apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

maybe stripes? or some sort of print in bold, but muted tones? Orange-reds, deep golds, dark greens?

gorgeous sofa. i love the shape of it.

the chairs are rather large - perhaps, too large, for two in the space. to crank up the interest, consider a solid on the frame and a large scale pattern on the cushion (chunky stipe or bold floral). you certainly won't need the decorative pillows your hubby isn't fond of.

Agree that the two chairs are too much. They overwhelm the room and detract from the sofa.

Beautiful sofa! I don't think the chairs need to be reupholstered, though. I know you said your husband hates pillows. Still, I think you could add plenty of color with accessories: throws, lamps, vases, flowers, curtains, maybe even a smaller accent rug layered on the jute.

The bookcases and windows adds a great deal of pattern, color and texture to your room already. I think another pattern, even a small repeat, will make it look busy. I'd recommend a more tailored, library-like look. Perhaps, pick one of your or your husband's suits that looks good with the couch, and use its fabric to select a _direction_ for new upholstry.

As someone in DC who needs to get a chair reupholstered-- do you have good recommendations for places to go? I haven't decided yet between upholstering and slipcovering, I just know I'm probably not going to do it myself.

i agree with Cheryl, wait on the chairs for a while and try flowers, curtains and a throw or two. a neutral palate is so refreshing and you can change minor things to go with your mood or the seasons. I think changing the chairs would put far too much focus on them. If you're trying to shy away from the pottery barn look, perhaps you should consider switching out the coffee table instead. Good luck and have fun!

I'm with you razel... Switch the coffee table is a great idea, it's to heavy and competes with the couch, what about a clean line one with a glass top?

Call me crazy, but I like the pieces and rug just as they are - I agree that scale is an issue and believe that it's simply the arrangement that isn't doing you any favors.

Try placing the sofa with it's back to the windows and the desk that's hidden in the corner at it's back as a sofa-table with the lamp on top - then place the coffee table in the center of the room and the two chairs opposite and facing the sofa with a little round table in between for another large tablelamp and drinks.

Bring some of those artbooks off the bookcase and place them on the coffee table in 3 small piles and get some pillows and throws that pull the reds from the carpet up onto your seating.

Personally, I think it's impossible to decide whether this room is a success or failure based on ONE photo, but maybe that;s just me... ANYwho...

I vote against a print. These are you second biggest pieces in the room, and a print is a commitment, especially since with your rug choice, you seem to want to tone it all down a bit...

There are definitely (lovely, rich) colors that work both as "Color" and as "Neutral" so I'd start there. Personally, I love the pairing of a velvet or a mohair with leather, so if it were me, I'd do a slate-y blue, or an olive-y green. But a lot rests on the rest of the room.

If velvet sounds too formal, bear in mind that your rug choice will sort of be the final deciding factor in setting the tone of the space. And the rug you describe migrating towards will definitely keep the room fresh and young.

I'd keep all as is and just replace your rug with a new, good quality, Persian rug that contains the dark and light browns, blues, reds, and ivory or white that are already in your room. I think it would tie your whole room together. A good rug store will let you take several rugs home to try, returning the ones that don't work out.

But if you are dead set on changing your furniture, I agree that your coffee table may be too large, or at least too dark. And consider pulling some white into your furniture or pillows (if your husband does not balk) or throws.

And if you reupholster, stick with a solid. Patterns are for accents (pillows, rugs, etc.), not main pieces. You can always add a colored, pattered throw, thus avoiding decorative pillows.

I think a fun color on at least one of the chairs would act as a nice accent piece. Some type of velvety blue would complement all the browns in the room. I probably wouldn't go for a pattern, but something subtle with just one or two colors would probably work too.

get the new rug down first.... (it only has to go with the fab couch) then you'll be able to see what to do more clearly

I'll second the request for a tip on a good and hopefully affordable upholsterer in the DC area!

I asked at Calico Corners about a small chair with literally one piece of fabric - no seams, and they wanted $350. I've thought about trying it myself, but haven't managed to find the time and now I'm tired of looking at the ugly old upholstery on my pretty chair. :(

I would get married just for that sofa.

Based on the things you have going on in your room, I would investigate the looks of Vicente Wolf for ideas. He has a couple of design books to check out. The lovely chair and table in the background, the white bookcases, the seagrass or jute rug you are planning on, the leather sofa... together, they have a Vicente Wolf look.

Vicente Wolf has a lovely colour sense, relying on a structure of naturals, complemented by subtle colours -- watery blues, greens, lavender or butter yellow.

Check out his fabric line for ideas:

http://www.vicentewolf.com/home/collections/3/20/122

In your case, I would slipcover the chairs in light blue cotton or linen union. As others have said, the chairs appear bulky, but maybe it is just the angle of the picture, or the way the furniture is angled. Is it possible to have the sofa and chairs at right angles, with the 2 club chairs on one side?

i think my best advice would be to go into anthro and look at their displays. They rearrange and update their shop so often, you could probably get tons of ideas of what to do with the chairs

thanks for everyone's comments - really good advice.

the room is a funky half octagon shape, i should send more pictures. we have tried a bunch of different set ups but this seems to be the only one that makes sense.

agreed that the coffee table is way too heavy. i've been looking at some different places in and around DC - Good Wood and Luckett's for something lighter.

I had some chairs reupholstered at Ross Upholstery over on H Street NE (H St Corridor/Atlas District) . Mr. Ross is really nice and he took over the business from his dad...they have been there forever. He did a great job on my chairs and we talked at length about how to recover them best. He even fixed some missing screw covers with some old parts he keeps around for such reasons.

I am not sure how he compares to other upholsterers in the area since this is the first time I have had anything done (and I didn't look around much since he came so highly recommended).

Ross Upholstery
506 H St NE
202-547-7152

Oh, and to elaborate on pricing....my chairs ran about $100 each and they are those Erik Buck dining chairs with the floating seat and curved back (like these: http://www.bondandbowery.com/item/6787 ), so each chair had two parts that needed to be redone and one of them needed to be covered nicely in the back/etc. I didn't get superfancy material or anything (just black fake leather-- they are dining room chairs, after all), though.

We used Choi's Upholstery in Rockville, MD for multiple pieces on two separate interior projects about a year ago. I don't remember the pricing well enough to mention it here, but they were VERY easy to work with. I would highly recommend them. Their phone number is (301) 251-1580.

Would love to see a big paisley print on linen in pumpkin or burgundy. The chairs are a chance to go for it, so get out there and say something!

I agree that you probably will get the look you want from a different rug and coffee table, plus some rearranging. That said, if you feel you must change the chairs, use a solid color with heavy texture. You get the feel of a pattern but have flexibility to change colors on a whim. Also, do you have (or plan to have) pets? If so, I would avoid the velvet and linen recommendations. Good luck.

I would suggest replacing your sofa with one that has 'round edges', something like this one: http://www.sebastiaanphoto.nl/item-x.php?itemId=25808 (and another version of the same couch): http://wwww.lilianshouse.nl/images/31/2131.320.jpg

or something like this (a little experimental) http://www.edra.com/product.php?id=44&name=Tatlin

Mill End Shops is the best. If you want perfection, go to them. They have locations in Old Town, Shirlington, NW (near Van Ness-UDC Metro stop), Annapolis, and White Flint.

http://www.millendshops.net/index.htm

Hinke, those are the most Vegas couches I've seen since, well... the last time I was in Vegas.

And I thought the point of the post was how to make the rest of the room work with the very much loved new couch? Were it mine, I like the suggestions for linen slipcovers, or re-upholstery in a velvet since the leather sofa, though you might like the chairs as-is, once you get the lighter rug and coffee table that you want.