Last year my dad (and daughters) helped me paint the living room to freshen it up and make it fit together better. The brown walls had got a bit old and dirty and it all felt too cold and muddied. A couple of friends warned me against a particular brand of paint but of course I took no notice and went ahead. Little did I know that the type I had picked was a ‘flat matt’ which meant within weeks it was fingerprinted, sprayed with furniture polish and generally besmirched in the way that chalky paint gets. It is a wall covering only fit for show homes. 🙄
I finally love my living room.
That ended up compounding general inertia about curtains and we lived with bare poles for months while I failed to get organised until one day I found £10 a drop black out ones in The Range. I hung them, chopped the bottoms and waited for them to drop for a week while I got on with life. They are still hanging, still awaiting hemming and ironing (and may well be for a year or so yet!) but I love the colour and sheen. They don’t close, which is intentional because I love my blinds and the addition of some battery powered sparkly stars looped between them sets it all off perfectly.
Then Daddy came to stay and repainted the wall in the same colour but a much hardier type of paint which inspired me to rejig the furniture, buy a new light and replace my rather dingy bulbs with better quality ones that actually provide some light. A good tidy, a sprinkling of ornaments and flowers and bingo…..
Do you see my lovely new rug? I’ve been desperate for a thick, short pile rug with a modern design in the living room colours for ages and was so excited to get this one sent to us to try out. Picking it was loads of fun as they have a really comprehensive range and you can buy most of them in several sizes – this fossil leaf design just tones perfectly with the room and really draws it together. It feels incredibly luxurious for the price too.
Engrossed in a farm game.
Bene has particularly liked it and on numerous occasions the design has been farm animal pens, parking spaces and occasionally a raised tunnel for bin lorries. It has stood all this with great fortitude. 😆 🙄
A couple of weeks ago we emptied and removed the desk in the corner which ought to have been a useful space but was endlessly full – and covered – in rubbish. The desk went off to work and the corner is temporarily a toy corner. In a couple of weeks though, my mum will bring the bureau that I used to do my homework on when I was a kid. I can’t wait to have it there. It is going to be MY desk – and from there I *will* write my novel.
Living room
I’m finally feeling like the room feels the way I want it to. Admittedly the rug is hiding a multitude of ‘horrible old carpet’ sins (another point in favour of ruggy loveliness) but I’ve got some wall decorations under way now and very soon it will finally feel like a room with the personality I want for it.
Little #crochet stars
Disclosure: where mentioned specifically, some elements of the room refurb were sent to us to review.
I’m a sucker for the chalky matt F&B paints. The colours are lovely and easy to put on though do really need 2 undercoats and 3 colour coats to get the real depth – rather labour intensive but so worth it. They don’t wear brilliantly though but there is a modern range which is apparently harder wearing if there are little ones around. Good job I like painting!
That looks like a lovely space 🙂 Thanks for linking to the rug place, I’ve been looking for a rug for our lounge and quite a few on there caught my eye.
Happy to have helped! xx
Looks lovely – I’m really liking that rug 🙂