The next time I decorate by a colour of the year will be the first time. Don't hold your breath. I have nothing against this particular colour but it doesn't work with all the things I've collected over the years, and I am not about to discard carpets bought after hard bargaining with dubious merchants in Istanbul or Islamabad because they don't "go" with a paint colour that someone voted "colour of the year." In its place, I think the colour would be quite nice (better than this years choices, certainly). It's just that my place isn't the right place for it.

The most kid and pet friendly couch material is leather. So far our blue leather couch has coped with 18 years of toddlers falling asleep and weeing on it, cat vomit, Easter eggs melting between the cushions, spilt milk, spilt orange juice, spilt red wine, spilt coffee, and muddy dog paws. It just wipes clean. Our white leather chair is just as durable and is now 24 years old and just starting to look grubby. So go with beige or cream if you want. It would be a lovely choice, just make sure it is leather. Black or mid or dark brown would also look lovely with that beautiful rug but I think lighter colours would look fresher. Don't be at all scared to use light coloured leather.

I can really recommend the Danish brand "Rug Solid, which have rugs made totally out of recycled materials. This is a photo from our living room, where we have a recycled cotton rug from "Rug Solid". http://rugsolid.dk/en/

i was thinking of a tufted rug that looks like thick carpet for the floor.. can be tedious but not difficult to do and years ago we had a coloured sheep (called Neville Ram!) and i used his handspun wool to knit a collection of different patterned squares that i made into a lovely throw rug that is a permanent reminder of dear old Neville