Home DecorHow To Decorate Your Home

How should I decorate my cranberry red living room?

My husband and I just painted our living room cranberry red. I’m starting to think about decorating ideas, but am having a hard time figuring out what will work with the bright color and home style. It’s a 1920’s bungalow, so I want to keep that old, comfortable style and mix it up with some classic Pottery Barn designs. We have a greenish/brown Pottery Barn couch, oversized club chair, brown rectangular ottoman (used as a coffee table alternative), and a beige/sage Persian rug. I was thinking of black and white photographs of places we’ve visited, but I need other options. Maybe vintage Parisian/Italian posters? Would that be too busy/much? What suggestions do you have for accent table finishes, wall decor, and picture frame finishes? Also, is it okay to have brown wood furniture with black-framed wall art?

SOOO funny! One of my design projects in school started as a study in cranberries (yeah, cranberries)… which led to one of my color pallettes: cranberry, shades of espresso brown, creams and deep earthy/mossy greens. Sound like the colors in your living room!.

ANYway, I digress. The one thing I notice in your descriptions (except for the club chair) is an absence of patterns. At least, it sounds like everything in your living room is solid colored (except, of course, for the persian rug). I’m wondering if perhaps a few well placed throw pillows, made with special upholstery fabric you find that includes shades of your cranberry, browns and greens would add a bit of dazzle? Find two or three fabrics that would complement each other. You know: one that is a healthy mix of all three, one that is mostly cranberry and one that is mostly a brighter (or truer) green than the one that manifests itself in the sofa/carpet colors. One of these is bound to have another color, or colors, that you could add to your palette, opening the door for other additions to your spot.

The early decades of the 1900’s were about returning to the individual craftsman’s art… because the industrial revolution had taken away the need for individual artisans at the turn of the century. Finding a couple of interesting craftsman pieces from these eras (or wannabe’s from these eras) would complement this older style I think you’re talking about… and help maintain the warmth I think you’re looking for. Even something like making a few homemade cheap votive candle holders from blocks of clean hardwood. Those would carry the wood up from the floor to the eyeline…

If you’re cringing at the idea of putting stark b&w photos on the wall (which I don’t think is such a bad idea), you could mount some shelving (with the hidden mounts) on a wall, staggered or in unison. A strategically placed Depression Glass vase with really good fake calla lillies (or pale green/white hydrangea globes) would go with what you’re decor is doing already.

Pottery Barn is definitely a great place to shop: they take old styles and make them modern (LOVE their old oscillating fans….). Anyway, I like what one other commentator said about using metallic frames for any pics you put on the wall.

Anyway, not sure if any of this brainstorming helped. Sounds like what you have already is rich, warm and wonderful. I’m sure whatever you add to it will be quite lovely.

Good luck.

Studio Veneto Tour 2009

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