Decorating Ideas for an Odd Shaped Great Room

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Turn an odd shaped great room to your advantage.


Great Room Odd Shaped?

If you are head scratching, trying to find suitable home decorating ideas for a great room that's odd shaped, first consider the functions the great room will provide, and turn the negatives into positives. Odd shapes may seem like a chore when decorating, but they actually include features that add character to a room. Try and make something of them, before trying to camouflage the odd shapes you see as problematic.
 



Use the Space

Try an Alcove Gallery or Chill Out Zone
An alcove, or an under-stairs space could be turned to your advantage, by housing a small home office, or suitable storage for books in a study. Small nooks and crannies can be used to display ornaments, or large vases with colorful flowers, and making a focal point of them. Using fragrant blooms is also a wonderful way to alter the mood from one end of the great room to the other. Adding spot lights to these areas helps draw the eye to these spaces, instead of noticing an odd shaped room.

Like any decorating challenge, the key is in the planning. Use the shape you have to your advantage, and first plan what each part of the room can be used for.


Flooring
While a great room has to encompass the uses of several rooms into one space, it also needs to retain a flow from one section of room to the next. Flooring is a great way to distinguish one space from another. Try having a neutral carpet for the living room area, and then a wood or laminate floor for the dining area. Consider the proportions of these areas before deciding on floor coverings - cutting tiles, or wood floors, may be more difficult if the area is particularly odd shaped, especially if you are doing this yourself.



Use Pattern To Your Advantage


Paint and Pattern - Visual Tricks
If you want your odd shaped great room to appear larger, then choose a soft grey for the walls, rather than a neutral cream or beige. Cool neutral colors have the effect of making the walls appear to recede, whereas warm tones have the opposite effect. When there are odd shapes in your great room to consider, then different tones of a single color can be utilized effectively. Pick out architectural details, and lighten dark corners, by using pale and dark tones of a single color, in different areas of the same space.

Pattern is a wonderful way to trick the eye, and it’s worth trying this out when it comes to soft furnishings and window treatments. A bold patterned fabric framing a window makes it a focal point, drawing the eye to the lightest area, and away from the odd shape of the room.


If All Else Fails
If all these solutions still leave you feeling in an odd space, when all you want is a great room, then you may need to consider more drastic steps.

Installing a faux wall not only has the advantage of disguising an odd space (especially useful in a room with a sloped ceiling), but there should be room within it to install some storage space as well. Bookcases and cabinets can be altered (or custom made), and used in a similar way to divide the room - combining storage with a great aesthetic look.

If budget is a consideration, then why not try a screen to disguise an odd space, which will also serve as a divider between one space in the great room, and another. Modern screens can be painted, in keeping with your color scheme, or try charity and thrift stores, for screens with character.

Image credits:
Great room - http://www.flickr.com/photos/yankeebarn/5283400953/sizes/z/in/photostream/
Alcove - http://www.flickr.com/photos/limaoscarjuliet/3733580917/sizes/z/in/photostream/