S and and I have somewhat similar styles and he is pretty laid-back when it comes to decorating, but integrating our stuff has been more of a challenge than I expected. I like clean lines, no clutter, simple patterns, and light spaces whereas he prefers a heavier colonial look centered around his prized possessions: ornate wool & silk rugs from the Middle East. I can appreciate their beauty, but the ornate patterns look chaotic to my eye and are anything but soothing. I actually feel agitated in every room we have his rugs on the floor. It's kind of a problem since they're in every room I spend any time in.
The carpets have me completely stumped and frankly, a little depressed. I was excited when we moved into the Bee Hive and started to make it ours. But now that we've reached the point of putting it all together, every vision I have for a room falls apart when the carpets are introduced. Clean lines are thrown in to chaos and any hope for a few brightly colored spring throw pillows violently clash with the dark, heavy, winter blues, deeps greens and burgundys in the carpets. I hate the road block these carpets are throwing at me; we need some serious design help. At this point I can't even imagine what we're going to do if we retire the tired, huge, blue stripe couches to the basement and buy a deep brown leather couch and chairs reminiscent of a windowless library reading room that S keeps sending me links to. I think it's going to be an either-or situation. Dark carpets or dark couches, but not both. I feel like I'm living in a deep, dark man-cave. Someone get me out of here.
I ordered this drum shade from Ballard Designs today, which is one summery-feeling thing that doesn't clash with the carpet in the living room.
We're going to use it on a much needed floor lamp in a corner of the living room. I stumbled on it yesterday when I was quickly flipping through catalogs before tossing them in the recycling bin. I think it should balance out the three Ikea poofs that live in the opposite corner of the living room.
Have you made a room feel light and summery even with a heavy carpet grounding the space? Or do we need to find a compromise and rotate the carpets out for the season?Labels: design, inside, life
