Decorating Your Living Room- Part 1

I have read enough magazines and watched enough shows to know that their are a few key steps/elements to successfully decorating a space.

Lets say, for example, that your space is an open concept living room/dining room and kitchen with a taupe wall colour (which you love).

It has 2 flooring types- carpet- that is in a similar but darker shade of the same taupe colour and ceramic tile.


The kitchen has traditional cabinets in a cream colour.
Step 1- Considering the fixed elements in your space (i.e., floors, walls, kitchen, etc.) find a colourful fabric(s) that you love which coordinates with all of these.
Everyone wants their home to have colour, but knowone wants to commit to any one colour for too long. The solution- colour should be brought into a room through elements that are inexpensive and easily changed e.g. pillows.

I did a quick search of the Jo-Anne Fabrics website and below are some of the fabrics that caught my eye and would go very nicely in our example open concept space.










Step 2- Draw a layout for your room considering what you intend to do with the room i.e., if entertaining is important to you, you should allow for lots of seating in your layout, etc. This can be a bit intimidating for someone with a completely blank slate, so begin by identifying the necessary pieces (e.g. sofa, chair(s), table(s), etc.).

Below is an example of a basic layout for the living room of our example open concept space.
Once you have established the basic pieces, you can then add the "accessories".

Now it is time to shop... to be continued.