Many of Scott's Income Property transformations are so appealing in their design that people have started to write in for Scott's design advice. I agree, as I often wonder myself where he gets some of his decorating savvy and ideas. Well, in truth, he's got a (small) crew of people on whom he relies for the ideal completion of every project, but ultimately, he's admitted to becoming more and more interested in design.
And lucky for Kyra! She wrote in to Style Sheet with regard to her male-dominated family room, for which Scott offers some realistic, easy fixes.
From Kyra:
"
My family room is on the ground level in our
split level house. It is currently my least favorite room in the house
as it has two deer heads, a very large, very ugly brown brick
fireplace, a big screen TV, two oversize black leather couches and a
black leather recliner. OH...did I mention that there are also four
GIANT speakers? Ugh. I want to rearrange my living room somehow to make
it appear more spacious, but no matter how I rearrange it, it still
looks awful. My husband won't give up his couches or TV.
WHAT DO I
DO???"
Scott suggests: Kyra,
Oh Deer!
[good one Scott!]
Symmetry would go a long way in this place... the issue is that the whole space is sprawling with big black boxes...once those very distinct and dramatic elements have a rhyme and reason assigned to them, the space will look more cohesive.
- The fireplace is the focal point in this room. It would be nice to paint that whole wall behind it, and the brick (if you're open to that), a dramatic feature colour (try chocolate brown), so that the fireplace disappears, and the number of dramatic, attention seeking elements are reduced by one
- The TV could then go on a wall-mount bracket over the fireplace (which will please your husband, surely), which will make it easier to view (even by those in the kitchen) and ultimately make it feel more central in the room. The TV should recede against the dark feature wall making it two less dramatic elements in this room
-
Once the TV is mounted, the sofas should be positioned directly across from one another, flanking the fireplace. The large chair can be placed directly across from the fireplace. The symmetrical positioning will give the space more order and harmony which will be much more pleasing to the eye
- The deer heads could be positioned on the fireplace wall on either side of the fireplace -- containing them to one wall is essential in making the space look more intentional
- As for the speakers...if they must stay, and there are four (!), one on each side of both sofas will not only help to camouflage them against the black leather, but they will function as they were designed to do, distributing the sound equally for the ultimate audio experience.
I hope this helps!
Scott McGillivray
What do you think? Can she really be happy with those couches?
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