A Cape Cod Living Room Layered with Color

This living room kept its bones: the original fireplace mantel, the built-in bookcases on either side, and the arched doorway leading into the rest of the house. What changed was everything underneath and around it. The wall-to-wall carpet came out, and since there was no hardwood hiding beneath it, we laid new flooring in the same tone as the home's original interior doors, so the new floor would feel like it had always been there. [One line on how the room is used day to day.]

The sun porch sits to the east, and a window and a little white door beside the fireplace open onto it. The bay window with its bench faces south and looks out over the park. A north window looks down into the playroom, so the room gets light on three sides, with especially beautiful morning light. With no west exposure, evenings stay calm and soft, just right for when everyone is ready to settle in.

A Schumacher print was the hero decision. Its golden ground, birds, and hand-painted florals set the whole room in motion before anything else was chosen. Yellow drapery at the bay and a yellow-painted chest carried that gold through the room, while soft blue walls picked up its blues and a glossy green coffee table answered its greens. A gallery wall went up over the sofa, mixing original art in gilt and painted frames, with nothing matched on purpose. A pair of vintage ginger jar lamps anchored either end, their block-print pleated shades repeating the same blue. Wicker chairs wore a botanical cushion fabric with indigo pillows, and a vintage rug pulled the palette together underfoot. Brass candlesticks and pink tapers warmed up all that pattern, and a large photograph of a red lighthouse settled over the mantel to close the room out.