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Sunday, July 26, 2015

The Process Of Selecting A Piece Of Furniture!

 



I love the design process, and trust me it IS a process. One that you need to take time, and do some deep thinking, and careful planning.

It has been so fun for me to treat myself like a client, and delve into what I really want my new home to look, and feel like.

PLANNING IS IMPORTANT!

Luckily I am pretty solid in what I like in my home, and the style I like. However, once you start looking around even I find more than one look, or direction my home could go towards. 

This is why it is so important to plan it out carefully and really try to stick to the overall style and design you want. If you just start purchasing elements without a plan you just might end up with a room you never wanted.

 STUDY AND DO YOUR RESEARCH


In studying rooms, and analyzing what  elements I love I have realized I can go a more traditional, elegant coastal look, or I can go a more traditional, relaxed coastal look. I have to admit I probably will have a touch of understated elegance in my home, I just seem to gravitate towards that look.

THROUGH THE EYES OF A CHILD

Even my granddaughter at a very early age when asked by her Mom if they could do something to their home to make it be like Grammy’s home, she replied, “NO!” in a  very matter of fact manner.  

When asked what she liked about Grammy’s home so much she said, “ It’s just fancy!” Of course you have to realize at that time we were reading the, ‘Fancy Nancy,’ books, but we were both amazed at her observations at such an early age.

So I WILL have a touch of fancy here and there, but overall I wish to achieve a more casual look and feeling. 

 I Did My Research


I came to this conclusion after looking at several of the elements that I want to incorporate in my home eventually. 

This will be a process over time for us, it won’t all be done at once. Time or budget will not allow for that.

That is another reason that it is important to have an overall, flexible plan.

I already have my base furniture pieces, and will actually only have to purchase, maybe two items. I will know better once we move in, and have everything in its proper place.

One item I know for sure that we have to purchase is a console cabinet for the wall that our TV will be going on. 

We have one wall in the family room where the TV and our fireplace will be placed.

This particular wall is going to be my greatest design challenge, and I am sure I will learn some important lessons along the way. I will delve into this subject more at a later date. I think that will be a post in of itself.

The reason I am bringing up the TV console is it is going to play a very integral part in setting the look and feel of our main living area.

I Did My Homework

The first thing I had to consider is the size and then the style, or feel of the console, and also it needs to have a white finish.. I did copious amounts of sourcing and studying of images of rooms.

I did discover something about myself, I don’t particularly care for the big entertainment units which would actually be a natural choice for this wall. In my looking I found I like a buffet, or console cabinet the best for my design aesthetics.

Scale Is Important

Most TV media tables are a bit lower than will work in our room, we have 10 ft ceilings, and our TV will be placed on the wall so something low would look out of place in my minds eye.

Now back to some of the choices I am looking at. You have to keep in mind two things, I tend to like a more simple look for my home, and I will need a  cabinet that our remote will be able to see the signal. 

I decided that something with a grille, or glass would work, and that way you would not see the inner workings as readily as when they sit on a shelf. 

The glass doors would have a bit of a reflective glare that would camouflage them, or a grille would hide them almost completely.

The looking began with the size in mind first, and then the style, and one more thing, the finish needs to be white.
CHOICE #1
Birch Lane Tilton Media Chest

Simple, clean and fresh, has good storage, and a place for the components and a very good price point.

This cabinet is tall enough and the depth is good, but it is only 50in. wide which will work, but I think I might need a bit wider. 

To be honest I won’t really know until all the other pieces are in the room.

CHOICE #2
Belgard Media Console

Right size, right style, but this will have to be painted so we have to consider adding an extra cost factor to this one. 

I am also very enamored with the X motif, and have plans on this design element in another area of my home so this would make a nice visual flow by repeating the X motif element.

It also comes in a style that has some more storage and is a bit higher by 4 in. I just might need the height because of the 10 ft. ceilings……

CHOICE #3
Belgard Cabinet
I think this has a lot of character and it would also work nicely in our home.

CHOICE #4

I found this very interesting, but I would have to contact this company to find out just how big each drawer is to see if it would work with the components. 

It is already white, and has hardware that will fit in the overall design aesthetics of the room. It is all about the details.

CHOICE #5
Larger
This is just the right size, but we would have to pop out the panels, and add glass, and without seeing this in person, I can not judge if this would be possible.

This is a bit more traditional with more going on with the details, but I like it’s details.

CHOICE #6
French Casement 80" Glass Media Console

This is just the right style, white and has glass, the only problem with this one, is it goes from the smallest width of 50in. which I think will be too small all the way to an 80in. width which I fear will be too large and overstated for the size of our room.

As I said before, I will know more once we move into our new home, and see how all of my furniture looks once placed in the room.  I did make up three possible furniture placement plans to try.

Plan A
 
furniture floor plan New House
I have a room plan and it all fits on paper, but any designer will tell you what looks good on paper does not always translate in the room.

Plan B
Furniture floor plan New House 2

However, we still need to do a floor plan so we do not make unnecessary purchases. Design is not an exact science, but one of creativity, and individuals interpretation. 

Plan C
new house furniture floor plan

That is why there are so many different styles to choose from. What is pleasing to one homeowner might be distasteful to another.

So there you have it!! Which console is your favorite, and which room plan do you like?

I have been asked what is the program I used for the room plans, here is the link if you are interested click
HERE!

 
 

10 comments:

Liz@ HomeandGardeningWithLiz said...

I love #6- it's quite perfect and I'm partial to plan B. I goofed myself up using a room planner and found I made several mistakes. I ordered too much and then there were issues with different height pieces that just didn't look all that good together. Patience is a good thing when it comes to planning on furniture layout- which is something I learned the hard way!

Unknown said...

I agree! B 6 is my vote :)

Mary said...

We have a white cabinet with glass doors. I thought you should know that since the inside is white, all the black cords coming from the components stand out. This wasn't an issue with our old black cabinet. Seeing the cords inside the cabinet drives me nuts.
I agree that a bigger cabinet is the way to go. When our TV went out several years ago, my husband came home with a new bigger TV.
It was the same size as our cabinet & the new TV looked silly above the cabinet. I've been looking for a bigger replacement cabinet ever since.
Getting a bigger cabinet will also give you more surface to decorate.

Sue said...

I love the cabinets with the "x" motif. But something to consider, we bought a remote control that operates all of our devices and is radio frequency. That means the remote can see through walls and wood. It has had 2 wonderful benefits. One is that we have only 1 remote. It used to drive me nuts to have one for the TV and one for the DVDs and one for the cable box, etc. That was an unsightly mess on my end table! And, the other thing I love is having all of the equipment behind solid doors. I do not want to see cords and machines. Just something to consider. I know whatever you choose will look great!

Shirley@Housepitality Designs said...

Love Plan B as I love the fact of having a chaise in the room...If the size is right for you, I love #6.

Elizabeth "Libby" Day said...

I think options B and C give you more entry space and I like the balance of the sofa opposite the fireplace. The TV mounted on the wall at the end of the room is going to limit its view ability from the chair grouping though and completely from the chaise in option B. This may not be important but an observation. I like the design of #6 but agree with Mary on seeing the cords. Are you having built ins on either side of fireplace? Is mounting the TV over the mantel not an option?

sydney85 said...

I like plan B best. I like your console choices but they do not seem perfect. Any chance on adding color in the console. I like these two from Crate and Barrel but they are not white.

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/rojo-red-62-media-console/s501026

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/noche-62-media-console/s503428

All the best.

sydney85 said...

I saw this option at Pottery Barn Teens and thought this was a nice choice.

http://www.pbteen.com/products/beadboard-media-gaming-console/?pkey=cfurniture-beadboard-collection%7Cbeadboard-media-storage%7C&

michele said...

i have to get caught up, friend! i like c, and i like each and every console. i can help it. you have a great eye, and i would be happy with any one of these. you inspire me with your methodical planning ways. i tend to stay in an intuitive mode, which as we know can be a gift but also a curse since all sorts of extraneous factors affect our mood and spirit. your no nonsense, more cognitive approach is a gift!

Desert Diva said...

One critical thing: if this is your main television-watching room, be sure that the chairs/couch where the two of you sit to watch are the comfortable ones and that you have a place to put your feet up. Also critical is a place to put your drinks and to keep your eyeglasses. Also important: is there too much light coming in to create glare on the television? In our house, we don't watch much television, but when we do, my husband likes to be comfortable. (And yes, we still live elegantly :) )