apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Does that mean all chairs in the room face the tv? Not a very social set up.....

It's hard to tell without seeing the other half of the room (I'm guessing a TV?). But right away I see that all your furniture is pushed up against the wall. It would look more natural if the couch and chair were on opposite walls, facing each other. The ottoman could float in the middle as a coffee table/extra seating.

Unless you regularly have large TV parties, I'd put the TV in a corner where you can see it from the couch. All the furniture pointing at the couch makes a room uncomfortable, as Maxwell notes in AT the book.

Some tall bookshelves on either side of the window would take care of your book collection and add some symmetry.

But I'm also thinking that the windows are too small for the massive look of your furniture. You may want to have drapes with rods that extend past the sides of the real window, to give a sense of a larger window.

Sorry, I meant "all the furniture pointing at the TV" makes the room uncomfortable.

Rug, YES.

Sofa and chair facing same direction, NO.

If at all possible, move the furniture away from the walls.
Are you willing to move the Television? You should add a rug in addition to the low coffee table. That will help you define the area. Rearrange couch and chair so that they are not side by side. Make the living room area resemble a square or rectangle with your seating arrangement. The easiest way to get quick free ideas, is to go to your favorite furniture store and take pics of the furniture arrangements. You will find several fully function living room arrangements on very small foot prints. Good Luck

"RUUUUUUUUUUUUUG" was all I could think when I looked at this picture. something with pattern. maybe mixing & matching some flor tiles - the color of the chair & sofa is great, but it's one solid and large mass of color. add patterns in pillows and a rug.

can you angle the chair in the corner? point it partly at the tv, partly at the couch, it will break up the solid line of the two pieces side by side.

also, adding varying heights of things behind the couch/chair will help that feeling of solid mass. some graphic window treatments, pictures, shelves (with books!) a funky old mirror, anything!

if you read above--everyone is suggesting RUG---go with it. Buy a rug. Buy a rug and don't be afraid to put furniture on it. That being said, your space looks too small (cluttered) for a coffee table. Instead try occasional tables or side tables. Try to arrange your couches either perpendicular to one another to at angles so create a 'conversation space'.

I would also suggest floating book shelves (IKEA) to minimize the amount of things that would take up floor space.

Window Panels in a neutral color wouldn't be a bad idea either if you go with a patterned rug.

I have nothing new to add to what everyone else has said--but I'd worry less about getting a table, and more about furniture arrangement. At the very least, pull the sofa out from the wall and more centered on the window (maybe put a sofa table with lamps behind it to add some depth). Move the chair to be somewhat perpendicular to it.

You can use the ottoman you have now as a coffee table--buy a large tray to use on top (check out CB2 and West Elm) and put a little display on that if you want--a few books, a candle, whatever floats your boat. I'd also put a contrasting throw on the sofa to break things up a bit (even in a cream or something neutral).

I'd also recommend getting drapery--it really transforms a space and makes it feel "finished" in my opinion. If you don't like drapes, get roman blinds or something in a coordinating color.

... ahhh, rental beige.

we have the SAME problem; beige carpet and two-tone contrasting warmer color beige walls and I hated it the second I moved in, but as we planned only being here a short time and moving very soon, it was not worth painting, repainting, and moving out...

But, a couple of months in, I found my apartment to be looking really nice, modern, and comfy by going for a palette in white, black, red, grey, and silver... surprising how easy it is to pull it all together if you concentrate on unifying the colors

Furniture is black and silver (chairs, buffet), white (credenza), with red accents (red doors, cheap and easy to replace on our modular furniture)... the wood (dark ebonized colors, as well as natural) keep it warm and not too industrial.

I can totally sympathize and resonate with the beginnings of your apartment layout/design. I agree curtains help A LOT. In our apartment, we used white curtains on our big bay windows which just made the room... and big silver lamps with black shades also provided the perfect, two, small and inexpensive ($50 total investment) breaks into "home" from "ugly rental beige"

Think of your red chairs as the accent color and allow the beige to recede as a neutral color into the background.

Beige is NOT evil.

The best way to make rental beige work is to bring that color into what you have, not throwing unrelated colors at it. You can still keep it from being monochromatic if that scares you, by using accents.

Just make sure you are bringing beige into the party (like a beige strip in a red pillow, or a beige lampshade on a red lamp). And guess what? It will make your room calmer and feel bigger.

But I agree with the above... furniture plan is the most pressing issue here.

There's nice beige and then there's scary rental beige... I actually live in scary beige world... not just in rental, but everything around here (SW desert)

the building's stuccoed exterior is beige, the landscaping is beige, the corrugated roofs on the parking structure is beige, the roof tiles are beige, the sand is beige...

I can begin to see why southwest style goes for obnoxious pinks, oranges, and turquoise... anything to break up the monotony of inside-out beige

I second the don't-face-the-TV and get-a-rug recommendations. You may also want to consider the styles of furniture you have in that room. The sofa and chair are fairly modern, but the two tables you can see in the foreground look old-school.

*Aww...* Katrina, I hate the books being there in between your red-red-red sofas. Pick up all of those books and put them away. I do not know whatelse you have around besides your red-red-red sofas. I assume that you are living in an apartment with rules of 'no painting' and having boring beige colored wall-to-wall carpetting sucks. But CAN YOU PAINT? Reply fassst! Got ideas and advice.
I need more information.

Katj ViVi