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Sadly this won't be some grand makeover reveal like you seen on instagram... because my lounge has been a work in process for some time now, and I've been sharing it along the way! I'm still super excited to put everything together in a blog post though, and see how far it's come. Just putting these pictures together has made me realise how far my little house has come over the past few months. I've really fallen into my interior 'style' and I love how it's come together. As much as I still love changing things up often, it's so nice to feel so at home in your own space. It's so cosy and homely and that's exactly what a home is meant to feel like. So, without further ado, I'm going to share some of the changes I've made and some photos of the process...
before > after
adding paint & a new sofa...
I've changed pretty much everything in this room other than the rug. Even the flooring is undergoing a makeover soon - but we'll leave that for another post... but I feel like the room is so much brighter and more vibrant now. It feels a lot more warm and cosy and full of life. I think the fact that I've filled it with so many things that I love helps that. I love the bohemian style when it comes to homes, minimal isn't my cup of tea. I personally feel a home filled with things is much more homely but we all have our own styles and what suits me might not suit someone else! I painted the walls in Farrow & Ball 'strong white' and I think it makes the world of difference. It's a very light grey and you'd think it barely makes a difference compared to white but it really does. It just added some contrast, especially against the skirting, door frames and the ceiling. If you don't want anything too bold or colourful on your walls, I'd really recommend going for a soft neutral.
You can see from the two photos above that I completely changed the sofa too. I stuck with a grey sofa as I love that neutral furniture just fits in with absolutely everything and can be changed up easily. My new sofa is the Next Parker 3 Seater Chaise in tweedy blend 'light silver' and I love it so so much. It's amazing how much extra space just having the chaise adds, and the material is gorgeous and bright compared to the old grey. It's so comfy!
making the fireplace a feature...
I absolutely loved my fireplace when I first brought it in, but after a while I felt like it just blended into the walls and wasn't as much of a feature as I would have liked. I eventually made the decision to paint the surround black and the bricks just didn't fit in, so I painted them white. I'm so, so glad I decided to do this as I feel like it looks a whole lot better now and really stands out in the room. I also ended up replacing the print I had on the mantle with a mirror to add more brightness into the room and it worked so well! I have quite a small living room with only one small window at the far opposite side to where my fireplace and sofa is, so most days it can look quite dull in here unless the sun rays are really shining in through the glass. I think the black goes so much better with the dark floors too, but as I have plans to change the flooring - I hope it stays that way!
After adding the window-esque mirror above the fireplace, as much as I loved it, I felt it could add a bit more light than it did. I moved that one to the hallway (where it looks gorgeous on the stairs!) and replaced it with a wider and taller gold beaded framed mirror. I do miss the old mirror in here but the new one lets a lot more light bounce from wall to wall which is more important I think. Both of the mirrors are beautiful in their own ways though!
adding pretty storage...
During the summer I added a couple of tall bookcases to the opposite side of my living room. I have a small area by the window that you never see on photos as it doesn't fit in them and I've never really known what to do with it. I styled my bookshelves with some toy baskets on the bottom shelves to store in Rus bits and bobs but I only had them in all of five minutes before I was sick of them. They really blocked the light coming in through the window which massively affected the room as it can already struggle with light some days, and I just felt like it was a waste of the space. I ended up giving them away on Facebook and I bought this beautiful cupboard that was new to Ikea at the time! I'd seen it in store and fallen in love with it, and not only is it amazing for storage, but it's pretty on the eyes too. It stores so many of Reubens toys but can actually fit far more in, I just haven't got around to sorting it out properly yet. I use the top to display pretty things and candles and it works really well.
changing the gallery wall...
All of my gallery walls have been from Desenio, and I loved the one I put up originally - but after a while I felt like my tastes in prints had changed a little and I wanted the space to have more character. I kept one of the prints from the old gallery wall in my new arrangement, but all of the others were completely new. I stuck a little to my 'black and white' theme but threw some colours in there as well to brighten it up a bit. I also kept it more photograph based rather than lots of abstract illustrations. There's actually only one illustration in it now and I love that it looks so different and fresh compared to the old one. I ended up taking it down after first putting it up as I wasn't happy with the layout of it, and I'm so glad I made the effort to because it looks so much better now (the right one above!) and it looks more balanced.
The prints were all handpicked by me from Desenio, and I'll link them below if you're interested...
- Smoke Signals
- Vintage Camera
- Sketch Lines
- Sunlit Flowers No1
- Peaches On Linen
- Golden Palm Leaf No2
- Fancy Panties
- White Roses
If you use my code GEMMALOUISE25 you can get 25% off prints from 3rd November - Midnight 5th November. *Doesn't include frames or handpicked/personalised items.
What do you think to the makeover, do you think it's an improvement?
Disclaimer: The prints featured in this post were gifted by Desenio.
