This is a real “give a rat a cookie” situation. Here’s what happened – I added that incredible painting in the stair landing, which brought so much joy and happiness to the room (and to me) and reminded me that I love color! “Oh my God, I’m literally in and out of my mind.”I am sophisticated and like neutral people,” to “Give me all the colors,” like my daughter did when she was 6. This has to do with life stages (when my life is more chaotic, I need neutral people, but when things seem manageable, I can be more adventurous). Certainly a therapist could diagnose this. I mean, I’ve always loved colors, but sometimes I want more and sometimes less. Right now it’s obviously more so.
So yes, first the painting. Then we had to hire movers because Grech and I both hurt our backs (moving furniture, obviously), so when we had two people moving a bunch of other stuff (moving the kids’ beds, moving the arch cabinets and piano into the garage, etc.), I got quite an idea. We’ll finally try out the world’s heaviest hutch in the living room. And I have a lot of feelings about it (the verdict is in, but the jury was unclear in its sentencing).
As a reminder, this is what it was like years ago when we first unveiled the living room (obviously at a more neutral stage of life). I bought that piece from Round Top. I think it’s French, definitely primitive, farmhouse, etc. But honestly, because of the lighting here, it just looks like a gray patch. It’s not as blue-gray as it felt in our house in LA (I’m blaming the lighting here).
So then we replaced the gray antique piece with a midcentury piece, and I definitely like it better. The teak piece is much more rich and simple, but it’s not my favorite piece either, if I’m being honest. This was a last minute FBMP purchase the weekend before the big real simple Shoot, and it checked the boxes (and has great storage), but it’s nothing too special or anything. So when I had the opportunity to try out the Hutch, I did.
Where is this vintage hutch from?
So that hutch was purchased on 1stDibs a year before we moved to the farm (so 5 years ago?). It’s from Sweden (I think, maybe Finland) and I fell in love with its color and patina. I was originally going to put it in the sunroom (aka the formal dining room that I use as my office), that seemed appropriate. But it was the only wall in the entire house that had blimp art to hang (and it’s my favorite of all my old art). So the fancy Swedish hutch, which weighed no less than 600 pounds, was standing in the guest cottage filled with stuff for about 5 years. It’s finally in, and I have a lot of feelings.
Why wait so long to try a vintage hutch inside?
There really wasn’t any room for it (remember, there was a scone in here), and it was so incredibly heavy that I wasn’t about to torture Brian by “playing around” whenever. I Was extremely suspicious. The night before it came inside, I told Brian it was time to try the hutch inside while the movers were doing it. He said, “Are you sure?” And I said, “Absolutely not. In fact, I think there’s only a 45% chance I’ll like it here”. Those are bad prospects. But we won’t know until it gets here. My doubts were high, but my hopes were high, and with skilled movers, the time had come.
Blush 96″ Barb Sofa | Blue 84″ Barb Sofa
As soon as it came in, I knew it wasn’t “hell yes.” Let’s find out why this isn’t a slam dunk (or layup):
- first, back blue blue sofa Not ideal (and we knew it, but wanted to see if I could make it work). It’s not balanced (which is why I brought Chase to the foreground – the vocals work better and the antiquity of the two pieces speaks to each other).
- For whatever reason, stylistically it looks bad. Something about the patina on the wood along with the plush velvet and novelty of the sofa, perhaps? Grech, Caitlin, Marlee and I stared at it, and we couldn’t put our finger on why it wasn’t “absolutely yes.”
- At first, it was centered between the sunrise room and the window, and it was really intense, dark, like a monolithic, big dark thing that pulled your eye so badly and felt so sudden. Once I balanced it out and softened the lines with the Cherner chair and art, we liked it a lot more, but it’s still just Good.
- It’s too intense, and it competes with the white fireplace, and it wins, but it shouldn’t win – the fireplace should be the focal point.
It’s not the worst! Oh, and yes, I was obviously going to replace the handle with unvarnished brass. I think you can see why I wanted to try it, but suddenly, the living room became more busy, messy, and unbalanced.
Once we found that, we had to move the vignette to the corner (chaise lounge or Soho Home chair) because it felt like too much furniture. so i brought it bench From my bedroom, which I really love, so I can either get a bench for here or a new bench for our bedroom.
Originally, I was nervous that it would be bad/heavy to get on the side, but that actually wasn’t the problem.
Blush 96″ Barb Sofa | Blue 84″ Barb Sofa
I think if this room was a darker color, it wouldn’t look as cohesive as it does. Colour-wise, it’s nice, it’s just the space, the size (huge) made my fresh, colorful Scandi room feel instantly crowded.
But I wanted to show you how the landing vignette looks from the living room – I love it. And here you can see the round top French piece works better on this side of the room, where it gets more light (but it still looks dull). I think both of these pieces would look far better in an 1850s guest cottage with rustic wood on the walls.
It is comfortable. It’s generous, and it’s a room that’s fun to be in. But there’s a lot going on. It’s fun to try and see, but ultimately it’s a ‘no’.
Which piece might work??
So I asked Grech for some alternatives to Photoshop to see what direction I should go.
At first I thought that a low, wide and light wooden cabinet would be the solution. and I like This one (from Lulu and Georgia), but then I realized it still felt heavy. So we tried one more time…
This one It’s smaller in scale and will give more breathing space around it (and under the sconce). I don’t mind this – its lightness makes more sense!
But then I realized that maybe we need to go back to a higher table height. Our wainscot is 31″, which is actually quite short for a lot of sideboards. but i got it This one The one from Rejuvenation is 29″ tall, so it will fit the height of the molding (which sticks out). I definitely like the look of it. This is a more serious piece (more traditional than Scandi). The room feels much more spacious and less cluttered. But…
You have to remember that behind the blue sofa is a sofa table that I love (and fits perfectly, and holds my lovely mushroom stools), so I really didn’t want to put the two consoles so close to each other.
Then I got an idea…
Maybe it needs a less bulky living room dresser, more like a “chest of drawers” than a bedroom dresser. i love the one aboveAnd sadly it’s a few inches above the wainscot, but otherwise it’s great. Its shape, size and function are different from the sofa table, so it doesn’t seem strange that the two surfaces are so close to each other (and PS, we use the sofa table for drinks when we’re hanging out in the living room). I also love that this dresser gives off a circular vibe compared to the perfectly linear sofa table.
here’s another one round cabinet It’s beautiful (but definitely hard to see in the render). It’s dark (and comes in different finishes), but I thought the dark color might match well with the kitchen island.
Overall, this was a fun experiment, and I figured that even if Hutch’s attempt here failed (which it turned out to be), I would have to talk about the reasons why and maybe it would help me figure out what would work (which it did!). I could have probably just photoshopped it (and we did), but living with it for a while solidified that it was too heavy, dark, and big for this room. I also want to say the same those dog beds It worked much better when the living room was more neutral. Now there are so many tones here, and it doesn’t know whether it wants to be bright and colorful or neutral and warm.
Style. play. Every day, okay??? And for the sake of democracy, I think it’s important to vote. What pieces would you replace the hutch with?
*by photos Caitlin Green
