In the transformation of this early post-war starter home’s living room, the color idea came first, and you can see for yourself how the simple recipe of pink and blue-green succeeded.
Further effort to get a really fresh effect included the minor operation of replacing an awkward heavy chimneypiece with the clean-cut facing that framed the fireplace.
To create new architectural character in the window wall, which had that common and difficult dead-end appearance, a pair of clear-pine louvered shutter-style screens was used to flank the wide window, and, at the same time, build up an interesting background for the whole room.
ALSO SEE: Wooden shutters perfectly framed this pretty little garden view dining area
These were the basic ideas that set the room’s new personality when it was renovated back in 1946 — but the rest of the ideas were definitely more than mere details.
The emerald green color of the extra-wide armless chairs, upholstered in sailcloth, was carried over to the sofa by means of a slipcover in the same material.
The pink color of the simple 1940s-style living room wall (flat white paint with vermilion red added), found effective repetition in cushions and accessories.
The inexpensive off-white cotton rug, which came in three-foot squares to be sewed together in any size desired, wa an idea for texture, and also for a neutral base to set off the tortoiseshell-effect mottled-lacquer tea table with a moistureproof finish.
An idea that adds to the new inviting quality of the room is the grouping for games or writing by the window — the Biedermeier fruit-wood table, the officers’ chairs with their wall-pink leather seats, and the little leather-cushioned bench.
Ideas that completed the room were still important in the general scheme. One collector’s item here that made itself felt — the antique gilt barometer above the fireplace.
And remember that a room is finished only when there are books and magazines and flowers.
