When my husband and I got married, we bought olive green couches. I wish we had gone with tan because I feel like the green limits me so much when trying to decorate our living room. Also, I made window treatments (valances) and because I was trying to add some color to the room I used a maroon/cherry solid fabric. I hate the green/maroon color scheme. I loved it 10 years ago but not today. We live in a rental, so we have white walls and can't paint. Do you have any ideas about what I might be able to do to decorate? Our carpet is white, our walls are white, our couches are green, and our window treatments are maroon/cherry as I said. We have very little wall space as the room has 3 large windows (each window is about 59x59 inches). I'm to the point where I would be fine taking the window treatments down and starting fresh, but I'm not sure where to start. The kitchen and the living room are one large room pretty much. The kitchen color scheme consists of aqua/robin egg blue, yellow, lime(ish) green, and a couple other shades of blue.

Do you have any advice about green couches and where you might go from here? I am all ears! I've certainly been in your shoes. Having constraints when decorating is always a challenge but the ones of your own making somehow feel the most suffocating. With that in mind, my first advice to you would be to free yourself of the need to make all of the colors you mention work in harmony. It's simply not possible to get white walls, maroon window treatments, olive upholstery, aqua, lime and blue to work in concert.  Start by selecting the one or two shades you really love the most and replace the rest. With that in mind, I'll assume you really love your sofa and want to keep it.  You are on the right track about removing the maroon window treatments.  There are lots of creative ways to DIY beautiful window treatments that will cost you very little and improve the look right away. (You can make simple no sew draperies from drop clothes or discounted fabric. I shared a tutorial on no-sew grommet drapes here). 

Choose a solid off-white fabric for the curtains and add an olive green grosgrain ribbon detail to the drapes to pick up the color on the windows.  Chevy Truck Pet Seat CoversDon't forget to hang them as close to the ceiling as possible to maximize the height in the room.Laptops For Sale San Diego If you want to go the extra mile on the window treatments, fitted roman shades hung inside the window frame in a coordinating green or pattern that incorporates green can look lovely peeking out from behind long flowing panels.Outdoor Dining Furniture Calgary Moving back to the couch, adding some pale beige pillows and a throw would break up the mass of olive and tie back to the draperies. In such a neutral shade you should have no problem finding lots of affordable styles to choose from.

While you aren't adding color here, you can add a lot of depth to the look with different textures. And lastly the floor.  Since there is so much contrast from the floor to the sofa, I'd suggest you ground the dark couch by adding a sizeable area rug over your carpet in a pattern that picks up on the shades you have remaining in the room. With those rather simple changes, you'll have a whole new room! Categories: Living & Family Rooms Unify Styles or Unify Colors I believe I may suffer from schizophrenic decorating! We have been in a total makeover for well past two years now and I must admit I am the hold up.  I like too many styles and can't seem to merge them. We have been on cement for over two years and I still can't decide on door hardware (embarassing at times with holes in the doors:-o) I love the creams and whites walls with soft linen white drapery and architectual molding on the walls, but equally love the idea of a farmhouse reclaimed table.

I have purchased some English white pine pieces (I am a sucker for chests), but also love the feminity of fluted legs on chairs. I want more than anything for my home to have a historic feel to it as well. I obviously need professional help and I don't mean just decorating! How do you merge what feels like two opposite looks? I can send photos of my nightmare if needed. See Answer From Ana White » Categories: Color, Project Planning Tips to Help Choose Colors of Adjoining Rooms My living room, dining room and kitchen are pretty open to each other in an L-like shape. Currently the kitchen is an orange tone that I really like and the other rooms are a boring white. We want to add some color to the other rooms, is it too much, if there are clear breaking points to have a different color in each room, as long as they complement each other? See Answer From Theresa & Mark Clement » Categories: Color, Kitchens, Painting Tips, Project Planning A Paint Color to Complement Natural Stone

I have a bedroom which is about 13 x 20 feet. One wall is various colors of green natural stone and another wall is wood framed windows with off white blinds. The carpet is light green and off white. I would like to paint the other two walls, and I'm thinking of beige with green undertone.  What is your suggestion? See Answer From Melissa Michaels » Categories: Bedrooms, Color, Painting Tips, Project Planning A Rustic Farmhouse Vibe My husband and I are re-doing our kitchen in phases. We've already replaced our island and flooring, and now we're ready to choose the rest of the cabinets. Our island is a beautiful dark-ish green, and my plan was to NOT have the island the same color as the other cabinets, but to let it compliment the cabinet color instead. Our floors are a wood look porcelain tile with a rustic farmhouse appeal. The problem is I've always assumed my cabinets would be a golden/honey wood stain but now I'm afraid that trying to blend wood cabinets with the wood look floors will be a problem and we should get painted wood cabinets instead, but still, I have no idea what color we should get.

Please give me some direction so I can finally have the beautiful kitchen I've always wanted! See Answer From Eduardo Rodriguez » Categories: Kitchens, Painting Tips, Project Planning The Magic of an Accent Color I have turquoise walls and am planning to have black and white furniture, a white bed and desk, black dresser and bookshelf. I have ruffled curtains and a matching bedspread.  I am trying to find accent pillows. I couldn't find the type I wanted in anything other than a pale pink. Would two or three pale pink pillows look odd or out of place? Would adding a few other light pink objects help? Or should I just stick with white and black and go find other pillows? See Answer From Diane Henkler » Bring out the Crown My walls, ceiling, and crown molding are all the same shade of antique white. I have soffits around all four sides of my dining room with high ceilings. I am thinking of painting the soffits a darker neutral beige or taupe color and leaving the walls as they are.