AD – This Post contains some gifted items.

Today I thought I’d share the slow progress in the living room, in part to illustrate the point (I’m sure I’ve hammered home many times before) that rooms can’t be finished in a month. They can be painted sure, the main design decisions put in place too, but when you go for a totally new look you need to live in a space to know what changes or tweaks need to be made to make it perfect for you. Living with a new space helps you to see what doesn’t quite work, what you may have loved in a past setting but which irks you in the new, what may enhance the feel, and of course which unknown items you will happen upon on your travels which are just perfect for the new space.

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This is a new style for me, it’s far more modern than I usually tend towards and it tested my penchant for vintage, which I often use to fill gaps and add interest. So, what didn’t work? Well, there was definitely a bit of a continuity issue in here. The space felt calm and relaxed as I’d wanted it to, but swapping from a vintage bohemian living room to one with a Mid-Century feel left us with old pieces of furniture that felt disjointed. I first decorated this space last November, the final the pieces of furniture had arrived from West Elm by February and I shared my makeover on the blog in March. But I think it’s taken a whole year for this space to sit with itself before I’ve known I’m finally happy with it. There haven’t been any drastic changes, a lot of styling has taken place and I have slowly taken my time to finalise the furniture. You may remember that we had a sofa, rug, lighting, chair and String Shelves as the main changes in here alongside the new colours. Well, that new chair, the Oswald Tufted Slipper Chair was far happier in Teds bedroom and it went upstairs during his bedroom makeover last month.

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In its place I was delighted to be gifted the CH25 Style Rocking Chair by Cult Furniture which has the look of exactly the piece that was always supposed to be in this corner! The natural material of the light wood and rope work adds a lovely layer to the warm muted tones of the room and marries in with the other natural elements, the rocker legs feel lighter and open up the floor space, and have I mentioned how comfy it is!? I can’t wait to unwind with a book in this corner over the colder months.

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The huge pallet table we made 8 years ago for the old flat was still very much loved but it didn’t feel right in the space at all and it grabbed attention from the second you entered the room. I’m quite attached to this table so I wanted, firstly, to think of a space for it to be used (it has been happily housed in the garden as a plant table come occasional entertaining space), and secondly, I often struggle with coffee tables for clients. They are one of those items that are reasonably stylish on the high street but are often identikit glass and metal constructions. We also had a really cheap tv stand from a catalogue that was nearly a decade old and had been repainted with each redecoration, it was starting to chip back to past paint colours and the drawers underneath fell apart every time you opened them (not the most useful thing with drawers!). The final furniture issue was the older sofa which is nearer to Victorian in style but I compromised here and kept it as I still really like it and I don’t believe in getting rid of big items like this that still have both style and life in them. Happily for us, I have recently persuaded Sofa.Com to donate some new cushions and covers to our Bluebell sofa as these were the only part of the sofa that really needed attention. I’m really looking forward to restoring this item back to its former glory as the structure is still near perfect and ready for lounging in style for many years to come. 

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Having identified the problems, it was time for the fun part of choosing! I wanted some trinkets in natural materials that would look delicate and reflect light, I was lucky to receive the gorgeous green glass tealight holders and vases made by Bloomingville from Cult Furniture and to my constant amazement the cat hasn’t tried to topple them once!

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Alongside the new chair, I have replaced the tired old TV unit with the Zabel media unit from Swoon Editions and the black Pero mirror (both kindly gifted), I had had my eye on both of these pieces for some time. The Pero mirror is a pretty timeless design in the Scandinavian style that the room is inspired by and the media unit is just the loveliest piece of crafted wood. I love the undulations of the geometric cut wood, the fact that the wood inlay is the single adornment, no handles or frills are necessary makes it a perfectly understated, timeless and beautiful piece. It’s actually not quite big enough to hold the DVD player on either side of the shelves so this has become Teds toy cupboard and it is so nice to be able to shut the clutter away in the evening!

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I knew that the coffee table for the space would look most successful if it mirrored some of this wooden craft look in the media unit and I’d had my eye on the Grayson coffee table from John Lewis for over a year. I wasn’t positive it was going to work, being so used to the huge pallet table it replaced. But I absolutely love it, the rikrak of the cupboard doors which slide round to either side allowing us to store Teds favourite films on one side and his magazines and craft paraphernalia on the other is a pretty perfect piece of design.

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There has been a slight change around of artwork behind the sofa, I have rehoused my Moebe Leaf print to here and bought two gorgeous abstract designs from Scandinavian companies. The first, smaller, print is from old favourites in the house, Atelier CPH, the print is called Object Blanc no.23. The second new print is this stunning Geometric Face No.1 print from a designer who is new to me By C Design Studio. When I saw this print I knew it would be absolutely perfect here and it really feels like the final piece of the puzzle. It has impact but as it is abstract it doesn’t pull attention from other elements in the balance. It also mirrors the black of the mirror outline on the other side, draws in the monochrome plates to the right on the wall and picks up the various black notes I’ve added to the room to break things up and counterbalance the warmth and softness of the pallet with its pink walls and the yellow toned wood.

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Alongside the black, I’ve had a little play with colour adding some burgundy accents which really pop within the scheme and make the room feel just that touch more layered and opulent. If you saw my piece a few months back on Burgundy homewares then you’ll know it’s a shade i’m really drawn to, and it works brilliantly in here. This shade of raspberry-Rust really pops against the walls and draws out the pink tones of this pink-ish-brown in them. I have added two burgundy cushions, one the quilted design in Bordeaux from Ferm Living, the other a Linum Raw cushion in burgundy.  The Hay perforated tray looks great on the coffee table alongside the raised Muuto Platform Tray, and I’m pretty sure there will be a few more touches of this before I’m finished. 

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The final part of bringing this room to life was to slowly add some of our personality and likes to it. One of my interiors obsessions is natural history, in its previous guise this room held our not insignificant collection of vintage framed butterflies on the wall. They just didn’t work behind the sofa in the new space, they were too bright and so I have rehoused them in the hallway. I have added in dried flowers haphazardly placed in vases from my favourites (you can see my full guide to what I’ve learnt drying out flowers in my post here) and I’ve brought feathers, shells and Coral from our collection to the forefront in here on shelves and mantle pieces. I love the textured layering that all of these items provide.

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So, that’s it, the room a year on, what do you think? Its been interesting taking a leap out of my natural decor default style. I hope you like the space as much as we do! 

This is not a sponsored post, but a number of the items (marked as such) were kindly gifted to me from brands that I love. As ever, all opinions are honest and my own. 

All Images: Design Soda.

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