Name: Uma & Sankari
Location: Alexandria, VA
Type: 1 Bedroom Rented Apartment
Why I use color:
We think color as a powerful form of communication. Color can sway thinking, change actions, and cause reactions. We use color to bring character, warmth & comfort into our home. We like to paint our walls based on the season...

Living Room
We are originally from India, a country known for its warmer colors and sunny hot weather. So warm colors like yellow and orange helps us to forget the cold and boring winter season. As per the classical Indian philosophy, the seven colors of the rainbow are associated with the seven chakras (or energy centers) of the body.
The color we used (Yellow) is associated with awareness, wisdom and clarity. It energizes, relieves depression, and improves memory, increases awareness, perception and understanding.

Living Room
2 Good color tips:
1. If you are renting and not allowed to paint the walls, no problem - after all white is a color too. You can always bring more colors by using window coverings, colorful paintings and accents like area rugs and placemats. Best part is you can cycle these accents as per the season without much effort.
2. A trick that many interior designers use is to insert one red article in a room, no matter how small to serve as a focal point.

Dining Room
Favorite type and brand of paint:
Behr Premium Plus. We prefer Flat/Matte to hide the apartment wall surface imperfections.

Dining Table Setting

Comments (33)
not terribly exciting, but i liked your philosophy on colors...
it's certainly a start.
i don't usually make comments like this, but i think the two images above your sofa are hung too high. they appear much above the average viewers' sight line and i suspect one has to strain to look at them. 57" as the center point is always a good place to begin. but if you aren't comfortable with that, try at least to line up their center point with the center points of the other images in your room. i think it would be much improved.
I would have liked to see more of the apt. in the pictures. But what there is has a good color thing going on.
And I have to concur with BB on the picture height. It's a mistake I made in my apt (tall ceilings) as well.
where did your l-shaped sofa come from? i need one just like that!!!
The couch came from IKEA. I have that same couch and I really like it (In fact, the layout in my apartment is similar to Uma & Sankari's). At first I was afraid it was too loud a color but it really grew on me. Plus, it changes hue with the daylight. I love it at dusk because when it reflects bluish hues it turns into a beautiful dark tomato red.
Ok now my turn to ask a question to Uma and Sankari: Where did that beautiful pedestal in the corner come from? Is that cork or basket weave at the top?
love that couch; is the leather as soft as it looks?
This is a very romantic space! It just seems so balanced and lovingly put together. You set a beautiful table, and the saffron color on the walls is fabulous.
Do bring the artwork above the couch back down to earth, though.
Love these colors.
Can you tell me where your coffee table is from? I have been looking around for a coffee table such as that where I can keep things off the table top, but right right down below as to keep a tidy look! Thanks!!
I usually am not a fan of yellow walls for a living room (except for a kitchen where in the morning anything to help me wake up is appreciated.) Yellow makes me feel a bit anxious and is not a color I associate with chiling out but this particular yellow, at least in the photos is really, really nice, the room feels warm and inviting, and I am sold! What color/brand is it? I like how it is a medium yellow, not too sunny; very rich.
I also love your lamp. Is it hanging or standing? Kind to hard to tell in the photo Where is it from?
Hi the sofa is Hamra Mjuk Red Brown from Ikea, Coffee table is from West Elm, Lamp is from Ikea too.
Silvarga, The pedestal is from Pier1 Imports
The colors used are very warm and Fall-ish. Good job.
I know this contest has nothing to do with furniture arrangement but I have to give a tiny bit of advice...I would switch the TV to the wall where the sofa is currently placed and vice versa. By placing the sofa on the opposite wall you will create a more cozy living space with the sofa's chaise acting as a room divider which will give the effect that it is a separate room from the dining area. It would also make the apt look bigger.
Also, the art above the sofa needs to be brought down to eye level. Art should ALWAYS be hung at eye level.
Nice apartment.
Love the colors!!! And, shout out Alexandria! (I used to live there...)
To the people who live in this space: please don't take personally the vote count. You've done a beautiful job with your space and your colors are lovely.
If your space is any indication of your lives, I'm sure you're far too grounded and centered to really be upset, because you know that every day it's you who get to live in this serene environment.
For what it's worth, my favorite element here has not so much to do with color -- it's that reclining figure suspended in mid-air above the television, AND the way the television doesn't seem to dominate the room.
Thanks for the comments on the high hanging art. I will certainly lower it down.
Curtis, you made our day. Thanks for the encouraging comment.
OrangeJuice, I tried that arrangement, but the chaise can not be turned around. So the loveseat part separates the living room, which was not quite convenient.
Naomi, the lamp is from Ikea. The yellow is called Light Copper from Behr Premium Plus Accent colors. I got it from Home depot.
Edgertor, Renata - Its Hamra from Ikea. Yes, its leather and it feels very soft and comfy.
Love the colors - but the height of the art is quite off-putting.......
This is kind of a general question, but also for people submitting photos to this contest:
Do people really leave place settings set at their dining tables every day? Or is it just for the photo?
My dining table also serves about 20 other functions, so I can't imagine just leaving it set (and set for more people than actually live in the apartment!!!) all the time.
Marie, this photo was taken 30 minutes before a small get together. Otherwise the table will be pretty much occupied with miscellaneous stuff. If not we will leave the center piece as it is.
I would never have though a red couch and yellow wall could be parts of such a peaceful space!
I have to agree with everyone about the pictures above the couch, but I actually think they need something bigger for that space. I have those same pictures from Ikea and they work perfectly above my bookshelf with 8 foot ceilings, but this space needs something much bigger.
I think you've managed to make what looks like a builder-boring space very personal, which is a notable feat. It's easy to have an impressive space when the architecture is on your side, not so much when you've got low ceilings, plain walls, and minimal mouldings. You've certainly infused it with some nice warmth.
Very nice! I would probably exchange the curtains for something that would give a more defined outline.
Very, very pretty. Not overdone, not underdone . . . just right.
One more thing: This apartment is prefab, but it doesn't feel mass produced or sterile. It feels like a home. Several of the other entries are prefab, too, but the decor doesn't overcome the generic vibe. I'm entertaining myself trying to figure out why: color? balance? texture? shape? Hmm.
Marie, my mother always has place setting on the tables (both dining room and kitchen) and calls them her "tablescapes." Of course, she has an obsession with lovely dishes and creates centerpieces to compliment them. I have picked up on this habit too, and it helps me to keep the clutter off my table. I find that I'm less likely to toss my mail there if I have my nice dishes set out with some candles.
chellebird: Thanks for sharing your habit of table-setting - your tablescape is lovely, and I love the idea that it keeps the clutter at bay. Stuff always seems to pile up on my table. I'll give your method a try.
I love the statue over the TV, btw. So interesting and different!
This is a beautiful and spare space - free from all the clutter we (culturally) Americans tend to gather.
I love your philosophy on color :)
love the art above the television. Where can I find something like that?