Expert: Kirk Ryan - 9/9/2008

Question
My daughter's boyfriend bought a hideously ugly bedroom set from EBay that looks to be right out of an Italian Mafia movie: green marble and black wood with red velvet drawer liners. My daughter is beside herself with disgust.  Is there any way to paint over the marble, or, failing that, any tips on decorating around this furniture to hide some of the ugliness?
Thanks very much!

Answer
Well I can understand its a bit shocking because there isn't much like that out there anymore, it seems to me it was a retro style that was big in the 70's. The red velvet drawer liners would bother me the most. I would just try to get curtains to match the green marble. You could also try to find a rug or other decorative items such as lamps or collectibles that could have a little of the same green to try to help that color. Solid colors are difficult to match exactly, but if its just got a little of the green in a design or pattern it would look better. SO just a spec of green in a warm looking rug would be good, you only need to pull the green ever so slightly.

Since the wood is dark, you want the rest of the room to be light. So white bed sheets, lighter rugs, lighter curtains will all look better. If you can paint, I suggest a nice light or warm color. The dark wood often creates a cold feeling in the room, so you automatically need to get warm colors around it.

I was watching a re-do the room show once, and I saw this same situation done right. Someone made it so that your eyes go to the furniture last. Since the wood was dark, they tried to cover it with many things like plants, statues, and other neat things.(i think they had a waterfall) They made the room look like a nice warm jungle.

So if it were me, I would play off the greens, remove the red liners if you can. Think warm and tropical, go with the green, introduce some light orange, maybe some browns, think tropical.

Good luck, hope this helps.

P.S.- Ebay is the last place I would have thought of for furniture. I hope I don't start a fight here.    :-)   Speaking from personal experience, he could be a future son in law, so just do your best to help, don't kill him yet. LOL.