It’s been a little while since my last decorating up date. You may remember from my previous decorating diaries postings that I bought my first house at the end of last year, and have been busying trying to make it our own little space. Having tackled the bedroom first, we have now moved onto the sitting room and really personalised that space as well.
Curtain Pattern Close Up
Following the problems we had trying to find curtains to match the bedroom décor, we decided that for the sitting room we would pick the curtains first and design the rest of the room around these as a feature. We had already bought the couch and this was a neutral cream colour, so would blend perfectly with pretty much any colour scheme. After a good bit of hunting around we found a lovely floral pair of curtains in Marks and Spencer’s with a neutral backing and red flowers. So the curtains decided the colour scheme for us – neutral with a splash of reds.
Once we’d decide on the colour scheme it was back to the problem of the paints. We tried out a whole range of tester pots, including colours for an accent wall. We decided that we’d stick with one light colour. Our sitting room is positioned so it gets little sunlight (bad for the living room, but great for our back garden which gets it all day). So we really needed to pick a light coloured paint to brighten up the room. We decided to go with the Almond White in the Dulux Once as this was as close to white as we could get without it being ‘too’ white. We decide on the one coat to ensure good coverage and this does give a nice finish.
Paint Samples – Living Room
We got to work on the ceiling (in a bright white) and worked our way down to the walls, finishing with the skirting boards with a nice gloss paint. I always seem to get tasked with the gloss work – which I think is the worst job – I much prefer rollering. We managed to get the whole lot finished in a day, which was ideal.
Once the paint was dry we got the furniture back in position and the curtains hung. The room looked a bit bear, but starting to take shape. We managed to get a chest of drawers, for storing DVDs in, from The North East Air Ambulance Warehouse Outlet, which is just round the corner. It is the perfect way to keep the room clutter-free – we’ve put some nice pics onto the top to make the living room more homely.
For the accessories, where better to look than our very own Roman at Home! There was a canvass I’ve had my eye on for quite some time, our Rouge Canvas by Erin Clarke. This was a perfect match for the curtains so I snapped it up. As mentioned previously, light is a bit of an issue in the living room, so we also wanted a nice big mirror to help reflect the light. Roman at Home have a good selection and we decided on the Bevelled Edged Gold Framed Mirror as I really like the gold framing.
Finishing Touches Entrance
Finishing Touches
Once we got everything set up, we still felt the space was looking bear, so decided we needed another canvas of some description for the wall, behind the dresser. After making another pit-stop at Roman at Home we picked out some of the stunning and natural coloured canvases by Mondolfo – these really finished off the room. To brighten up the couch we then added a couple of floral cushions that added another flash of red.
Final Living Room
Next we’ve got the hallway to tackle. Time to save some more pennies!
