Don't go out and buy new furniture -- use your existing furniture in new ways for a fresh look. Mary Brown and Mary Jo Hartley, members of the Interior Arrangement & Design Association (IADA), explain creative ways to use existing furnishings to give a typical great room a whole new look. The two designers came to the aid of homeowners who had trouble combining differing styles of furnishings from their old house in the great room of their new home. Their decorating challenge was to combine the country look of the dining room with the more contemporary style used in the living room. Their job was made easier by the combination of styles already built in -- for example, a contemporary vaulted ceiling and a country-look railing around a stairway. They continued the feeling of continuity between the two areas by using color and similar wood tones throughout to create flow. A white couch, formerly lost against a white wall, finds a home nestled under the front window. The windows' wood trim serves as a frame for the couch, and window blinds hung at varying heights give the setting a sense of rhythm. The blacks and burgundies of the dining room are brought into the living room in pillows and an afghan on the couch, and a colorful area rug is brought up from the basement to add contrast and color and help anchor the light-colored pieces of furniture. A warm honey-colored piano brought into the living room ties in nicely with the golden-oak dining set and further softens the contemporary look of the living room (figure A).
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