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Charles brought up an interesting topic on another thread when he suggested the first place to start in a room was the Carpet, then the draperies and then the couch. What is their relationship to each other in regard to color and pattern? What effect does the style of couch and window treatment have?

Hi Lu, I'll start and see where we go... The reason designers have you start with your rug is a rule based on area rugs, not installed broadloom. If you are going to invest in an area rug the idea is that it will be something that lasts forever, and is presumably expensive. It might also mean your area rug would be something that would appeal to you on an emotional level,being one of those "must have" purchases. None of this would pertain to broadloom because it's availble in any color you would want. Rugs usually come in color combinations that are either current for contemporary, or based on the history of where they come from for traditional. Red Agras, Blue Nains,Navy Mirs, etc.

With regards to window treatments, again the "designer" rule of thumb makes the supposition that you're talking about custom. These would be made specificly for the space and are usually left behind when someone sells. The idea behind making them a part of the architectural scheme is that they would be chosen for their appropriateness and harmony with the style of the home,as opposed to being your personal style.Then they are suitable to the space regardless of the personal style layered on top of them. (designers themselves break this rule all the time putting ritzy drapes in rustic spaces, but then they're not paying retail, and change more frequently than average)

I find most traditional rugs to have curvy lines like vines, flowers, arabesques, etc. Because of this I like to balnce all the curves with striped drapes. Personally I like solid or tone on tone sofas as a break to the pattern, and since art is often hung above a sofa a simple fabric gives your eye a place to rest.

Geometric carpets will give you a different set of challenges and certainly simple broadloom can set you in an entirely different direction.

I've chimed in quite enough, who's next?

Do a little field work via strolling thru model homes, designer show houses, hotels, upscale furniture stores and browse home furnishings magazines. These sources offer abundant clues on mixing textures, scales of prints, solids, hue values, accents, that work in harmony in a space. One print such as that in a rug can become the catalyst in terms of scheme and feel in a given space. The more colors in the rug, the more flexibility you will have now and down the line. It is frequently advised that high ticket furniture such as sofas should be neutral for flexibility too. Color and/or print can be carried onto the sofa via pillows and a throw.

Seems to me that

With a patterned rug and solid couch, the draperies should be solid. With a solid colored rug and couch, the draperies and throw pillows should match or coordinate.

Am I offbase with my conclusion?

Without writing a book....my basic quandry is whether to put down vinyl strip flooring and area rugs OR reduce the cost by half by replacing the existing wall to wall. (I have a large house to decorate) The 2 rooms I'm doing adjoin each other - each about 20 x 25 but differ in levels by maybe 3 inches thus requiring something flexible to accommodate the slope at the doorway.

I already have the couches and have painted the walls to match. The couches are a beige tone on tone jacquard pattern.

Then my next quandry is IF I choose wall to wall carpet, then should I select broadloom or the trendy frieze carpet that reminds me of the horrible shag of the 70's.

I think I could be happy with the wall to wall carpet as I have fabulous aubusson rugs in the front of the house - lr, dr. and entry

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Love, Lu,

There are many ways to approach the design of a room. Charles D has presented one way. It is a great way, but it isn't the only way.

Design is a lot about logical problem solving.

When I read your question, Love,Lu I see these problems:

1. Do you put down strip vinyl flooring plus area rugs which is the more expensive choice,

or

install broad loom which is more budget friendly.

2. If you choose broadloom, should you choose something trendy that reminds you of something horrible. (Let's answer that right now. NO. Always choose something you like.)

3. How do you coordinate everything with the sofas and paint you already have.

So to answer number one, how important is your budget? You say you could be happy with broadloom, and you say you have a big house to decorate. It seems to me that budget may be an issue. If it is, then by all means choose broadloom.

Again, the answer to number 2 is to always choose what you like. Never go with a trend that you are not sure of or that reminds you of something ugly or horrible.

The big question is number three. One way you could approach the problem is to start with what is already there to work with, or what is the hardest to find. Then work from hard to easy.

If I were doing your room I would start with the sofas since you already own them and you seem to want to keep them. You say they are beige, so I am going to assume that they are light beige. You will want some contrast between you sofa and your carpet so I would choose something on the darker side for the carpet. (light against dark) I would put that into my brain - darker carpet, but I wouldn't choose the color yet. Carpet comes in just about any color, so it is pretty easy to find. We are going from hard to easy. It is going to be a bit harder to find fabric for your drapes, so now is the time to find that fabric.

Take a cushion from your sofa and head to the fabric store. Look with your eyes at what fabric looks good with your sofa cushion. (I say look with your eyes, meaning don't think with your brain. Just look. What looks good? What are you drawn to?)

You need to search for a fabric that has the sofa color in it, and a darker color that could be for the carpet, plus some accent color.

Once you find that perfect fabric the rest is easy. Choose a carpet that goes with the darker color in the fabric, and use the accent color for sofa cushions.

Then, and only then do you find a paint color to be the back drop. Paint is always last, as it is the easiest part of any design, in that absolutely any color is always available. Even though you have already painted, it is not hard or that expensive to change a paint color if needed. Always match paint to fabric, never fabric to paint.

So that is another way to solve the problem of how to lay out color and pattern in a room.

One last thing Love, Lu. I can't for the life of me understand about the three inch difference in your floor levels, and slope, so I didn't comment on that.

Well, I can't figure out WHY the contractor didn't make the 2 story addition level with the house either. This house is on the fringe of the most expensive place to live in my city of 1 M people.

That slope causes a problem in 4 rooms. I had to put vinyl down in the kitchen where most of the kitchens in this neighborhood have tile or hardwood. Upstairs in the hallway, I have the same problem going to the 2 bedrooms and bath at the rear of the house. No hardwood on that hallway floor. AND there is another opening at the master bedroom dressing room leading into the little hallways outside my husband's closets - that is going to have to be recarpeted. The worst places to accommodate are the kitchen and the upstairs hallway. Unless I recarpet the entire second floor, the carpet is not going to match what goes down in the hallway. UNLESS, that is, I use the vinyl strip flooring like Konectco there and use area runners.

Cocok is absolutely right that each room has its own challenges, so no one rule ever works for every job.Try to plan out the entire room on a board, even if you're not prepared to do it all at once, and give yourself some specific direction to aim for.

Solid drapes with a solid sofa certainly works. I think I would prefer to see that in a room with lots of texture, like silk or grasscloth wallpaper, or wood paneling, instead of solid painted walls, but that's me.

My answer is much more simple - and based on personal experience: I bought my couch first, a pattern, and then when I wanted a new area rug found that nothing matched/coordinated! When I'm sitting on my couch, I can't see much of it, but I am constantly looking at that big expanse of rug. I'm planning on redecorating soon and, trust me, I will buy the rug first!

I HATE picking out things with color to them but I put my foot in my hand and went shopping for fabric. As I hate to shop it was OVERWHELMING.

However, I have a couple of Paul Sawyer prints that I plan to put on the wall. Love the colors with the color of paint which closely resembles the color of the tone on tone jacquard fabric covered couches. I think the next time I can steel myself to go to the fabric places, I'm going to take the print that I like so much.

As for texture. I have a little. I'm doing the morning room first although I want to decorate both rooms similarly. The walls in the family room are paneling painted beige. In the morning room, there was grasscloth with paneling under the chair-rail and I have painted over both.

I do like the neutral decor look.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Love, Lu,

Well I strongly feel that if redoing entire room I start with the couch...largest furniture piece to determine rug and curtain. I usually wimp out and pick a very solid neutral creamy curtain and this time I am using 3 woven wood blinds across my humungo picture window and framing them with a curtain panel. The curtains will match the trim....picked up also in my lamp shades....my new sectional is a neutral subtle herringbone...rather khaki/caramel that picks up color running through throw pillows that also picks up my terracotta accents.....so couch appears solid per se but has wonderful fun texture to person approaching it. Soooooooo LASTLY I feel the rug should be chosen. Right now I have wall to wall ugly carpet....wood floors beneath that I plan to refinish and use area rug. Now once my colors, wall, curtain, couch etc are in place I feel I can best choose an area rug by purchasing and bringing home to place it and see how it looks....like something neutral with a bit of texture...maybe a jute stripe rug that picks up the many brown hues and gives a different eye candy than the herringbone. But that being said I am having a hard time deciding how large an area rug to have...so thinking if I find a 5 X 7 to play with I can test run it before getting a 9 X 12.....also considering having one made from carpet for shorter term as we still like to get down on floor to play games.....but darn that rug is the hardest choice for me! Thinking at least an area rug is not a super big investment that can be switched out down to road with ease when the right one comes along!

Here's what can happen when you don't follow the logical steps...had muted pattern sofas and bought a rug for the adjacent dining room in colors that complimented. Moved, the rug had to go into the living room with new off-white sofa...looked great but DH was too hard on the sofa so, had to slipcover it. Ordered it online and while I love it, it was not the color advertised and it looked horrid with the rug! Had to get a new rug. Now, I have to recover the chairs...I'd laugh but it's painful.