New Curtains, New Paint, Accessories Help!

[n0shy]

Hello, can anyone make any suggestions for my living room, I'm rubbish as colour schemes and interior design it took me 2 years to get those curtains in the picture! I want to warm up the rooms and revamp, I have to keep the sofas and cabinets but everything else can go what would you suggest, I can't match things to save my life! I either go way over the top so that everything is too matchy or it doesn't go st all I was thinking of painting the walls mink but that's as far as I'm getting atm

You need a nice brightly coloured rug and curtains to start with. Then some plants. And some pictures on the wall
Wouldn't go amiss.
It's all a bit grey and silver at the moment.

The sofas look like they might have some green tones? That would look nice with beige walls. Beige is coming back into fashion, and it is warmer. I’d get some beige curtains to match. But heavier and thicker than what you have now. Then throw in a few colourful pillows on the sofas to introduce some colour. Add a carpet on top of your carpet from IKEA, they have a lot of choice, and are very reasonably priced. That will break up the grey carpet. Finally put some pictures on the walls. Frame prints/posters are fine, or photos of the family on blown up canvases.

Moving from grey to beige is an update and will warm things up. There are lots of shades of beige do be really careful to check them against your existing sofas before buying any paint! I wouldn’t go for taupe, and beige can have green, pink, orange, or yellow undertones. You need to be really careful with pink undertones, they most often clash with other neutrals, if you don’t plan carefully.

I heard a nice piece of advice from an interior designer once, that if you're struggling for a colour scheme then open up your wardrobe and see what colours you have in there - you'll find that there's certain colours you've naturally selected more of and are likely to make you happy.

Once you've found a principle colour to go with, you can use a colour scheme generator online and see what goes nicely with your primary colour. There's advice online as well for ratios to go with e.g. primary colour = 60%, secondary = 30% and accent colour = 10%.

My starting point for your room would be whatever's unchangeable though, e.g. the carpet and generate some colour schemes from that

Google the colour wheel to work out what will go with the furniture. Colours opposite each other work well together. It's hard to tell your sofa colour from the pics, idk if it's gold or silver.

I'd definitely hang heavier thicker curtains cause that will feel more luxurious straight away.

I'd get a rug

I'd move the desk

Set sofas up to face each other

Get a dining table for the other room

Thank you all! The sofas are a champaign gold satin with a charcoal damask pattern on them, if I go with the beige walls should I get a rug and curtains in the same shade? Or should they be contrasting colours like green ect

@Inappropriacy that's the dining table lol that's currently used as a work from home desk by hubby 🤣

The colours in this Pinterest pic look they would work well in your space. I’d go for a similar wall colour on all walls. Then the green velvet would be great as curtains and some cushions. I’d go for plain curtains and cushions as the sofas are quite a strong pattern already. A neutral rug would help tie it all together, or there’s this nice warm ochre rug that would add a bit more colour.

Rug
Curtains
Cushions

NOT BEIGE!!! Beige is as bad as grey. Either go for white or at least one wall in a more definite/brighter colour.

Don’t go white. It’s too stark. It’s also a waning trend. Beige or “complex cream.” Is the next on trend neutral.

If your couches have a gold background colour, just be sure to pick a yellow undertone and not a beige with a pink undertone which will badly clash.

This article about decorating around grey floors might be useful:

https://mariakillam.com/what-if-i-dont-like-the-grey-flooring-thats-everywhere/

The sofas look like a warm gold colour? the carpet is cool and grey? At the moment you therefore have no colour. I think this is why it's not working.

You haven't said if the carpet can go, does it have to stay?

@LooneyLiberalSpaceWaster yes unfortunately the carpet has to stay

Was a bit bored so played around with a palette generator this evening - 1st colour is from your carpet, 3rd colour is from your sofa, 2nd colour is a potential wall colour, then 4th and 5th are potential accent colours (e.g. for curtains/cushions/chairs etc).

Have a play around and see what other options for wall and accent you like though!

ETA: (click on image to see all 5 photos - mumsnet made it weird...)

I saw some gold curtains at dunelm last week.

www.dunelm.com/product/mariba-pencil-pleat-curtains-1000230034?defaultSkuId=30879449

I would try and tone everything with your sofas and ignore the floor and you can put a massive rug down. And the sofas are warm looking whereas the carpet is a cold colour.

I wouldn't be going for patterned curtains like that with a damask patterned sofa. You could look for curtains with texture.
Does the mirrored table/desk have to stay?

And can you do without that grey frame around the fire and have the TV off the wall? And get rid of the silver mirror and the ladder thing? You need a more cohesive look wrt to the furniture.
It looks like you had quite a grey look before with the mirrored table, velvet dining chairs etc. Wood would fit better with the warmer look you seem to be aiming for now.

I wouldn't be going for patterned curtains like that with a damask patterned sofa

I would. Not necessarily those ones but I think patterned curtains are an easy way to bring in another much needed colour and some homeliness. Richness. At the moment the room is almost sterile.

I suppose traditionally people would have vertically striped curtains with a damask sofa but that's a bit hotel-ish.

This room has a patterned sofa, a patterned rug and patterned curtains.

The pattern on both in your picture is quite subtle though. OP's sofa has very contrasting colours so the pattern stands out much more. Having curtains with a very noticeable design like birds etc would just clash IMO.

The first thing you need to sort out is the layout, that would immediately improve things and make the room feel more welcoming without costing you any money or changing the colour scheme. Think about who uses the room, when they use it and what they do there to make the room suit your family and their needs.

Which half of the room is bigger, it's difficult to tell from the photos? It looks like you have an L shaped sofa and a chair or 2 seater sofa squashed into one half with the TV and then your DH's desk and a 2 seater sofa or snuggler in the other (bigger?) half. I think it might be a good idea to cut down the number of sofas you have, you have too many for this space.

Is it possible to have the 2 smaller sofas facing each other in the half with the desk? Or just have the L shaped sofa where it is and get rid of the other two?

Do you want to keep the possibility of using the dining table as a dining table (I see a high chair so do you still eat there?) or is it only ever going to be your DH's desk? Make a decision then you can get rid of the dining room chairs or get your DH a better desk. You also need to sort out some toy storage. Once you've got the practicalities sorted then you can choose a colour scheme (@CaribouCarafe 's one looks nice).

As for choosing furniture make use of FB marketplace, gumtree and ebay to get what you want for a good price. Use Pinterest to collect images of rooms you like and work out what you like and what is meaningful to you. People who have really attractive welcoming houses do actually spend a lot of time thinking about layouts and decorating to make their houses look effortless, it's not an easy thing to do so don't be surprised you find it hard.

The curtains are a bit something and nothing. Either get a pair that stop at the window sill or get full length ones. Lined or heavier ones will look better.
Secondly, it's easier to match paint to soft furnishings than the other way around.
I think Dulux still do a matching service where you take an item into the shop and they put their machine over it and it tells you what paint matches . Or you can use their visualiser app. Hours of virtual fun!
I agree with the 60/30/10 % split between primary/secondary/tertiary colours.
Cover the carpet with large rugs. It looks like your room is 2 knocked into one. Define each area, one as a lounge and the other as a study/reading or dining area. The rugs will define the areas.

Strip the floors- will make a huge difference.