How to work violet into your interior

With my grape-colored sofas ordered, and on their way any day now, I am chomping at the bit to start decorating my living room. But, I shall refrain until my lovely furniture arrives, as I really want to make sure the rug I find works well with the sofas and the space, now that it will be doing double duty as my dining room, too. I know, I know, rug selections should be first, but how many people in real life start from scratch, anyways? Certainly not me.

With a month to kill before our furniture arrived at our new digs last year, I spent my time repainting every room in the house, sans furniture.  And I'll be damned if I'm going to repaint the living room now. No way.

So, back to my brainstorms about what to do when decorating with purple (actually, the correct terminology is violet). It doesn't have to feel romper-roomesque just because your couches are not brown, beige, taupe, gray, or black. Here are some random images and my musings from my inspiration files:

Starting on the more dramatic side...If designer Jamie Drake can embrace violet, so can I!  Seeing his daring fuchsia settee, I certainly feel less concerned about my subdued grape fabric.

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I love the incorporation of soft blues that carry throughout the space. He certainly isn't afraid of color, you know?

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Here is a simply edible grape sectional, set off by bright pillows and artwork. I personally prefer something other than stark walls, but it sure does look bright and sunny. Ah, the wonders of photography and lighting.

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Hm, scrumptious. Very girly pink and violet, but with such a rich, luscious tone, how can you not love it.

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Sticking withe the darker tones, here's another velvet sofa, with a completely different feeling paired with blue gray wallpaper and black and white rug.

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Another take on violet with shades of gray. Quite elegant

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And here's a slightly more subdued look, with the rich eggplant walls acting like a warm hug. Very cozy.

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Violet as a neutral? How about this lovely lilac wall acting as a foil behind the persimmon fainting sofa.

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My colleague Barbara Jacobs, among other things, designs rugs. Here, she has paired a violet sofa (very similar in hue to those which I ordered, I think) with a lovely warm rug in sand and browns.

And if those were enough, here is a sampling of images suggested by my super generous colleague Kelley from Arte Styling.

I guess there -are- lots of options when it comes to decorating with violet! Once the sofas arrive (hopefully sooner than later!) I'll snap some photos of them in their new space and get your opinions on what you would do.