practice restaint or run with it?

spring is (allegedly) around the corner, and it's time to shake off the winter funk. the heads-down, get-through-the-day mentality of winter and its few hours of daylight is gone (though it was more gone before daylight savings; now it's dark again when henry and i get up at 6. which sucks.), and i'm ready for light and color.

i'm also ready to finish off the tv room.

which goes hand in hand with light and color.

here's why:

the main floor is white. walls, trim, cabinets, curtains ... all white. and the couches are gray. and color is all in the accessories. and i like it that way. however, the little tv room off of the great room is my special little jewel box. it's my happy, colorful, quirky, whimsical place. and it's only about two-thirds done. time to finish off this mother and move on.

a couple of weeks ago, i grew tired of the artwork for the room being in a pile, propped up against the wall. so i hung it. none of it will stay where it is - i still have three more pieces to frame, and a deer head to move from upstairs (as one does) - but it got my groove on for finishing this space.

i want to replace the chest with a leggy ottoman, since we only really use the chest as a foot prop. and i think between marc and myself, we could make one. how hard can it be? the two wicker chairs that are currently taking up space by the windows need to go; we really don't have the space in the tv room to keep chairs in there, anyway, and i would prefer accent chairs in the great room that can be moved into the tv room if we need them. the little lamp by the couch is on a chest we bought from ikea years ago, which will likely go away ... it's too big and too low, and the table lamp needs to be replaced with something that has a bit more weight. speaking of lamp, we got a brushed nickel accordian light for above harper's keyboard, so she can see her music better. a month after we bought it? doesn't work. the knob you turn is stripped, and the swing arm part of the lamp is loose, so the whole thing hangs crooked.

so irritating.

and this after a kerfuffle with west elm before christmas, when i tried to order an accordian lamp from them, only to be told, a month later, when i called to find out where my lamp was, that it was discontinued and they MAY not be able to fill my order. so i bought a lamp on a discount site to just get it done.

big mistake. you get what you pay for.

so now i'm eyeing this puppy that i found on etsy:

the windows? i've struggled with what to do with the windows. i love that they are bare, because this room is dark. it looks out onto the porch, which is covered, so there isn't a lot of light in the room. i toyed with the idea of curtains with a pattern, but that felt too busy and too heavy. then i came across this photo and fell in love. this is it ... what i want for these windows:

simple, light, and would pull in that yellow-and-white combo that i love so much.

which leads me to rugs. the walls are palladian blue, the couch is white, the cabinet under the tv is wood with chippy paint in aqua, turquoise, yellow, green, and touches of pink and navy.

(from xmas ...)

the idea of simple white curtains appeals to me so things don't get crazy, but the little touch of yellow seems needed to add the oomph that this room can hold. but then the rug ... go with yellow and white, to play nicely with the curtains? something with more color to keep things interesting? and what about that leggy ottoman i want ... how will that work in with the rug? if the rug is mostly yellow, will a solid color on the ottoman be too much? but do i want a patterned ottoman on a patterned rug? this is where i get stuck.

current rug contenders, so you can help me decide:

on the side of simple yellow-and-white, we have this safavieh number from overstock:

i like the pattern, but the color may be too much.

then there is this other safavieah, also from overstock ...

nice pattern, yellow is less YELLOW. but maybe not yellow enough?

then there is this guy, from rugs usa ...

i like the pattern, there isn't as much yellow, but maybe the color is too green-yellow? and there is a little gray outline around the yellow that you can't see in this picture. i don't know if i love it or don't love it.

west elm has this rug ...

which i kinda dig. but might be a little too geometric for my taste. then again, it might be a large, simple enough pattern to be perfect.

the "out of left field" contenders in the running are from anthro. first there is this lovely ...

which, honestly? i love. LOVE. but those purple flowers ... i don't think i can do it. can't do purple.

which brings us to bachelorette number five, who is coral.

she could be either way too over-the-top or perfect. anthro has a yellow version of this rug which, inexplicably, has a taupey-beige border instead of the tone-on-tone of the coral version (and her sister, blue version). broke my heart; i love the yellow, but i hate taupy-beigey-khaki-brown about as much as i hate purple. maybe more, in fact.

so this is where i'm stuck. yellow seems safe, but those anthro rugs keep popping back up in my head. and then there's the ottoman ... part of me screams that we need one covered in a soft emerald green cotton velvet, but is that TOO much color for one little room? especially since the rest of the house is so, so different?

maybe i just get going on the curtains and figure everything else out once they are up. we've baby-stepped for two and a half years, at this point ... why not baby-step some more?

 

Comments

[Janet Murray]

I vote for the West Elm yellow rug, FWIW.