After decorating the entrance hall, we now move into the lounge or living room. REPORT BY HELEN DEVMAC We will be looking at simple guidelines on how to decorate without breaking the bank. Remember that something does not have to cost the earth to look great, it is in the simple things that we may sometimes discover great beauty. What is most important in decorating is for you to know what you want and then to seek advice from the experts where you may not be sure.
When we are decorating our homes we must remember that décor is cultural and represents who we are, and the appearance of our homes reflects our deepest values and identities. Homes project a very strong statement of what values we embrace as individuals. For example do you appreciate items in your home because of their monetary value, sentimental attachment or cultural significance ?
Lounge or living room — these terms are synonymous, but I am inclined to believe that a living room is a little more pompous and grand while a lounge is more relaxed. In fact, you can create a lounge in any room — you know the TV lounge, sun lounge, bar lounge and even the kids lounge! While a living room has to be that one room!
The lounge is a room in which to relax and entertain our guests. Lounges should match the general style and décor of your home and lounges can be masculine feminine or gender neutral. It is ideally a room for adults, but should you want to create a play area for the kids, this may be done without detracting from the general style and elegance of your décor. At the outset, you have to define your style, is it modern, contemporary, traditional, or eclectic. Whatever your style, a few ground rules apply:
Dealing with clutter To make your lounge look its best cut down on clutter, as this tends to detract from the scheme, and remember not to mix too many colours and patterns. For example, if you have chrome plated glass tables you can’t have brass plated lamp shades as well. Choose a theme and a colour and style you are happy with and blend and harmonise the rest of your accessories and furnishings to match your design and colour scheme. Arranging furniture
Do not line up chairs against walls, chairs should be away from the wall to create room in which to move, and chairs and sofas should be placed as close together as possible, creating conversation areas, that enable your guests to interact comfortably without having to shout across the room.
Depending on the size of your lounge, you may have more than one conversation area, you may use sofas and chairs that match but not necessarily pieces from the same suite, but each conversation area must have tables for guests to place their drinks and plates.
I find that looking at seating areas in hotel foyers can be quite inspirational when deciding on how tables and chairs should be placed in a room.
Conversation areas Conversation areas may be further demarcated by the use of attractive floor rugs which separate one area from another, again the rugs do not need to be identical but should be complementary. A dark coloured rug will have the effect of making the space more intimate while a light-coloured rug opens up the area, giving the illusion of a larger space.
Curtains and drapes There are many styles and fabrics from which to choose for your curtaining and drapes, and some are very elaborate, so choose carefully and remember that your curtains and drapes must be in the general style of your décor, and that the beauty of your curtaining is not necessarily dependant on expensive fabric nor intricate design.
Simplicity in the choice of curtaining may indeed add great style and sophistry to your lounge. Don’t suffocate small rooms and small windows with swathes of material, to the exclusion of sunlight and views of your garden. Curtains bring the room together and should match the largest piece of furniture in the room, generally this would be your sofas or chairs.
Floors Floors should be darker than your walls, this can be achieved by staining hard wood floors to a darker sheen, cement floors may be darkened by painting. Where you have carpeting or tiling, scatter rugs will achieve the same effect.
Plants By all means, use plants to liven your décor, avoid plastic flowers and plants , the operative word here is liven!
Accessories should be simple and well-coordinated; too many knick knacks in a room cease to be accessories and become clutter. Look around your home for objet d’art that could blend in with your décor and you will be surprised at just what may look great. Odd pieces of silverware, brass or glass can all be used to great effect, haris and chirongos can be attractively painted and grouped round your fireplace. Ruseres can be stained and dyed , and hung in groups instead of pictures.
Pictures and any artwork should be hung where they can be seen by your guests, either directly in front of your sofa groups or over the fireplace etc. Other items may be attractively displayed around the mantelpiece — please do not hang pictures on pelmets.
