Please help me with my lounge!

[MummyNessi]

We have been renovating our newly bought house and I'm happy with most of it but my lounge just doesn't look right. I usually stay quiet light and neutral ( Scandinavian) in my colour schemes but I really wanted these dark brown chesterfield sofas and I tried to go for teal as an accent colour... but it all looks awful and miss matched and I don't know how to tie it all together... I can paint the walls or change the rug and lights but sofas need to stay. How do I get it country house cosy?
Help!

Something like these...

I've just had another thought, could you stain the mantelpiece a darker brown so it's more similar in colour to the coffee table and sofas? I think part of the reason the room looks jarring is because everything 'fixed' (fireplace, floors, mantelpiece, walls) are light coloured, and everything else (sofas, coffee table, rug, curtains) are dark coloured. So it looks like you've put a lot of dark coloured things in a light room and it doesn't quite mesh.

I think with a light rug, if you stained the mantelpiece a darker brown (but keeping a rustic look) and put a mirror on the wall with a nice dark wooden frame, the room would look a lot more cohesive. A fluffy cushion or two in white/cream and maybe a footstool with some interesting upholstery and I think it would look very cosy.

I don't think the mirror or rugs look rustic or cottagey, so if that's what you're after, I don't think they fit.

I like your fireplace, it's very cottagey! I'd be tempted to paint the walls a deep yellow colour, and put some deep yellow, orange and brown cushions on the sofas. A mirror with a vintage looking frame would work over the fireplace. You need some pictures and plants.

www.dunelm.com/product/keepers-lodge-satin-nickel-mirror-with-shelf-1000095397

Something like this maybe?

www.farrow-ball.com/fcp/content/yellow-schemes/content

Sudbury yellow is the sort of volutes I mean

Volutes?? Colour!!!

I think the things you've linked to look too modern and 'new' to go with the look you're after. Maybe have a look on ebay for something for in keeping?

Get some texture in soft furnishings for the sofa. Change the ceiling lights for something a bit less modern and more in keeping. I'd say pain the fireplace a darker colour, maybe a deeper grey/blue and stain the mantel to match the coffee table.

Get rid of the red candles and light weight looking stuff on the fireplace and replace with heavier church candles.

I would lose the dreary curtains. Do you even need curtains?

Also for the chop would be the fire surround. It's nasty. Could you stretch to a wood burner and lose the brick effect?

Then I would get rid of the ceiling lights - also very dated.

I would have lamps only and add some plants - palms etc that are very trendy atm.

I think I might try to stick to a more Scandinavian colour scheme with some rustic parts Im starting to feel it's not the right room/ house for the classic country house style...

I would be happy with something like this:

I really like your fireplace!

I think you need some more height in the room: some tall bookcases, frames/mirrors on the wall, and I agree that plants will help. I just got rid of the kallax bookcases I had in my living room, and replaced with tall wooden bookcases. After a while, it really bothered me that there was no back to kallax units. They always felt messy to me. The room feels so much better now, I feel all enclosed when I sit in there now.

I love your coffee table, is it a blanket chest? It's gorgeous.

I think sticking with scandi is the way to go. I would keep the curtains, sofas and rug. I don't think the coffee table goes at all as nice as it is you need light wood to match the mantel and floors or it looks quite mismatched. You should think about changing the light fitting for something more scandi/ modern there's loads of beautiful Danish style light fittings they are really good at lighting and design. Plants will help, I would also have a couple more lamps and cushions/ throws keeping it all relatively pale coloured to complement the rug and curtains. Even the dark lamp shade you have sticks out a lot. Keep it to natural type fabrics with a few textures/ fringing to make it feel cosy and homey. A mirror above the fire place is a good shout and I agree with a pp about not having the red candles it would work better having softer less contrasty colours to bring the room together. Some pictures on the wall will make the room feel more finished and put together and you can think about changing the wall colour if you still feel you need to after you've made the easier changes and sorted the accessories.

Yes OP the pictures you have posted are beautiful (and easy to achieve). I always find it best not to try and stick to one "theme" as it were because it can be quite limiting and difficult to do. I think it's best to just choose pieces which suit the room and go well together

Done tastefully it can work really well.

This is the light fitting I have in my dining room and it looks great, would go well with the look you are going for.

https://www.oceanlighting.co.uk/pendant-lights-c22/alfie-lighting-al-6sp-6-light-suspension-spider-pendant-ceiling-light-in-black-finish-p31284/s34541?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpNuxu5SV3wIVwuR3Ch0C7AiIEAQYAyABEgL4lDD_BwE

Thanks Sherry, i liike the lights!

I think the sofas are too close to the wall.

Can they come out to before the start of the fire hearth? There seems to be a side board opposite the fire that might need to be moved

I agree that the room needs some height. An over mantle mirror and some plants, pictures and lamps will make a huge difference

But over all the room has good bones 😁

I'd take the curtains down (just for a bit, possibly not forever) to improve the light levels. I'd move the sofas away from the wall a bit (it looks squashed). Could the IKEA unit go behind one of the sofas (again not permanently, just trying things) a bit like a console table, and do you have a light you could put on it? Low level lighting is cosier I think. I'm not loving the rug I'm afraid. And I'd get a a tall palm for a corner - you don't have much height (pictures might help but they are a longer term plan).

With the exception of the plant, you could try all of that for a day, and then decide you hated all my suggestions, but you would at least be trying things. Faced with a room which doesn't quite work for you, major changes like painting the room orange (I also don't like autumnal colours) or ripping out the fireplace (you could get it plastered to remove the brick texture look?) are daunting. Moving a few things around isn't.

Add texture, a fluffier rug, knitted throw, cushions. The wall is quite bare, add some framed pics, a mirror. If you can’t uodate the entire fireplace I would change the shelf to a slimmer white one to match.

Put in a nice fireplace and you'd have a new room.

Bean what would you consider a nice fireplace?

What about staining the mantle shelf a darker colour to go better with the sofas and coffee table? I'm not sure Chesterfields work with a scandi vibe, so I'd go more warm modern cottagey. This instagram designer does it well. I'd go for a big sisal rug topped with a reindeer rug, lots of cushions in different neutrals with different textures and patterns to lighten up the sofas. Maybe a gold/champagne/brass mirror above the fire. I would add much lighter curtains along the lines of this palette. A couple of large table lamps on a sideboard rather than the current austere looking lamp

Get dark blue on the walls, will bring it in and more cosy