How can I make this attractive?

sdsester

I think it suffers most from just being too white.

I would start by pulling the tan color out of the tile. Use a lighter tint for the base cove moulding and the pillar. Then for the wall use a darker shade thereby blending the wall into the floor visually. It will look classier and richer than leaving it white in this case.

As for the top. I would think of taking it down a few shades more in the same hue or bringing the nice wall color you have to it. I would smooth it out and paint it with a nice quality acrylic semi-gloss to improve washability. You could even hit it with and high gloss alkyd.

Other options would be to replace it with a piece of solid warm tone Corian or even a piece of warm tan brown marble might work.

If you can click some clearer pictures I can build you some color charts/wheels. I am not sure I can make the one you posted work but will play with it later. I think if you were to photograph again pointing the camera at something other than the white wall for a meter reading, the overall pic will not be so shadowed and dark. With what you sent, your camera is adjusting everything for the white wall it is reading. Can do?

I would propose to run your project through Benjamin Moore's Personal Color Viewer too but you can do that also. Just upload your pic, mask it off, and paint away!

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shampoo

Thanks for all the ideas guys, I'll try to take some more pics.

shasta37

Without a floor plan, I'd call it a room divider. To my eye, it's too wide for its height.

If the column isn't load bearing, an option is to demo the whole thing.

If it has to stay, I'd remove the top of the wall and replace it with hardwood; natural finished.

KevinPh

You could put a marble or laminate counter on top, or re-surface with stained wood. The sides could also be stained wood panels or wainscotting as someone else suggested. You could try to match the floor color with the wood stain.

You could also resurface the sides with stone or brick veneer and put a nice stained wood finish on top. If budget is a concern, professional painters can paint the knee wall to look like stone or brick, which should be cheaper.

I would get rid of the round column if not needed for structural support, or at least replace it with a smaller, more attractive rectangular column that can be painted or stained if it is wood. To replace it, you will need to provide temporary support under the beam near the coloumn with 2 x 4's nailed together (I would use three or four to be certain).

Kevin
www.home-additions-startup-guide.com

Wandererone

Eeewww! Don't tile it. Imagine all that grout cleaning you'll have to do!!! Unless you plan on doing some amazing mosaic
Lose the pink whatever in the left of the photo and lose the pink flower arrangement
I'm guessing you can't lose the lounge or the mat so use the colours in them.
I think I see a nice green in the mat? Copy it. Sure would hide the dirt Use a gloss paint thats easy to just wipe off. Maybe a few shades lighter than the green in the mat.
Or.........
Whats the predominate colour in your favourite piece?
Whats your favourite colour in your favourite piece?
Use it!!!

Then find something a little minimalist to sit on the ledge. Just one nice piece. Or maybe a small collection of things that go together?
I think your furniture is just fine - just don't over clutter when you have darkish stuff (been there lol)

Different strokes for different folks as the saying goes

And just a little splash of colour with dark stuff is good. Just keep it unified.

Good luck and please post a pic of the 'after'

mikiohung

I am a bedding designer, I can give you some idea with the bedroom decor, but not others. may be you should search in google, best wish.

HoweD

Custom banquette towards the seating area. Think Chesterfield tufted leather. Half of the island thing could use a high gloss veneer, a walnut. The seating side meets the counter with a molding piece. A down lighted, framed, walnut panel imitates wainscoting. Got art? Hang it.

rnk84

The first think I thought when I saw it was that it would look really neat if you did some mosaic tile work on top... if you do mosaic there will be more than one color so dirt won't show as easily. I would paint the columns a darker color and pick something that compliments the mosaic. Now I'm half tempted to say to continue the mosaic on the back side of the odd structure and use the column paint toward the living room area, but that may be overkill so maybe just paint it all... or start it and then decide