Five Things I Love: Giving the Living Room an Update

After a few weeks without a ‘Five Things’ Friday post, I’m happy to say that I’m back with a special edition. Whilst I can’t venture far for inspiration, our quarantine quarters have motivated me to create sanctuary (and sanity) amid the chaos. Basically, we’ve sorted out the clutter and given the living room an update. Conveniently, there are five things I love in it too…

New Area Rug

As much as we still really love the huge vintage rug that we had in here previously, we were a bit over the intensity of it. I’ve never been a fan of warmer colours, especially not red, so it was a surprise to me that I loved that rug in here, a space in which we spend most of our time. So, it wasn’t so much of a surprise to wake up one day and think ‘I’m fed up of it”. That day happened back in January, when I started browsing the West Elm sale.

I snapped up this HUGE 3m x 2m beauty reduced from £200 to £80. I loved it as I really wanted a Jute rug, but most of the ones I had seen were too ‘golden’ in colour and too expensive in price. This one was much more grey in tone… and had the perfect price tag too.

Fireplace Makeover

An effective change can sometimes mean just painting one thing, rather than a whole room. I felt that this side of the room looked too busy, so wanted knock the fireplace back a little to sit as part of the architecture, rather than as a standalone piece. I used a little of the woodwork paint (Owlswick, by Sanderson) and a little of…. well, some random tin that was in the shed. A dark brown eggshell with the label obscured. I wanted the surround to sit with the fireplace tile and to be just a shade darker than the walls. I’m really happy with the end result.

Brian’s Sideboard Makeover

Now, this one may be subtle to you guys, but it has made a massive difference to my love for this piece. This Morris of Glasgow sideboard had a high gloss finish which was peeling all over the frame. The legs are a different wood and were much more yellow in colour, which always annoyed me. Brian spent a couple of his days off, stripping it back, sanding out the marks and giving it a lovely new satin finish. We topped it off with some new jewellery: satin brass handles. It took a fair while to find something that worked with the old handle holes but it was worth it as these could not have tied in better. The shape echoes that of the old handles but with a much more modern feel.

Appreciate that silky satin finish…

Handles before…

Handles after.

My Coffee Table Makeover

This is one of these projects that happens after you sit and look at something for far too long. There was absolutely nothing wrong with our West Elm coffee table (gifted as part of the Revamp, Restyle, Reveal, living room makeover, last year) when I decided to attack it with sandpaper. I just wanted to change it up a bit and ‘neutralise’ it. A bit less Mid-Century and little more late 20th Century.

Well. That wasn’t such an easy job.

The legs were a doddle. I sanded them back with wet and dry sandpaper, then gave them my usual treatment: two coats of Etch Primer, two coats of black spray paint, then two coats of clear matt lacquer. Easy to do and very hardwearing.

The hard work lay in the wooden shelf. It wasn’t until I had given the whole thing a good coating of Nitromors paint stripper, that I discovered the sides were a completely different colour to the beautiful walnut veneer on the top. This is where I wish I had taken a photograph.

It took two hours to strip off all the old varnish and sand the surface smooth, ready for a clear sealant. It took TWO DAYS to painstakingly colour match and paint the white wood edge to look like walnut veneer. Two days and a LOT of patience.

It is only now, that I can say “it was worth it”.

The Sofa Got an Update Too.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m flighty when it comes to colour. This IKEA Nockeby sofa has had a few new frocks over the years, in a few different colours…

But of them all, my favourite is the original neutral colour-way that we started with. IKEA no longer stock this, but they do sell a similar version, with a slightly different weave texture. So, as I’m fussy and as it is no longer available (and we no longer have the original) I turned to eBay in the hope that I could find the old cover… but new. Which I did! Yay!

We are so happy with our newly ‘neutralised’ living room. It takes me back to the restrained colour palette of the first incarnation of the room, but a fresher, brighter version.

And for those of you worrying… the vintage rug is safe and will be used elsewhere in the house. But that’s for another makeover story…

Keep well and stay safe xx