Our living room || How to improve on this space?

Good morning! A homey post today all about what the heck to do when you’re just not quite happy with a room in your house, in my case, our living room. 

It’s a room which right now is confusing me, and I’m not really sure why! I think I actually like most individual aspects of this space- the sofas, fireplace, bright yellow sideboard, bookshelf, plus a few of the accessories, yet to me, it doesn’t seem to be quite working. Frustrating, when we love, and our really proud of the rest of the house. It’s just been bugging me for a while. 

So, today I am going to take you around a little tour of the room, what I love, what I don’t love, and the improvements that I think can be made/what we want to do with certain bits, and see if you agree, or can offer me any pearls of wisdom. 

Sometimes you just need the critical eye of an outsider to make things clear, or confirm your ideas! 

On we go…

This room is north-facing, so whilst we get lots of light first thing in the morning (crucial for helping wake us up!), it generally a darker room. I’d read ages ago that when it comes to decorating a north-facing room, you shouldn’t fight that fact, and therefore we went for a cosy dark grey (Farrow and Ball ‘Manor House Grey’). In the winter evenings this is the room we’re in most, and in the summer it’s the garden or our kitchen/diner, so I was always happy to keep this darker feel. The fact we have a picture rail, and above that is painted white, helps break it up a bit. I am wondering though about re-painting the room a slightly lighter shade of grey? Or would that make it too cold? 

Our curtains are also grey, which now I think isn’t ideal, but hopefully in the not-to-distant-future they’ll be replaced with white plantation shutters. We’re lucky that this window is HUGE, so does let lots of light in anyway. I’m generally happy with the sofa (although have been tempted by some rather nice sofa beds lately!) and our other big leather chair, so those will be staying. The printer to the right-hand side will be moving upstairs soon into our office once the furniture arrives, to be replaced by an interesting light or plant (I’m loving my house plants at the moment, as you’ll see in a minute!).

And talking of sofas etc… this footstool is SCREAMING out to be reupholstered! 

It was part of our old set of DFS furniture that we no longer have, but kept the footstool because a. it was useful, and b. I know it will look great once it’s been re-covered. I’ve been shopping around and it’s on my to-do list to have done before Christmas if possible. I’m toying with putting certain aspects of Scandi-style in the living room, not full-blown as I think it’s now too much of a trend that might go out of fashion in a couple of years, but I do love it. So, I was thinking that maybe black and white check, or striped material might work (I don’t like anything too matchy-matchy), just give a nod to it, and I can also add some similarly themed cushions and prints. It’s actually super-comfy to out your feet up on an evening!

I love our yellow sideboard/cupboard that we had painted a while ago, so that’s not going anywhere. I love how it ‘pops’ against the grey. 🙂 We are thinking of having a shelf built in above the telly and just below the picture rail to house a few prints and add further interest to the room- I can’t decide though if this should be painted white, or painted grey to match the wall?

Other accessories that will be staying are as follows:

Anthropologie deer vase- just need to start a collection of new artificial flowers to he’s updated seasonally! 

This fab lamp from BHS, but I’m not sure if it needs to move somewhere else in the room (the table it’s on needs to go, despite Adam’s protestations!). Maybe where the printer currently is?

It’s also not in a particularly safe place considering we have two small children (eek!). I love this Rolling Stones picture we have, the Adam had commissioned even before he was with me, so that’s staying too.

On our mantelpiece we have some much-loved family photos, and this mid-century clock that I found in a charity shop for £3 (I seem to find loads of bargain buys for £3!).

It might only be Ikea, but I love our huge white geometric lampshade, even if it’s a pain to dust!

This Vintage 1960s table used to be my Grandparents, and whilst we love it, I don’t think it’s being shown of at it’s best where it currently is, and is often used as a dumping ground for toys underneath it. 

I think I still love our photo wall, although the pictures probably could do with updating just to freshen things up as we’ve had the same ones in for aaages. I think once we have a few more prints around too, it ‘work’ better in the room. 

I reckon plants really freshen a room up, so will be keeping these and possibly be adding a couple more.

We also love our books, so the bookshelves will be staying too. We recently added this smaller one, as we were running out of space on the bigger one. Maybe we should invest in a Kindle, but I just love to see real books in a home!

So there you have it, a few snippets of our home. And I do really like most of what we have already. 

But is there anything you think could ‘bring it together’ more? Any sites that sell great Scandi accessories without breaking the bank?

Any snippets of wisdom from fresh eyes would be very much appreciated!

Becky

Meet the award-nominated UK lifestyle blogger behind Spirited Puddle Jumper – a mum of three living in South East London! Becky shares the real ups and downs of family life, parenting tips, and lifestyle inspiration, proving that being a mum doesn’t mean you stop being fun or having other interests! Follow along for honest insights into UK family life and opinions on a whole range of topics, from travel and food, to beauty reviews, home and DIY, business and health and wellness.