How to make these sofas 'go' with each other

[Spanneroo]

I am hoping to get some help making my living room seem vaguely coherant as I'm not great at this stuff but like things to look somewhat put together. Our current aesthetic is "we have 4 children under 5 and bought the first one we saw" and I'd like to slowly get away from that charming look

We currently have a very comfy red sofa. I am inheriting an in-need-of-some-love ercol settee which we can't afford to have new cushions made for yet so we're stuck with the original green cushions for now. We're in a rented victorian era property, so no painting allowed etc. It's a magnolia living room with laminate wood floor. I was thinking a rug may work well to tie them together (magnolia walls, red sofa, dark green settee) but I'm struggling to find one. Can anyone help? I'm assuming a few cushions will also help.

I'm on android so photos won't work but these links are indicative of the sofas:

slf24.co.uk/elize-2-seater-sofa.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgbrZjevd6QIVVp3VCh3FggbkEAkYDSABEgKCc_D_BwE (the red one)

www.theandrewspartnership.co.uk/the-collection/vintage-ercol-windsor-203-two-seater-sofa/

I'd get cushions and a rug. However with 4 kids I'd probably get nothing. If you are saving for a deposit put it towards that instead.

Thanks Ohio I was sort of hoping for some colour suggestions for the rug/cushions. The kids have a playroom so it won't get trashed. It's an adult space these days and I'd like it to look a bit more like it was put together rather than thrown IYSWIM

Appreciate you're trying to help with the financial advice but I'm hoping for a nicer looking loving room at the moment.

Hopefully these pictures will attach but I'd go with something like this.

Red and green go quite well together. You could also double check whether they won’t let you paint. Ours is happy for us to make alterations to the property as long as we ok it with them first.

Red and green are great together as are different styles of sofas. Magnolia background is fine - get some prints:)

A red and green rug.

www.google.co.uk/search?q=red+green+rug&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari#imgrc=D58Q5n31PgRdiM:

Or neutral with colour accents - or green and coir or natural fibre. Then get some new cushions for both that have a bit of green / red in them. Either modern and funky, spotted or something more handmade. If you go with one colour go believer and luxurious www.frenchbedroomcompany.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=Green+cushions

Green and red go well you just need to pick your style. Is it modern, natural fibres and spotty or geometric. Is it floral and kitsch? Is it oriental and luxurious? Is it Scandi and natural fibre as a background. When you have decided get your rugs and cushions and a great print.

Etsy has all sorts www.etsy.com/sg-en/listing/524241582/green-print-abstract-painting?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=green+print&ref=sr_gallery-1-13&organic_search_click=1

Is the link the same shade of green? Can you post pictures of the style you like?

I know you don't want financial advice but by the time you've bought 4 cushions, a rug and print, maybe a throw and a lamp, you will have spent a couple of hundred quid on things you are buying to make something you don't love work rather than on things you love. New cushions for the Ercol sofa would only cost about £400, if you don't buy from Ercol. If the cushion pads are in good shape, you could probably get a local seamstress to make covers for less. You could buy a whole new sofa to replace the red one you linked to for £375!

Perhaps you could get some cream stretchy slip covers (about a tenner) or a cream Ikea throw for the Ercol sofa then either save up for the new Ercol cushions or use your budget to buy accessories that you really love that match the sofa that you chose.

@frogspawnofsanta those cushions are amazingly colourful! Am I at risk if going too red? My mum always keep things very very neutral so I have a tendency to go a bit colour-crazy if I let myself have at it!

@Qualityfeet that's really helpful advice, thank you. We also have a G-plan sideboard, which we'd like to keep, so I guess a bit mid-century-ish once we have the settee in. We also have some old pine bookshelves which we will replace eventually with something prettier. Same goes for the flat-pack coffee table!

@goingoverground it's more or less exactly the same as the picture. It was bought new in 1965 and hasn't had new cushions since despite heavy use. They've held up well, but are sagging quite a lot now and some areas of the wool are very thin. I think when we have it redone, we would only redo the seat cushion and then use the cushions we buy now to go along the back IYSWIM, so you can see the struts. The best quote I got for just the cushion and new cover was £260 (not from ercol), but I think I'd want a wool cover again given how well the old one lasted, which would make it more expensive. I am happy to wait until we have the funds to do this.

I probably could replace our red sofa for aesthetic reasons but tbh, me and DH are 14 inches apart in height and it took us 3 months to find a sofa that worked for both of us, so I am quite averse to selling it ever, really. Suppose it could be reupholstered but I do quite like the red.

If I were to do as suggested up thread and get a more neutral rug with red/green running through it, I don't see why the rug can't be used once it's reupholstered alongside the cushions.

Cream and red and green and bold enough for revolution and gplan?
I can't link but have a look at the Merino Houldsworth rug by Prestige at the rug shop.
It has a cream background and big roses: will bring together the Ercol and the more modern shape and look great with the mid- century vibe.

Ercol and gplan. No idea where the revolution came from!

I am guessing from the Ercol and G-Plan that you like mid century design? You could easily find original or reproduction rugs and fabric with red and green in the design. Orla Kiely's Multi Stem design might work or Sanderson's Dandelion Clock.

I quite like it, yes. It's happened to us in some ways but I quite like the sleekness compared to the busy-ness of the rest of the house. Plus, the bits we do have are lovely quality and well looked after, and inherited from family members, so it will be nice to keep them with us whilst making them work for us.

Thank you for those recommendations. I quite like the bright patterns

I love the Ercol sofa! I have a Windsor chair in the same original green, and although I currently have a boring grey sofa, my previous one was bright red!

We did have a red, orange and greenish theme, but you have to make sure it doesn't look too Christmassy! We went for a colourful cusion on the Ercol, and plain cushions on the sofa, but they were tied together by being the same heavily textured fabric- in our case a moquette fabric like London Underground seats! It seems they have become quite expensive since, but they are indestructible! The colourful one isn't an actual underground design, it's just from John Lewis I think but feel similar.

We were also lucky to find a large mid century floor vase that managed to tie the colours together. We had a rug from next that was the right colours- red, orange/ rust and green.

Link to underground fabrics: www.shadesinteriors.co.uk/underground-cushions

Ha, you inspired me to search for rugs now! This would work with a mid century feel, and would tie in the red and green as accents without feeling to 'themed'. Plenty of other colours to pick from too. In fact, I think I want it myself!!

www.next.co.uk/g718055s2/513494

I think a natural fibre rug is a good way to bring differing styles together, lots of designers so this, will see if I can dig up a link.
I liked the idea of dark green cushions someone mentioned. Velvet cushions are lovely and very luxurious. Habitat has some good options/colours.

Something like this might work well with both sofas
www.johnlewis.com/sanderson-rainforest-cushion-multi/p4183056

Rug?
www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/lohals-rug-flatwoven-natural-00277395/

@clarabellawilliamson that's a lovely cushion! I like the rug, too. I agree that I think I need to be careful about it not looking too christmassy (until Christmas, of course!)

I think I'm going to get the settee in situ with a few cushions on either sofa and then make a decision about the rug. I'm really not sure how colourful to go. I don't want to overstep the line between 'colourful' and 'busy'. As @trickyex mentioned, I could see a jute rug toning things down a bit to bring it together.

www.roman-blinds-direct.co.uk/product/orla-kiely-multi-stem-tomato-cushion