Recipe for Style: Opposites Living Room

We love the look of this room from Herve Van der Straeten's home - if we didn't see the end result we might doubt that such polar opposites would coexist in such a wonderfully fluid way in one room. The mix looks effortless, not forced - the pieces all work really well together. Jump below for the style ingredients:

Ingredients that go into this style mix:

Lots of Opposites: old/new, dark/light, man made/natural, hard/soft

Dark furniture on light floors

Two very different, very dramatic pieces placed right next to each other - an antique sofa meets a modern coffee table

Fluffy, textural rug sitting on a smooth simple tiled floor

A heavy, soft cushy navy velvet sofa juxtaposed with two visually light, sleek leather side chairs

Shiny space age mod stools in opposite hues continue the dark/light theme and the hard/soft theme

An oversized mobile is a dramatic statement as it hangs floor to ceiling in the sitting area

An old-fashioned phone is another look backwards in a (mostly) modern space

Warm dove gray drapes soften and expand on the look by bridging the darks and lights and adding another fluid texture

Previous Recipes for Style:

Bedroom Photographed by Ngoc Minh Ngo

Dramatic Dining at Alan's Loft

Newell Turner's Dining/Living Combo

Chic Living Room by James Rixner

Shipley & Halmos Office

Photo: Simon Watson

Comments (14)

That is one HAIRY looking rug... Though I'm in love with the color of the velvet couch.

are those jasper morrison lounges comfortable?

I'm w/ KTG - It's refreshing to see an appropriately-sized rug in a room here!

BTW: I have a huge flokati like this - I highly recommend it for walking on barefoot!

how does one determine an "appropriately sized rug" for a room? isn't that more of a matter of taste? my friend loves his huge rug that covers the entire floor of the living room. I have pretty wood floors and like to show them off, but also like a rug for sitting on in front of the couch.

"how does one determine an "appropriately sized rug" for a room?"

An appropriately-sized rug is one that is ample enough to extend under at least the front legs of the chairs and sofas of the sitting area that the rug is intended to define.

An inappropriately-sized rug is one that floats out in the middle of the floor like a little island or postage stamp, and the sofas and chairs are somewhere beyond the edges.

Love the top room -- pretty much my approach, flokati and all.

omg the couch is amazing... i need it, i need it right now

"An oversized mobile is a dramatic statement..." yes. an awkward, space hogging, dramatic statement.

Yes, it's dramatic... but somehow it doesn't work for me. It's depressing. And the floating spheres give me a headache.

Having expressed the emotional side of my reaction towards it, I have to agree that the rug is hard to dislike even if one wants to!!

This is possibly one of the worst designs that I have seen. I am really surprised that so many people raved about it.

re: appropriately sized rugs - says who? i've seen layouts from a huge variety of designers with all different sizes of rugs, layered rugs, two rugs sitting parallel, rugs off center under a table and seemingly completely random in their placement. I think it's subjective.

Anyway, this rug looks great. I have a similar one in my living room and it's awesome. you could sleep on it, it's so thick and warm.

i agree with K T G.....we see alot of rugs that are just too small for the space.....people argue that they can have whatever they like, and of course they can - but rugs that are too small don't look right.

that is without a doubt, the MOST BEAUTIFUL COUCH i've ever laid my eyes on!