Decorating and Design - How to pull it all together

I have the following colors in my living room - Teal Leather couches (2), gray carpet, a cherry wood colored armorie and have painted my walls a light yellow with white crown modeling. I was thinking on changing the carpet to engineered flooring. I am struggling with the look. Any ideas on how to make this all work or do I need to change something?
Thanks

hi! welcome to DoItYourself.com!

well, something's gotta go! the light yellow walls with the gray carpeting can't be looking too good. if you're up for changing the carpeting, then the wall color will be fine with the teal leather. i'd go with pretty light floors, that way they won't compete or clash with the cherry. and with hard floors, you'll be needing an area rug or two, so find ones that contain several colors including the teal, light yellow, burgundy (to echo the cherry), and tans (to echo the floor color). that will really do wonders in bringing everything together.

light floors & walls, with deeper wood tones in the furniture is a great look now.

How cool are you to answer so promptly. Thank you so much for the advice. I really figured no one would answer back. Again Thank you :)

The gray carpet has to go! If shopping around for laminate, go with a manufacturer that offers good, better, best levels of quality, price, & warranties. Go with the best you can afford. Many DIYers are using the snap together laminated (engineered wood) floors due to ease of installation. While shopping compare prices and quality to solid hardwood flooring. 3/4" hardwood adds value to your home and can last 200 years. Folks tend to prefer the prefinished flooring. Once it's nailed down, you have an instant floor without sanding and finishing.

How cool are you to answer so promptly?

i'm WAY cool, pappy! :cool:

I really figured no one would answer back

why on earth would you think that? you can see by looking at all the posts that most of them have at least 1 reply, if not multiple replies! this is THE #1 do-it-yourself home improvement website!!! we didn't get to be #1 by ignoring people! but i'm glad you're impressed! :thumbup: :D

feel free to post any other questions you may have in any of the other forum topics - within a day or 2, you should have an answer from an experienced, knowledgable professional! and that is way cool!

Thank you Annette,
Since I am not finding a light wood I care for in the laminate and we are on a cement slab, so can not use real hardwood without a ton of prep, what do you think of tile? Realize I could go with carpet but would rather not. Is there a way to do tile and wood mixed or is that to busy? We need about 375 sq ft. if that gives you an indication of the size of the room. Maybe I should change the wall color? Do I sound confused? Thanks everyone for their help. What an awesome site. Mary

i've seen tile & wood mixed. it's fairly busy, but it's meant to be the focal point of the room. but it also seems pretty cold for a living room, unless you live in Florida, where they seem to do it all the time.

i can't believe there's not a color of laminate out there that you'd like. it just needs to be lighter than your cherry, and in more neutral tones or the same reddish tones (that is, not yellowy or orangey).

you'll probably have an area rug covering most of the seating area, and with the other furniture, not that much of it will show.

one question: why'd you paint your walls yellow? does that go with something you haven't mentioned yet?

Annette,
I figured someone must have thought I was crazy. Orignially I wanted Cherry wood floors and painted the walls with that in mind but could not find a nice color for it in the laminate that wasn't going to cost a fortune and when I decided to go for it anyway which was a flooring made by Columbia Flooring one of the installers said the one I picked would not work. So to be honest the sunshine came out, golfed called and that was that for the summer. Now I am really trying to find the solution before another year passes.
So bought the cherry wood color amoire last week to put a TV in since we don't use the room much but wanted to start using it a little more. Of course not thinking on the fact the flooring may be an issue until I got the piece home.
Annette thank you so much for your time and I am sure I just gave you more information than you would ever want.
We live the Pacific Northwest so was also afaird of tile being to cold for the room but my husband likes tile so....
With the added information I will continue to look. Again thank you very much. Mary

when I decided to go for it anyway which was a flooring made by Columbia Flooring one of the installers said the one I picked would not work.

what did the installer mean? the color wouldn't work? or what?

what about choosing a really dark cherry color for the floor? that would be gorgeous with your white woodwork & yellowy walls.

what is the flooring in the rest of the house?

Annette,
Again thanks for the replies.
The contractor said that it still might buckle. But from what my husband can read and what our local flooring people have said it should not be a problem.
I went today and looked and found a couple that may work. I would love to do the dark cherry but was concerned it would conflict with amoire as it is a darker cherry color. Only have one window plus sky lights and light from enty way.
You walk into the enty way milky brown tile (but we can redo), through the living room and into the kitchen which is a mainly colbalt blue and some white tile and into the family room that is a berber which is light brown and white little gray (walls are a dark gray with white trim).
Would a picture help,(if I can figure out how to send one) or is that to time consuming for you. Annette I can't thank you enough. I hope you are having a great weekend and that someone pays is forward to you as you have me. Thanks Mary

Hi,

I just found this site myself and I'm thrilled! Since I'm just beginning to undertake redecorating and some remodeling of my home, I'm sure I'll be sending out a lot of SOS's. :D

Your dilemma with getting the color flooring to work with the cherry wood is exactly what I'm doing in my living room. Luckily, the flooring and the furniture set I've purchased were in the same store so I brought sample boards over and laid them on the floor under the furniture and found that the beech laminate worked beautifully. It's just neutral enough---not yellowy or pinky toned and so plays off the cherry and the caramel-taupey-goldy color of the material.

So....my advise would be to get yourself some samples you can lay by the furniture or materials choices and it'll give you a much more visual idea of how they will blend together.

Hope this gives you some help!

Fran

Thanks Francie. I have been also bringing samples home. Think we may go with a cherry wood color that is lighter than my armorie. We shall see. Good luck.