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DECORATING AROUND A LEATHER COUCH

February 10, 2023

6 mins read

Black Leather Sectional For Family Room

I have great news! No, I'm not pregnant. No, sorry, you didn't win a trip to Disney World. The exciting news is my co-worker bought her first house! And how does this benefit me? Because let's face it, it's ALWAYS all about me. I mean it's my blog, people. Geez. Because she has come to me for some decorating advice, which allows me to live out all of my pretend-I'm-an HGTV-star-dreams (YES!!FINALLY!

So here's the 4-1-1! One of the first purchases my co-worker, Jackie, and her boyfriend bought for their new home was a black leather sectional for their family room.

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Jackie reached out to me for help on decorating this space and I immediately went to town sourcing decor items and creating an inspirational mood board for her, but before we get to that, here's a picture of the family room from the real estate listing ( It always makes me laugh when they alter the windows with faux sceneries!)

Before Pictures: Living Room Makeover

A great room to work with, right? I love that fireplace and all the natural light they get in this room.

Here's a quick picture Jackie snapped to show me A) how their leather sectional is laid out in the space and B) how their cable outlet is on the wall to the far right, which has caused a bit of dilemma in hiding the cable box.

Decorating a Family Room with a Black Leather Sectional

Alright! Enough with the blabbing, let's take a look at what I came up with!

Decorating around a leather couch

Similar to me, she likes the modern farmhouse look, which some people may find difficult to pull off with a leather couch, but with a little vision and little creativity, it's super easy to pull off this design style!Below are the notes regarding the items I pulled together for this space and why. I've also included links to sources in case anyone is interested in shopping for their own home!

Rug:  Between the dark leather couch and grey walls, I had suggested that they bring in some whites to brighten up the room. Since leather couches have zero pattern on them, the geometric design on this rug is a also a nice way to bring in some of that as well. 

Diamond Shag Rug Ivory Farmhouse Style Living Room

Curtains: One of the VERY first things I encouraged them to do when I first saw this room was to raise the curtain rods. You guys, I'm usually not one for decor rules and believe you should do what ever makes you happy, BUT if there is one guideline I think everyone should follow, it would be this! General rule of thumb, is to hang the rod anywhere from 4-6 inches above the window frame. You would not believe what a difference it makes! It improves the look of room and adds a small dose of sophistication. In addition, it can help make a small room look bigger. In Jackie's case, their living room is a bit more on the longer and narrow side, and once they tossed a big ol' sectional in there, the room was looking even smaller. They've already started adjusting their rods and couldn't agree more with me! Okay, let me get off my soapbox.

These are the white curtains pictured in the mood board, but I also recommended they look into the RITVA curtains from IKEA as well (which they did and they purchased!) These are by far my FAVORITEST curtains ever. They're amazing quality (a bit surprising for an IKEA item) and are almost linen-like. Plus, you can't beat the price! I use these all over my own house, including just recently in baby girl's blush pink nursery.

ClockWho doesn't love a good, oversized clock? I thought this cream one would look great above their couch on the wall between their window and kitchen (in the real estate picture, it would be where the two black frames are).

Pillows: Pillows are a great way to add in color, texture, and pattern and since they're fairly inexpensive, they can be changed out for the seasons or whenever you're looking for a fresh look. Jackie noted that she was leaning towards blue-colored accent pieces, specifically aqua (a girl after my heart!) so I ran with it, though I went a bit more teal-ish versus bright aqua in order to keep the room from becoming too much "Tiffany & Co-ish".  The Aztec pillow (which I adore!) will help bring more pattern in and compliments the design on the rug. The knit pillow ups the cozy-factor (which you need on a leather couch!) and the French stripe lumbar pillow again introduces more pattern. Plus, it's fun to mix up the sizes and shapes of your pillows.

Cute Teal Pillow

End Table: Since they were limited on space in this room (and a coffee table, even a round one, was going to be difficult with the layout of their couch and chaise) I thought a slim end table would be the best route for them to go. This way they would still have a spot to set a lamp, remotes, drinks, etc...The wood tones on this table helps bring in some warmth to the room, by breaking up all the black and white.

Lamp: Honestly, there are so many different lamp styles that could work well in here. White lamps, clear glass lamps, the list goes on and on. The texture on the base of this one caught my eye, but apparently I'm a bad blogger and forgot where I sourced it from! Oops!

Console Table: So now let's move to the wall across from the couch where their cable outlet sits (to the right side of the fireplace). So they are considering having the outlet moved, but in the mean time, we discussed different options on how to disguise the cable box. The size of this wall is perfect for a console table and I love, love, love this one. Again, more wood tones (remember everyone is about mixing different tones of wood these days, no need to be matchy-matchy!) and the shelves below, allows for bins, baskets, trunks......In other words, places to hide the cable box!

Baskets: Baskets are life, people! You can hide anything and everything in them, even children. Just kidding! These cute baskets would be a cute way to corral all the things we collect as homeowners on the console table shelves. I mentioned to Jackie they could some how mount the cable box non-conspicuously on the wall behind the baskets or I have seen people actually put cable boxes in baskets and then cut a whole through the back of the basket for the cords. I'm not a cable box expert, so I'm not sure if it would overheat or some other shenanigans, so definitely ask an expert first about this!

Picture Frames: Last but not least, my favorite item I found for the room were these blue and wood tone picture frames. I seriously LOVE these! At the beginning of this process, I had asked Jackie to share her "House" Pinterest boards with me so that I could get a better idea of the types of things she gravitates towards and right away I noticed she liked gallery walls. Not only did she like gallery walls, but the girl loves her some symmetry! Most of the gallery walls she pinned were of frames of all the same sizes, color, and shapes. I don't blame her, they are pretty. To help pull some color to the console table wall, I thought these frames would look gorgeous in a gallery wall above the table. 

Blue and wood picture frames

So what do you guys think? They have already started working on this room and I have made Jackie promise to send updated pictures, so we can see how it turns out! Meanwhile, perhaps, I should start working on my living room. I mean it's only been 4 years since we've moved in!

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