New living room thoughts...

Yesterday, I somehow convinced my loving husband to accompany me to Grace Home Furnishings. {Something about, "we're going to be buying furniture somehow or other, and it's 70% off at Grace but I can't make a decision without you."} So our entire clan descended on Grace...luckily Grace herself (a chocolate lab) was available to entertain Katie Ray, who was literally lying on top of the dog most of our time there.

We almost bought on the spot a really nice wing chair - natural linen piped with pale aqua leather. Not what I had in mind for the space originally - it's more narrow and taller than I pictured, but surprisingly comfortable, even for Matt. But I hesitated to buy because I'd been convinced to have a matching pair of chairs flanking the fireplace and there was only one in that fabric (and to order another matching one would be $2400!)

I asked one of the designers there at Grace if it's a good idea or a bad idea to have mismatched armchairs. His reply was that the mismatched look is "more eclectic." I wasn't sure if by eclectic he meant "it will more like you were too cheap to spring for two fancy chairs so you settled on one" or if he actually meant that it's eclectic. His delivery sort of suggested the former.

But I got to thinking about some of the rooms I've seen lately and really liked, and actually they seem to have this "eclectic" look of mismatched chairs.

I've also noticed that Phoebe Howard, who designed the above three rooms and the one below, frequently mixes wood finishes. I have always done that myself -- not because I am a talented decorator, but because I used what I have. But I happen to think it works just fine!

This room below does have a matching pair (in fact, the colors of the matched pair are very similar to the chair I liked at Grace.) but there's something a little less-than-matchy-matchy about this room, too. I like that the color is in the couch rather than the chairs... I always pictured a neutral couch and patterned chairs. But this picture makes me want to have a blue couch! (sidebar: on the other hand, I hate that ottoman next to the coffee table. It looks weird and out of place to me!)

Well, this afternoon I did some on-the-fly rearranging in my living room and I am now back to considering having two different chair styles. Our living room is pretty large and airy (right now it's so empty it practically echoes!) Nevertheless, when I put our existing upholstered armchair right at the living room entrance, it made the seating area feel closed up somehow. Hopefully these pictures, amateur as they are, will show you what I mean.

Right now, I have the substantial arm chair on the far side of the seating area.
Please bear with the weird tapestry "slipcovers" and random fabric scraps,
I actually set up this "photo shoot" to test out pattern and color, not arrangement.

Here's another view of the main seating area.
Yesterday we bought a nice bookshelf which will go on the wall right behind the upholstered chair.

Same view, from a bit further back. Notice my assistant is still asleep on the job.
{I definitely need a piece of furniture for under the painting.}
Now the arm chair is right at the entrance. Of course it would be balanced
by a sister chair, but I still think it kind of stifles the entrance. Do you?

The funny thing is that I had it at the entrance before we moved out, and it never bothered me.
At that point, there was a love seat opposite the chair. I wonder if that balanced it out?
(sorry this pic is the worst of all!)
Two final shots: upholstered chair at the entrance...

Or upholstered chair at the far side and a lighter weight chair closer to the entrance.

So what do you think?
Upholstered chair on the far side and a lighter chair at the entrance?
Or upholstered chair at entrance? Or two matching chairs?

As I think about chairs...if I do a lighter chair at the entrance, of course I'd go for something more substantial than the little black bamboo chair that I'm using now.

Maybe this occasional chair from Williams-Sonoma Home? {it's on sale right now, too!) Grace also has a version of this chair that I've always loved.

Here's Hickory Chair's version (I'm not sure why the cane sides look yellow.)

Here's Wisteria's version in stained wood or white, which I really like! (but would white be too pale in winter?)

Or maybe a slipper chair like one of these:

I'm not sure Matt would go for this spindle chair, but I think it's cute.

(inspired by the Phoebe Howard chair above, although I like that one a better than this one.)

For the larger upholstered chair, there are so many options! I'd been picturing that I'd use one of these in a pair...or two different ones.



But there are so many options! This chair from Hickory Chair is nice, though it sort of looks like a large dining room chair.

While I like the idea of height, it's always nice to sit in a chair that is a little lower, wider and cozier. Here's the same fabric on a much different chair.
And here's the same chair, different fabrics.
Would it be too much to have a chair like that persimmon pattern above with a sofa like this?


Boy, that was a long post! And now as I read it over, I'm starting to think that maybe I should have a matching pair after all. Well, I'm eager to hear what my many readers think!