Design Tip Tuesday: Storage and Scale

Darcy has a problem with her family room. “We need some sort of end table under the window because there’s no coffee table,” she reports. “We don’t have a coffee table because the kids use the floor area to play.” Darcy says she doesn’t want more furniture because they already have a lot. She feels the rug, which she bought from Anthropologie, overwhelms the room. Also, Darcy has tried lots of different furniture placements without finding fulfillment. Finally, should she change the wall color to white?

I didn’t have all the measurements, so I had to guess on some of them. But I think I had enough fix this room. First, let me describe what you don’t see in the photo. Darcy included a small drawing which shows a large TV, set on an angle in the corner across from the sofa. She also has a chair next to the TV. A hall divides two desk areas - one for adults and one for the kids. The doorway across from the sofa is an entry into the home.

As I see it, the problems are not about the coffee table. The first is with scale. We’ve got a large sofa and chair in a small room (14-1/2′ x 11-1/2′) along with too many tiny pieces. The second issue is storage. Small children collect a lot of small toys, and she needs a place to put them.

Let’s start with problem number one. As I said, there are too many tiny things which make any small room looks cluttered. So we’ll keep the larger pieces and lose the little ones. Now we’ve got a clean room, where everything is the same scale.

The next problem is storage. Because the sofa is on the only blank wall, Darcy has no place for storage. So I moved the sofa across the room, under the window. Some people have a problem with this, but it works here since the top of the sofa is lower than the window. And, Darcy’s blinds won’t interfere. This gives us a wall for the TV and some shelves.
I suggest something like CB2’s True Media Console (above). It has room for a TV and storage for toys underneath and out of sight.

Overhead I’d replace the framed photos with some shelves. West Elm has a variety to choose from such as their Bracket Shelves (above). Hang the simplest of the three at different heights to create some added interest. Some of Darcy’s plants and framed photos could go here. As you can see in the floorplan (below) I angled the chair and now that fits nicely. But no coffee table!

How about some nesting tables next to the sofa? Again, from CB2, Their Checkmate Nest Tables (below) would be perfect. You can take the little one out and use it when needed.

I didn’t include in on the floorplan, but there’s no reason why you couldn’t put one of the two round seats next to the chair and use it as a table.

But wait, there’s more! The wall over the two desks is another great place for storage. You can find wall cabinets just about everywhere. IKEA makes some great ones. But not everyone has access to IKEA and their shipping costs can be expensive. I found the Hideout Cabinet at CB2 (two-stop shopping today) which would work really well. In this case much better than shelves because the doors hide the clutter.

Finally, the paint color. I agree that the existing color, with the brown trim, closes in the space. But white would be very boring. I suggest using a shade of the sofa color - two notches darker. This will still be a light-to-midtone color, but will be more calming. It will go with the brown window treatment, too. Finally, keep the rug. It’s wonderful, and with your new, neutral paint color the rug will gives your new room just the right amount of zing.

Darcy, are you pleased? If so, send me photos of the after and I’ll post them. DH readers, let me know your ideas. What would you have done? Do you have a dilemna of your own?

• Posted by Jennifer at 7:00 pm
• Tagged: Design Dilemma, Furniture