contemporary living room with black leather sofa

hi, i'm amy panos, senior editor at betterhomes & gardens, and a reader named nancy has written us with a really great question.she writes, "i have a brown leather couch, chair and ottoman and little ones, so safetyis an issue. what would you recommend for coffee and side tables and/or lamps to lightenup the heavy furniture?" well nancy, that is a great question. a lot of people havethe brown leather sofa because it works. it's functional, it's versatile, if the kids spilljuice on it you can wipe it right off. so, you're on the right track there, but you'reright; if you have a room with a lot of leather furniture in it, the look can be very darkand you need to lighten it up. so here are three easy ideas for lightening up a brownleather sofa. you might think that wood is

the last thing you'd want to pair with a brownleather sofa, but actually if the wood is much, much lighter in color than the sofa,it can totally work. so here's an example where the homeowner has done just that. ifyou use a distressed finish, a wood that is weathered and distressed, which remains verymuch a trend, then you can let the kiddos have at it and do their artwork and eat pizzaand paint and whatever and you don't have to worry about the surface of the table gettingdamaged. another great piece to pair with a brown leather sofa is a giant upholsteredottoman. get one in a pattern and a color that's going to contrast with the sofa andlighten it up. and when you add a large tray, that ottoman becomes a functional coffee table.but remove the tray and you have a lot of

extra seating for guests at a party, or formovie night. my last suggestion for what to pair with a brown leather sofa is color. goto a flea market or a garage sale, and find yourself a table that you can paint a fantasticeye-catching color. and you can really make it become a focal point of the room. and evenbetter, especially if you have little ones, a round table or an oval table that doesn'thave any sharp corners is going to a. add a new shape to the room and interest, andb. keep the little ones safe. some ideas for how to lighten up a room full of brown leatherfurniture for nancy, and i hope you found it helpful too. and if you have a decoratingquestion, please put it in the comments below. we cannot wait to answer your questions.

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