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Ask Cristina
Creating a comfortable
living room?
Dear Cristina,
“I want my living room
to be the place my
family and friends feel
most comfortable. I want
the room to be practical
as well as cozy. When I
visit furniture and
design showrooms, I see
so many styles I like
that I’m not sure what
to buy. Do you have any
ideas to help me create
a sala that suits my
family?”
—T. Jiron
Visiting furniture and
design showrooms seems
like the natural place
to start when you are
designing a room. Walk
around a showroom,
surrounded by elegant
groupings of furnishings
and you can practically
see your life coming
into perfect focus. It’s
such a relief to think
about that sleek
perfection being so
close at hand, that you
might just reach for
your checkbook and think
you will be done with
the project. Do that and
you will see that as
much as you like the
items you choose, you
may not be able to live
with them.
Before you spend a dime,
you need to develop a
plan. The first step in
your plan is to
determine the function
of your room. The word
function is my new
design mantra. Style
comes after function
because function is the
foundation of your
furnishing choices. So
what exactly do I mean
by that? What I mean is
that how you use your
room, the things you
expect to be doing in
the room determine the
type of items you put in
that room. Once you’ve
figured that out, then
you can start making
style, fabric and color
choices.
This idea is simple but
also easy to forget. A
few years back, my
husband had to snap me
out of a hypnotic dream
state to get me off a
purple suede sofa I
found in a showroom. One
look at that sofa
developed some sort of
amnesia. I forgot about
my small dog climbing up
the tallest piece of
furniture (the sofa) to
look out the window. I
forgot about that dog
shedding (on the sofa)
her three colors of
fine, wire-like hair. I
forgot about our
daughter and her friends
giggling and spilling
ice cream (on the sofa)
while they sit (on the
sofa) and write notes
with felt tip pens. I
forgot that I like to
read (on the sofa) and
set my teacup close at
hand. All I could see
was the beautiful vision
of that gorgeous purple
sofa in my living room.
Fortunately, my husband
was able to distract me
with chocolate. I
snapped out of my
dreamlike state when I
realized that I could
never own a sofa that I
could not sit on while
eating chocolate.
Eating chocolate while
sitting on suede may not
be an issue for you as
it is for me,
nonetheless, you will
have other issues. Find
out what those issues
are and start a list
before you make any
choices. Begin your list
by taking a few moments
and ask yourself how you
want each item in your
room to function. Would
a television encourage
togetherness or get in
the way? Would wireless
Internet encourage
everyone to enjoy the
room while doing
homework or would it be
a distraction? Do you
envision large groups of
visitors or simple
evenings at home? Do you
want the room to support
both types of evenings?
Pay attention to the
lighting and plan the
lighting that best suits
your needs. If people
are reading or doing
handwork, incorporate
adequate task lighting.
If you enjoy food or
drink, choose fabrics,
furnishing and flooring
surfaces that can easily
tolerate spills. What do
your window treatments
need to do, block sound,
light or an ugly view?
Do you need to
incorporate fabrics and
surfaces to absorb noise
or insulate the room
from the sun or cold
winters? This list of
questions is just enough
to get you started on
your own list. Discuss
the results with your
family members and
you’ll get everybody on
board for the changes
you are planning.
Keep in mind the
function of every item
you are buying. Jot down
measurements of your
room so you are sure to
only consider pieces
that will fit. Shopping
for the styles and
colors you want will be
easier if you narrow
your choices down before
you even get to the
store.
Happy Decorating,
Cristina
We
would love to hear your
home décor questions.
For more information on
home design visit
www.latinastyle.com. To
all our readers, we’d
love to see before and
after pictures of your
decorating efforts. Send
jpeg photos with your
contact information to
editor@latinastyle.com
About Cristina
Cristina Acosta is a
nationally renowned
artist, author and
design and color
consultant. The author
of Paint Happy! She is
currently at work on a
new book based on her
home-décor color
consulting. |
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Mimi’s living room –
green walls with lots of
shelving, and a adjacent
view with a archway
surrounding a purple
entry wall. The client
is dedicated to an
environmentally
sustainable lifestyle.
The concrete floor is
designed to act as a
passive heat retention
area. The building
materials are “green”
products sustainable
produced. The coatings
are low voc products.
Note the beautiful array
of custom shelving along
one wall. This showcases
the family’s treasured
photos, artwork, and is
storage for their
extensive collection of
music. |
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The Schlosberg Spencer
residence |
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