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Tuesday 1 October 2024

Before and after: sitting room


More for my own benefit, as a record, than for anyone's else's, these are pictures of my more-or-less finished sitting room/living room/lounge, whatever you like to call it. 

It has turned out vastly different from anywhere else I've ever decorated. I've never been bold enough to have a coloured wall before, always stuck to light neutrals. This room, however, being long and thin, seemed to need 'pulling in' a little. I found painting it a bit scary! It looked patchy after the first coat and I was panicking but, after two coats, it dried smoothly and is fine. The armchairs, TV, side tables, mirror and artwork came with me. At my last house I had fitted bookshelves so there wasn't much storage to bring. 

It has all kind of evolved. I chose the sofa first, loved the colour. The mid-century sideboard is on loan from my daughter, so then I searched for a mid-century storage cabinet and found the vintage G-Plan glass-fronted one in a local antiques mill. Then I went looking for a drop-leaf dining table... and my sister told me she still had my mother's stored in her garage. That was a surprise as I thought we'd got rid of it years ago, after mum died. Anyway, I'm delighted to have it, a little gift from my mum, and it is just right for the space under the mirror. Once I'd got rid of the spiders (!), it polished up a treat. (I haven't yet decided whether to keep the much smaller drop-leaf table, which was a cheap stop-gap when I first moved in. It currently provides a reasonable stand for the broadband hub, so it's staying for now.) 



The curtains are a confession... I had some others made, which were the right colours for the decor and really very nice - but once they were hung I hated them! 😱 They just looked really 'meh', boring and too elegant really, a bit brocadey. They made the furniture look like 'old brown furniture'. I'd bought a metre of patterned fabric to recover a shoe bench in the hall, and a piece of it was left lying in the sitting room. One day I walked in and suddenly realised that it needed to be 'the curtains'. I wrestled with my conscience for a bit. (I don't like waste or spending money unnecessarily.) In the end, I bought more of the fabric and had curtains made and I'm so much better pleased with them. They have a much more 'mid-century' vibe and look much cleaner and more punchy. 

I still have one or two things to finish. I have a scrap of the curtain fabric left and will make a cushion cover or two. I also want somehow to disguise the rather ugly radiator - but it isn't a standard size for a ready-made cover or shelf, so I will have to be more inventive. 



These, below, are the 'before' pictures, taken when I first viewed the apartment. The previous owner's leather suite was very comfortable but rather too large and heavy for the room, in my view. I just had to remove that fireplace too! It was only an electric fire and I would never have used it. I didn't like the dominant, mock-Louis/Versailles feature in a modern room. 


8 comments:

  1. Well done! I love the blue wall!

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  2. A beautiful and comfortable room.
    The fireplace gone is a surprise. I thought everyone loves a fireplace.

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  3. It's all very tastefully done and the curtains do look just right!

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  4. What a great change. Your place looks quite nice and I like the blue wall.

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  5. You have done wonders with the room - I do not like its original look at all, but your colour scheme, choice of shapes, textures and patterns are great and really tasteful. How lovely that your Mum‘s old table is now with you!

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  6. I admit to being surprised seeing the patterned curtains...but there really isn't anything else with a pattern in the room, so it works. Love love love the blue wall. And maybe some photo pics will be added too if you wish...like some of your best?

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  7. The make-over looks much more attractive and comfortable. It's nice that your mum's table is now in your new place.

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