Living Room - The Big Reveal!

This post has been a loooooong time coming, but I'm SO excited to finally share my new look living room with you today! Whoop!

A LOT has changed in here. You can see my post about the plans and moodboard for this room here, and here it is in it’s previous navy blue period, in my 'DIY It Stool' post (a.k.a my most popular post, like, ever).

As promised way back when, here's a look at the alcove on the right side where the wall mounted television is. This was without a doubt the worst part of the room...

Pretty awful, huh? Those white cubes and all those DVD's and toys on display do my head in! And that grotty, yellowed floor, ewwww.

I decided that buying shelving and/or cupboards for the alcoves was false economy given that what I really wanted, was something bespoke, and eventually that's what we went for. I was beyond excited when it actually started to happen...

So there are now bespoke cupboards and shelves in the alcoves, making the most of those awkward spaces and the high ceilings which has had a huge impact on the feel of the room, and they look like they've always been there.

Other changes include a new vintage coffee table and a seagrass rug, the floors have been given two coats of fresh white floor paint, and I've 'upgraded' my fiddle leaf fig plant for a tree, and hung a monochrome gallery wall above the sofa.

Oh, and I've finally gotten rid of the awful filthy disgusting bent and tangled ancient silver venetians!

The walls have gone from darkest navy blue, to a pale, understated, yet anything but boring, fleshy pink. And I must say, I know a lot of you REALLY loved that blue, and so did I, but the room just feels so much calmer and warmer now, and I am absolutely in love with the new colour. It changes in different lights from a tue pink, to palest flesh, to almost beige (yes, that’s right, beige, and I STILL LOVE IT!).

To demonstrate, the light changed dramatically whilst I was photographing the room - from dark grey and cloudy to bright sunshine and everything in between, so you'll see in all the images below how different it looks in different lights. I wish I could say I did that on purpose, but, ummm, I didn't.

Phew, that's quite a lot of change for one room! But you don't want to listen to me rabbiting on about it, you want pictures.

So here you go...

The wall colour is Pink Ground (Farrow and Ball), and I decided to go with Setting Plaster for the alcove built-ins, which is a touch more brown than pink, and the two colours together work beautifully.

I adore the lights that I finally purchased for the tops of the shelves, and I think they stop the built-ins from looking too traditional, along with the brass handles, giving it a modern edge.

And yes, in case you're wondering, I designed these shelves primarily for display rather than books (we already have a big built in bookshelf in the dining room), so each side has only two shelves (as well as the cupboard top on the left side), to give a nice amount of space for displaying treasures and plants.

I love having these cupboards to hide Baxter's toys away at the end of the day, you'd never know that in the afternoons and evenings, and on the weekends, this room is his playground - the coffee table is a car park (and Jurassic park), and the sofa, his castle. It all goes into baskets in the cupboards once he goes to bed, et voilà, it's a grown-up space again....aaaaand relax. 

Of course I also love not seeing the cable box, DVD player and DVDs even more - that was a huge bugbear for years. It's such a treat to no longer despair about the television arrangement.

Another exciting change, which is actually more dramatic than I thought it would be, are the new blinds. The old ones that we inherited when we moved in were horrific, and I really don’t know why it’s taken me so long to bid them farewell. The metal silver venetians were caked with grime and dust - totally impossible to clean, and they were bent, warped and the control strings were really knotted and grotty. Urgh, just look!

But they’re gone!

In their place are lovely simple black Vista roller blinds from Blinds2Go. 

I love the clean lines of the panels which are made with a high-tech fabric, cleverly allowing light in during the day, and allowing us to see out, yet from outside you can't see in and they look solid black. Cool, right? 

This switches at night (depending on how much light there is inside and outside), so they're nearly solid black from inside and slightly transparent from outside. This is not a problem for us as we have opaque lower window panes, and once our lights are out, you can't see in at all. 

I like to have the blinds half up during the day, but something more solid wouldn’t let much light in, so these are the perfect choice for us, and they really did complete the room.

Blinds2Go have a huge selection of products to choose from, including romans blinds and shutters. I'm pretty sure there's something for every window covering requirement, and the ordering system is easy and efficient (and they've just launched a shiny new website!), so do have a look if you're in the market.

The black blinds coupled with the other black accents throughout, ground the room, and stop the pink from looking too feminine.

Now how about my beautiful new fiddle leaf fig tree? Isn't she just gorgeous? I still have fiddle leaf fig plant too, currently residing in the dining room, and once it's grown a bit taller and the trunk a bit thicker and stronger, I'll coax it into tree form, so eventually I'll have a multi-trunk AND a single trunk tree. This excites me more than it probably should! I think one will end up in my studio, once I get it sorted out (ie. once you can actually get into the room!).

The new monochrome gallery wall is a success (well at least I think so!), as we've never got the art on this big wall right before, but now it's a real feature.

And that's about it, I think the pictures speak for themselves. If there's anything you want to know about, just shout. And be sure to come back on Friday, because I'm turning the camera around to show you the adjoining dining room.

Disclaimer: Posted in collaboration with Blinds2Go who kindly provided me with the fab Vista Black Roller Blinds for this room.

If you like what you see, I'm now offering a range of interior design services. Get in touch if you need my help, be it choosing paint colours, a whole new room (or house) scheme, and everything in between.