Help me decorate!

[dizzyupthegirl86]

Im after some inspiration for decorating my living room / dining room. I want sage green, but what I can’t decide on is whether to do the same shade in both rooms or whether to contrast it or change it up.

I’ve included a floor plan and some photos, the living room is north facing, the dining room is south facing but there’s a conservatory behind it so it doesn’t get a huge amount of sun.

whats missing on the floor plan is a chimney breast in each room on the right hand side. The dining room is pretty much a home office, it’s got a desk in one of the alcoves and an armchair.
In terms of how I use it, they are two very different spaces but I can’t seem to make my mind up on how to decorate it!

for the living room - find one element that you love - maybe a big colourful rug or a dramatic picture or some curtains with a pattern in. It is worth searching for a while on pinterest or Houzz to find something that really speaks to you.

Similarly, the dining room walls would be much improved with some pictures or art work. you can have wall hangings or posters or whatever. I sometimes get a calendar of nice pictures and frame them up in matching frames - 4 or 6 together and you instantly get a cheap and effective point of interest.

When you've picked your main decorative element, use that as the starting point for everything else. So pick out 2 or 3 colours from the item to use for the other elements (rug / curtains / cushions etc).

And I'd keep all the walls the same in a neutral pale green - it will give you much more flexibility to do interesting things with art and lighting.

Thank you - it’s not so much the extra bits that I’m having trouble with, it’s more the picking of a colour/s! I know the sort of palette I want for the living room, but it’s whether I go slightly different in the dining room which will define it as a completely separate space, or go for the same colours throughout and keep it uniform (in which case I need to consider a shade that will work for both spaces)!

I really like having a series of rooms in the same colors, then with slightly different accessory pieces. I'd choose quite a pale paint color. Are you getting new carpet? I'd also have the same carpet all the way through. If you know what your child paper will be, pick one color for walls, one for floor, then choose different supporting colors for each room.

For now, the carpet is staying (it’s the carpet that was here when I moved in, it’s really good quality so am loathe to replace it for no reason), but it’ll go with what I choose anyway! I love carpet that’s the same all the way through too, so I’m lucky in that sense!

Im almost certainly going to have just painted walls, no wallpaper - unless I see one that blows me away.

I think I’ll start with some paint samples and put them in each room and see how they look in different lights. Much as I love the house, the dining room is the most infuriating space. The only wall that’s not interrupted by an arch, chimney breast or door has a radiator on it, and the dimensions are just that little bit too small to do anything useful with it!

I see what you mean about the dining room, it’s a bit like a passage, maybe because of the arch? I would be inclined to paint at least one wall quite a bright colour, to give it a bit of excitement. I’d also consider putting a curtain across the arch,,or rather two curtains, which you could loop back or close as you felt. The same curtains across the conservatory windows would make the dining room snug at night.

in terms of the colour, are you convinced about sage ? It’s quite a cold green on the warm/ cool spectrum. personally I would look at ochre, burnt sienna warm colours. Yellow looks fabulous with gray as in your carpet. The curtain could also be yellow and grey and green , then you could take some of the colours from the curtain into the walls.

Like these

And this….

Thank you, that’s given me a different take!
Im 90% sure on the sage - I’ve wanted it in my last two places and it’s never been right for the space! I’ve been looking at warmer shades, I’ve attached some of the ones I’ve been looking at.

The carpet looks lighter in the photos on my first post, it’s actually a fair bit darker. I’ve thought about a curtain to close off the arch a bit, especially with it being so cold, though I just can’t find a way to do it that I like the look of. I think I prefer the idea of a screen, which obviously won’t do anything for the warmth but would split the two rooms! I’d love a chesterfield style sofa in the dining room but they all seem to be too deep and so would get in the way of the doors out to the conservatory. As it stands, I don’t use the dining room at night once I’ve clocked off work. I’ve considered putting a dining table in but I live on my own so don’t actually need one, and itd take up so much of the space that it seems like a waste.

I’ve actually lived here almost two years, and have been slowly decorating and the living room is looking like the next one on my list!