I am a little sick of chair rails...

Hi Christine!
I live in Utah and noticed you went to BYU, good for you (I probably shouldn't mention my husband is a Utes fan :)! We just bought a king bed (yay, more room!) and of coarse I needed to get a new comforter and now the walls don't match the comforter so we are going to paint and get a new bedroom set. I thought I was certain what I wanted, then we changed our mind a couple of times and I am frustrated, please help!

Right now the room has a chair rail (I know you are not a big fan hence chair rail snob :) the bottom is green and the top tan. I was thinking I wanted to do all one color, keep it simple, maybe a cream color or delicate white? Would it look good with the walls and the chair rail painted the same color? I was thinking a white that has more of a tan hue and then the white chair rail, but I am afraid it's going to be too much going on especially if I have dark wood furniture with a white chair rail? I dunno. I don't really want to take the chair rail down because we have old plaster walls and I'm afraid the holes won't fill in nicely. The comforter set we bought is a deep reddish-orangish color, with cream sheets, a dark brown almost black pillow with cream flowers on it, a creamy white pillow, deep red euro shams and the same reddish-orangish color shams, it's from Simply Vera, Vera Wang at Kohls. It's the Persimmon Comforter Set, if you want a visual from their website http://www.kohls.com/ Our bedroom set is going to be a dark brown wood set. The windows have white wood blinds with no window treatments. The room is pretty small, the house was built in the 1940's, a charming old house that has the original doors (painted white) and small planked wood floors. Please, if you have any suggestions I would love to hear them and truly appreciate any help. We plan to paint either tomorrow or Thursday.
Thanks so much.
Amber

Hi Amber-

Soooo- you are painting tomorrow or Thursday... I should mention that it takes me a few months to get to the requests in my e-mail. (longer for Utes fans :) So- I am sure you have long ago (March) painted- however- I first read it today. I will tell you that I would have painted it solid- the cream color of the sheets. (so long as it goes well with your carpet)

Kohls wouldn't let me copy the bedding- but you can see it folder_id=2534374753039582">here. It is a contemporary set- all the more reason to not draw attention to the traditional nature of the chair rail. I would accent it with brown highly textured solid drapes.- Like a velvet... Every bedroom needs drapes. Add some pattern and softness with a rug.

This is a 60 inch piece of art from Z gallerie for above the bed for your finishing touch. When you have cream walls- avoid cream lamp shades. I would go with the brown color in the bedding as my guide for lamp shade color.

Go Cougars! ;)

Myra's question

Christine,

I desperately need your help. I am not so good at this decorating thing. As you can see from the pictures, I need help to complete the room. I hope that I have not made a mess that cannot be fixed. The color of the walls is Caramel. It is about the same as the floor. The sofa, accent wall on the stairway, and entry are Paprika. I tried to get pictures of the chair pattern, rug and drapes to help you. The coffee table and end tables are copper with black bases. The TV table, fold out bar, screen, and sofa table are black with brown insets or trim.

The room is only 13' wide X 23' long, and the ceiling gets very tall. Is it okay for the room to appear to be top heavy with walls? Will art on the walls appear to bring them down and make the room look cozy. I am not adverse to doing something different to the walls, if necessary. I don't know what to buy for the walls, or which walls to put art on. With the fern pattern on the chairs and the large rug, would it look best to go more tropical? Or, should I tend to go more Oriental since the screen and TV table look a bit oriental? I tend to enjoy a more dramatic look. I don't even know what to sit around the room as accents. Please help me figure out how to make my room look beautiful. It is our main living space for watching TV and for entertaining. The bar opens and folds out to make a nice place for appetizers, and the sofa table has two lift out sections on each end of the top, with stainless tubs inset, for icing down drinks or appetizers.

I really would appreciate your advice, as I am totally lost at this point.

Myra Feuquay
Tucson, Arizona

Dear Myra,

I have a feeling that I am going to give you more advice then you are asking for. But that is the beauty of an online designer. I can be totally honest.

It seams like when you look at your room, something is not quite right, which is why you wrote me. I'll tell you what it is. You have two different looks going on.

1. Your leather sectional, your lamps, your case peices, and your bold wall color is one look.

2. Your rug, chair, throw pillows and drapes are another.

While both "looks" are contemporary, the 1st is more modern. Since more of your room includes this look, I would suggest you go with it.

Use a more modern chair. I posted a chair at the top of the post from "Room and Board" A chair of this scale, I would use two of, or one larger chair and a half of a similar more modern style. The one below is from Z gallerie- something like this would work great too.Also, use a more modern rug- like this one, again from Room and Board.

Whereas the colors in your current rug "match," the style does not match the leather sectional. A bolder rug like this one will pull the room together. Use a darker color (from your new rug.) For example, a gray from the rug above, as your main wall color (keep your paprika wall color). Your current wall color is too light for the high ceilings. This will make your room "cozier".

Whereas your coffee table is not a bad style, I would say the shape of it is. The round does not work that great with your sectional. Again from Room and Board, here is a better choice:

As far as your walls go, yes, use large art. Your sectional is visually heavy enough to ground it, and your high ceilings welcome it. Here is a piece by Uttermost that is a nice large 76 x 50. Something like this would be a perfect size and feel. On your windows, use a solid color, perhaps the gray/blue from the rug. You can hang them from the top window for a longer, more dramatic look.

I hope you see the dirrection I am going. Keeping your style more consistent will make all the difference!

Thanks for writing in. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

- Christine