I’m too excited to hold back sharing our living room make over for any longer. Yes its not completely finished, but its only very minor details that I still need to do or get, like a handle, a coffee table, fill my armoire… those kind of things. When we were going through the process of trying to find a house I always thought the living room would be very rustic farmhouse- cream and white. But then we got this house, and as much as I wanted rustic I couldn’t ignore the elegance of the house, and how certain rooms needed more of an elegant and grand touch. Let me show you how it all started!
The room was dark and unloved, like the whole of this house, it hadn’t really been loved for years and years, every edge was rough, and every corner was darkened by soot.
It was the first room we started on, and we decided we would use the same magnolia and white in every room, so that every room, no matter what accent walls we added, would flow into each other. I swear with the size of this room, and the amount of coats of paint we used, we could have probably painted three normal sized rooms.
We removed the curtain rail, which (this is where I hold my chest and gasp) was attached to the actual 120 year old wooden window frames. It was not above the window, it was actually hanging and pulling on the frames. You can just see the brackets for it still attached in this photo, as well as the blinds which were screwed into the frames too. We decided straight away that even though our living room faces the path outside we would only be having curtains, as to not block any of the natural light, or these incredible windows.
I spent ages deciding between two colours for this room, a very very light blue or peach. I decided to go with peach because the room is North facing, so has very cool undertones, so I wanted to warm this up. The problem was, I didn’t feel like I could find the correct tone of peach in paint without it feeling juvenile or really flat. So I started to look for peach wallpaper, and found the one we used at B&Q, it is called
Lonari Peach texture , and it just gives the texture and added tone it needed, and I think it just looks a lot more premium than any one tone peach paint could have looked
I had purchased my French armoire a few months earlier so I knew I wanted the furniture to be white and chippy, plus the fireplace needed to be sanded, white washed with chalk paint and waxed, as it needed to pop off the peach wallpaper, so this all worked very well together. Once we did this, and added the two pieces of furniture we had, the armoire and the drawers (both thrifted of course), the complete styling and feel of this room just started to pull together!
This gorgeous Victorian chest was purchased a few years ago for the grand sum of £5, and ever since we got the keys I knew I wanted it to sit in the window, with more old wooden boxes on top. Then when I picked up the jug and bowl for £3.50 at the charity store I knew exactly what it would be sat on!
So much in this photo is thrifted, every single thing except the flowers on the armoire and in the bottle at the back. Everything else is second hand, the unit was £80 from gumtree, and all the decor you see, everything has been picked up at either charity stores or vintage stores, I particularly love the bust and faux hydrangea, both costing me £3 each. Sometimes I feel that without places to purchase second hand, I would never be able to really get hold of the style I need and want on the high street. If you’re not someone following the current trends, it is really hard to get decor. But the hunt and discovery in a charity shop is so much more fun anyway, a better cause and a lot better on the bank balance!
The rug was an Ebay buy, and is sold by many different sellers on there, just search vintage style rug and a whole bunch will come up, all different sizes, styles and colours, this one is 200cm x 300cm and was £149.99
Our Sofa and chair are from the country living range at DFS, if I could have thrifted a sofa, I definitely would have, but when you don’t have any furniture you’re against the time trying to find your big main pieces, and I didn’t want to just settle for a sofa that I wasn’t in love with. Also I have issues with my hips, and getting the comfort just right was so important, I can’t sit on squishy sofas, or ones that make me feel like I’m sinking in at the back. I like a good firm sofa, and this one is definitely that, it is really comfortable but solid at the same time.
I know I keep saying I absolutely love everything in the house, but it’s because I do! I walk into this room and it’s just like perfect, I sit down and just soak it all up. I know there are things to finish, like filling the cabinet, adding photos in frames, getting a coffee table, a new handle for my unit, deciding what art to hang (hence the frames sat on the radiators) but the vision is there, right in front of me in real life. I just feel like I am constantly in a Pinterest bubble and I feel so lucky that I get to create the home I’ve always dreamed of.
I hope you enjoyed my living room make over, and can agree it is a lot more warming and inviting now, I cant wait to keep sharing all of our renovations and makeovers with you!
Much love
It's all sooooo lovely just right up my street you have made it look so inviting and cosy, it will look amazing when you decorate for Christmas, a tree in that bay window, can't wait to see it 🎄🎅😍