as well as the terra cotta of the lamp and end table, and the gold walls in the breakfast area.

Consider repainting your breakfast area in Sherwin Williams SW6127 Ivoire, a shade lighter than your current gold. Carry it into your kitchen as well. Paint a deeper gold (Sherwin Williams SW6128 Blonde) on all the family room walls except the fireplace/window wall. On that wall, go a couple of shades lighter than the blue of your kitchen counters and tile accents. Try Sherwin Williams SW6242 Bracing Blue. Although you are drawn to this wall, with it’s beautiful view during the day, once the sun has set, one’s interest is drawn to the entertainment center. Accenting your fireplace/window wall with a different color will help to distract one’s eye from the entertainment center.

Fabrics. The fabrics of your new upholstered pieces should incorporate the three colors in your color scheme: blue, gold, and terra cotta.

To keep from competing with your numerous area rugs, the fabrics should be in solid colors, have subtle texture, color variations or tiny patterns. Combine more than one fabric on a single sofa or chair, for added interest.

Patterned fabrics should be reserved for surfaces not adjacent to the rugs -- such as the tops of the ottomans, accent pillows, or seat cushions.

The sofas and matching ottoman should be done in predominantly blue, in any shades ranging from the Bracing Blue of your accent wall, to the cobalt blue of your kitchen. Likewise, for the chairs and ottoman at your fireplace. Use predominantly gold fabrics, in any shades ranging from Ivoire to Blonde. (Remember that these chairs will be placed in front of the Bracing Blue accent wall, and will stand out nicely.)

Accent pillows are a must, and can be done in fabric and trim in any combination of the golds, blues, and terra cotta.

Consider scaling back on the number of rugs in the room. Decide which work best with the new color scheme. Once the new furniture in the room, you’ll find that you won’t need as much color, or coverage, from your rugs.

Artwork and Window Treatments. The space above your mantel is long and only 30 inches high, making it a challenge to have artwork that stands out, especially on such a large wall.

Try a canvas work, with a thin “floater” frame, or no frame at all. Light sconces mounted on the wall on either side of the canvas will fill in the long space above the mantel, and will help to make the artwork more of a focal point. The theme of the art you select should be related to the gardens outside, so that you and your guests can be reminded of what is beyond the wall, even in the evenings when it is too dark to enjoy the view.

For the windows in your breakfast area try a simple fabric treatment, incorporating some of the blues and golds. Add some coordinating seat cushions for the chairs at the table to make this area feel a part of your family room and kitchen.

It’s a rare occasion when I don’t recommend a fabric window treatment in a room. But the wall of your fireplace, with its beautiful windows and view, artwork and light sconces, accented with the blue wall color, stands alone.