USING MODERN LEATHER FURNITURE TO DECORATE
USING MODERN LEATHER FURNITURE TO DECORATE
There are a few interior decorators today that simply lack the ability of the full vision of design. These particular designers call matching sets of furniture names such as “matchy-matchy” and “carton-clones”. They recognize the beauty, as well as long lasting quality of modern leather furniture, that it can look good with any style, but confuse homeowners by saying you don’t want to create a “ocean” of leather furniture. Their recommendation is to use only one piece and mix with fabric furniture!
My observations of this type of designers work is that they generally create boring and bland rooms of discord. For those of us who want style, class, function, and beauty in a room, leather furniture (in multiples) is the furniture of choice.
Leather furniture is more than just a design element. It is a common sense approach for the budget minded who want furniture to last a long time. It is the perfect choice for the homeowner who wants a natural element in a space. It is also a statement for those of us with discriminating taste that chooses to add class as well as beauty to a room.
Modern Leather Furniture
Equally important is the comfort that leather furniture can provide and no small number of us want it in matching or coordinating sets of leather.
The ability to use all leather furniturein a room is not a designers crime, but a privilege. Furthermore, if your designer fails to make any room a cohesive creation of beauty it is strictly the designers fault.
The key to avoid overwhelming a room with anything is in how it is presented and located. Presentation includes pillows, tables, cabinets, wall art, wall color, floor color, in short-everything else in the room. Wall to wall furniture of any kind clutters a room, as will too many accessories. Alternately, using too little furniture or accessories can leave a room feeling empty and forlorn.
Location is where you place the pieces. A sectional sofa requires a larger room, and in this setting looks great. If placed in or near a curved wall the two will look as though they were created for each other. When a sectional is placed in a small or narrow room it can quickly overwhelm the space making the room feel smaller. Your choices are a smaller sectional, to remove a section of the sectional, or choose furniture of an appropriate size for the smaller room.
At the other extreme a huge room is the perfect setting for a massively oversized sectional leather sofa. Such a room can make average size furniture appear lost if you aren’t careful. Large rooms beg for oversized furniture and sectionals are often a great solution for filling the void as well as for providing ample seating.
A room that you love speaks to you, as well as of you. Think of room design as a canvas for creating a beautiful picture, and let’s admit it, many of us want a room that could be featured in a high end magazine. When design elements complement each other, you create a synchronizing flow that is pleasing for heart and eye.
For example, if you have brown leather couches that seem to dissolve into a similar color of wood floor, you want to begin by establishing the furniture as slightly separate. You can accomplish this by placing a large rug of darker or lighter color under the furniture. Choose a color, or multi-color design at least a few shades lighter or darker than the leather couch to attain a pleasing separateness. Once a carpet is chosen, purchase the size you need to lay beneath the furniture or alternately in front of it.
If you are in the process of ordering new leather furniture ask the maker for a sample of the leather to take home with you to gauge against the surrounding room elements before you finalize the order.
If however, that one single leather color speaks to your heart and senses, buy what you love and adapt the room to complement it. Ensure that you consider lighting, both natural and artificial whenever you consider dark colors as they will darken any room.
Many people love a black leather couch. So often I have seen lovely black leather disappear in dark rooms. Open the drapes, use lamps where possible, utilize pillows and carpets with white accents to catch the light. If your taste leans toward a more international or modern style utilize a large carpet beneath seating in black and white stripes, geometrics or other design you like. Use mirrors if possible, chrome accents in lighting, furniture legs, or even accessories, and position the latter to catch the light and reflect it to create more light in a dark room. Don’t forget wall color and remember that whites and lighter colors will reflect more light.
Many people like the white furniture on white floor against the white wall effect. But for those who do not, a neutral wall color will neither compete nor distract from furnishings. If however, you desire more warmth without overwhelming a room consider an earthy color that is in the color spectrum of your leather choice.
A well designed room works together to create a pleasing room. But I am unable to agree with designers who think more than one piece of leather furniture creates an ‘ocean’ of leather.
Quite to the contrary, when a room is properly designed, modern leather furniture elevates a room into a warm and welcome abode.
source : The Leather Sofa Co
