.: This is the house that will haunt me {part 2}

{Living and Dining Rooms}

Returning for day two of this great home....and entering the living and dining rooms.  Here's the living room, as you would see it from the entry foyer.

This is a really stunning room.  Just by eyeball, I would estimate that it's at least 15x30', maybe bigger.  What to do.....?  Well, the absolute first thing would be to rip up that old carpet and expose these pristine, never-seen-the-light-of-day wood floors.

Then I'd measure that big triangular window and run right over to Hudson Glass.  After sitting down with the fine folks over there and I'll have designed a custom, three panel stained glass piece to hang in front of that window.  On the way home I'd stop in at a wood flooring specialist to plan the new dining room floor.

Oh, by the way, here are some shots of the dining room.

The existing dining room floor is an original 1960's stone mosaic tile that looks kind of like this:

Karn Dean floor tile

You know, it's a really thin line between "wow, mid-century" and "Whoa -- so mid-century!"  Yeah, this floor is cool, and once cleaned up it might look pretty good, but it kind of crosses the line for me, so in my fantasy design out it goes.   I toyed with the idea of replacing it with another stone mosaic, maybe something with travertine and wood onyx.  I like the ease of cleaning with a tiled dining room, and you can also lay it over a radiant heating mat, so the floors will always be warm.  

But ultimately, I was woo-ed by this lovely floor....

Oak and Walnut floor (this is the whole floor, not a tile!)

I think the simple geometric pattern on this floor will work well with almost and kind of decor, and I love the interplay of the oak and the walnut.  It's the perfect bridge between the oak floors in the living room and the walnut in the kitchen (remember, I said I had an idea that would make the walnut work in the kitchen!).

Working our way up from the floors, let's get to wall color.  Playing off the colors of the stone fireplace wall, our palette will be earth tones with small splashes of brights.  I'm thinking a warm, golden yellow on the living room walls, and rich chocolate brown in the dining room.

And just for fun, I'd love to add an all-over stencil to the back wall of the dining room, the one you see directly if you're standing in the living room.  Taking the living room wall color down a few shades will make it coordinate without glaring.  So picture this,

via Cutting Edge Stencils

in these colors....

With me so far?  We only have a little bit left to go to finish the this area.....

Come back again to see the furniture, lighting, and accessory ideas for these two rooms........

Enjoy your Easter weekend!


~ Leigh