One sunny September afternoon I came to view the house we are living in now. We had been looking for somewhere bigger to rent for a while and nothing was coming up in the area that we live in, when my brother in law told me about the house we are in now. I fell in love with the house because of the space. The large garden, the huge living room, the big halls, the kitchen dinner and the 3 decent sized bedrooms. However, after 3 months living here I am dissatisfied again. I don't know if that's just because that's the type of person I am, but I really can't get my living room to work! I wonder if its maybe too big, I know its definately too beige!
Here are some pictures of my room. Critisism welcome. I need help!
The fire place. I love the tiles and style. I don't like the plaster frame above. The coloured jars are just my latest thing, they look so cosy at night. I do need to find some nice permanent nic naks to be displayed on the mantle.
My second hand re upholstered sofa. All adding to the beigness of the room! I think I need some bright cushions in pinks, rasperberry and plum to go with the tiles on the fireplace.
Some wall art, grouped in threes as you are meant to. I love hearts.
Some fabric hearts I made.
A lovely clock my Mum lent me. Dont think she'll get it back!
Tiles on the fireplace
Window seat. Cushions made my mum. More beige curtains!
Farm house chair painted duck egg by myself.
A view of the whole room. The rocking chair was mine as a child. The blanket box was a buy from an auction.
Ebay Chairs with plain white throws, cushions made by myself. Nest of tables were ebayed, painted by me. The Enid Blyton books are mine from years ago.
My favourite ebay buy. A £10 dark dresser, painted and handles changed. All the blue and white bits were car booted last year. The blue jars are tea light holders made by me.
Blue hearts made by me, for the blue side of the room.
Its just all too much space, and too much white and beige!
6 comments:
Your home looks beautiful. That window seat and view is to die for !
you have some great things, however the room as a whole does look bitty! There are lots of small ornaments and small peices of furniture. You need to think bigger, bigger sofa or a 2nd sofa, more pictures. Its not about 3's its about odd numbers, 3,5,7,9 etc. Find the things you like ie window seat and source some fabric to do new curtains that will make more of the window, think bold!
If you cant paint the walls (rental) it does not mean you cant get a good colour scheme together, if you are going for blue as your main colour decide what your accent colours will be.
In my kitchen it is painted cream with accents of green and red. my sitting room is gold with accents of chocolate brown, more gold and red. Our dining room is white with blue and green, it has several shades of blue's and greens that happily merge into one another.
try taking photo's of the things you like and seeing how they fit with different colours and fabrics.
hope this helps!
You have a great size room how about picking out the colours from the tiles as a starting base,I group candles on my hearth when the fire isn't being used, cushions in different patterns look good check, spots, stripes as long as you keep to a colour scheme it will come together enjoy yourself :)
Cate x
Thanks for the advice Saphy and Cate. The room is just huge and I agree it does look bity. Its been furnished with stuff from a house that would have fit in this room! If it were my house I would make the room into two, have a best room the fire side and an every day play room the window seat side. I am trying to divide it that way without the wall as there are a lot of toys that are in this room as well that get hidden each night!
I definately think more pictures grouped in 3,5,7's will make it look better. All the cushions need to go on the suede sofa's and plum colour from the tiles needs to be used. I definately want brighter block cushions with stripes and different textures. There is 2 sofa's a 2 seater and a 3 seater. The rooms so big they get lost! I think some rugs would help as well. I have been looking on ebay but they go for a fortune.
I would love to wallpaper the room and paint it, the house has so much scope, it pains me that its so beige! I just don't know how long we will stay here. Its been a rental house since it was converted from a barn 15 years ago, so its never been anything else but beige.
I think maybe a bright throw on the sofa may help as well.
Thanks for the comments, keep them coming people. If anyone fancies coming over and finishing the room for me, come over!!
You have a fantastic space to work with, and some lovely bits. If you can't wallpaper, could you make some giant canvasses to hang - either large photo frames with wallpaper samples in, boards with paper pasted onto or fabric stapled over a canvas? That way you could get a dramatic pattern without having to decorate. Or could you speak to your landlord and ask if they'd mind you papering a feature wall? Although my tenancy agreement says my tenants can't decorate, I'd be willing to consider it if they approached me. You can pick up batch ends from Laura Ashley for £1.50, or see if you can find an ebay bargain.
Do you have any tall or wide bits of furniture that you could divide the room with? I would make the fireplace the focal point with the sofa and two armchairs arranged around it, then consider using a large piece of furniture (or even that chest of drawers) as a room divide.
If you wanted coloured curtains you could always dye the ones you have and sew some lace or trim fabric along the top/bottom to add pattern, then you could make cushions to match x
I love the comments and help you have had left about the room. I agree that you need to divide the room into 2 different areas and get the sofas grouped around the fireplace. I also think in that huge room that you need some big art and canvases are the cheapest thing. You can take some bright and big canvases that most of us cant accommodate. Have you thought of the auctions? You could make it a real adult end and a childrens end - how about making a screen from mdf and some hinges and painting it as a divider. The best place to add some colour I believe is in a pair of curtains with lots of colour in them. Haunt the charity shops and ebay and especially the auctions. Gosh I would love a big room challenge like that. Thank you for your lovely comment on my latest post. My husband has just brought another carful of stuff from Mam's to go to the charity shops!
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