It's a rental so buy something that you can take with you that will work in your next home. Just stay with green and white. You may not be able to change the panels, but you could add to them where it can't be seen from the outside. Add white to the outer side of the blue panels. Then get a navy and white throw pillow for the accent on the white sofa.

Thank you for ideas the room is little dark in day but I love the night effect, we are repainting so could look at half the tone of current colour, the chairs I have in the room are silver. The photo does not reflect this, wonder if gold would be odd the stone sofa has metal legs, the house is 1970 ContempOry but I love to mix old and new, and wanting elegant French look, what type of comfy chairs should I get to match sofa and where would they best fit, do you think the armoire go next to fire.? with our old settee should I keep this single chair but cover it? I wonder if it too bulky? Also the leather chair is brown should I keep this in the room or not. the mirror above chairs is silver and gold frame should I shift it /paint it /leave it and add tall lamp in this ares to make reading corner, and can pull in chairs when have guests? The oak cabinet is a keeper have I got this in the best position, I appreciate all ideas.

Hmm, I'd aim for balance. The last time these colours were in fashion, in the very early 1990s, I had light pink, light blue , light green and black. In some rooms there was white instead of black. They all worked well together. There are lots of recent pastel rooms on Houzz photos. Also florals are about to appear on the scene, in big digital murals and digital printing on cushions, on rugs, etc. it's a modern version, but still florals. Pink and the pastels work well with florals. Which way does the room face? If it faces South, in the Southern Hemisphere, go for a warmer colour.

Hi all. Two questions re my living room in a very cool but neglected house in NZ. Property was architect designed, built in 1980 but with a very sixties vibe. So it’s an eclectic / Interesting mixture of mid century architecture (floor to ceiling glass, atrium, flat roof, trees) but with 80s appointments (bathroom colours and fittings, crazy paving, floors, garden hardscaping, etc) After being built (to a high standard) it looks like it was neglected by subsequent owners. We bought it three eyars ago and have replaced the roof, skylights, plumbing and wiring. All stuff that had to be done. We redid the front garden because it needed it but it was also the first project we did for lifestyle reasosn as well – because we wanted to not just because we had to. Nice feeling. Two Questions : First - we’ve been here a couple years, and not really solved the living room furniture layout thing. The room is long and relatively narrow. It’s generously sized, but it always feels a little empty. It’s like it’s too large for a ‘single’ seating zone arrangement, but not quite big enough to create two distinct areas. The reality is I feel I have three different possible things I want to ‘look’ at – the fireplace, the garden via the beautiful end glass wall, and, frankly, the TV and Hi Fi. So we tend to settle on an L shaped arrangement, with the open part of the L facing the window and TV in summer, and reversing it so it embraces the fireplace and TV in winter. So what would I like? I’d like to create an area for talking and an area for tv watching / family time where the sofa s closer, but I’m stumped on how to do that without being too far away from the fireplace in winter (brrrr) or being too close to the very large window and its torrents of sunshine in summer (too hot to be comfortable and furniture fades fast in NZ high-UV sun). Ideas and thoughts welcome. Second question : flooring I was a bit iffy on the (original) marble tiling when we moved in but I've grown to love it. I hate the carpet though which definitely isn’t original. I’d like to replace it but can’t decide with what. I’d prefer something that links the three zones – kitchen and entrance area with its marble tiles, living area (currently carpet) and outside patio (grey concrete tiles). More tiles are out – pretty sure three different kinds of tiles across the three zones would look odd - so I’m tossing up w simply replacing the carpet (what kind? What colour? Grey to match tiles or amber-y to bring down colour from the brick wall?) or installing wooden floors. I was leaning towards wood except when we went to the wooden flooring shop both design consultants suggested simply replacing the carpet would look better (they’re wooden floor salespeople??????) which makes me wonder if they are seeing something I'm not. All advice appreciated. It’s a beautiful house, and any improvements I make are about lifestyle not resale value. I’ll be carried out of this place in a box.