Monday, May 02, 2016

New House: Room Tour Lounge

So I have a new obsession... interiors! Also the reason why this little space on the internet has been a little quiet.. we bought a house!!

I'm officially a grown up a married lady and own a house. I truly understand why people say that both these events are the most stressful thing you'll ever do! But were finally in and its all ours after years of renting. We lived with my father in law prior to buying for 2 months as the rent was up on our old place and it gave us time to save. As tough as it was to give up having our own space it meant we had the time and budget to put together each room which was a lot of fun and meant each weekend was spent shopping!

We were lucky in the fact the house needed very little work other than putting our own stamp on it and it was so exciting to see the vision in my head/ on my Pinterest board come to life. I thought today I show you the before and after of our lounge as it was first room to be completed and I'm so pleased with how it came together.

before 



after






Heres my tips for creating your dream space:

1. Pinterest is your best friend
I spent so much time on Pinterest getting inspiration for each room, from colour ways to finishing touches Pinterest is a hive of information and is great for coming up with new idea. You can follow my home board here

2. Small budget doesn't equal small results
We had a tight budget that once we'd bought our bed & sofa (the two areas we agreed to spend the most on) didn't leave much room for extravagant purchases. We got clever in getting the most out of stores, shopping in the sale, signing up to newsletters that meant money off your first purchase, cash back from Quidco and sold our old items on Ebay or a car boot to maximise the most of our budget. The main thing that helped a make the budget go further was when we decided on an item we wanted we shopped around and didn't buy it the first place we found it. This meant we saved a lot! Although its time consuming its totally worth it when you stumble across the perfect item for less! Theres also a lot to be said for Ebay, Gumtree and the likes of Home Sense they are bargain heaven!

3. Don't always buy new up-cycle!
Furniture is so expensive! Even Ikea's prices are slowly creeping up, so I decided to get creative and buy pieces from Ebay & Gumtree that with a bit of love and a lick of paint would be perfect for a fraction of the price and probably a lot better quality. Our dining table, chairs, console table in the hall and spare bed have all garnered compliments from visitors and were all old pieces that were up cycled! More on that on future posts.

4. Don't be afraid to play with textures & colour
I'm not a fan of match matchy you know the room sets in Next where the rug matches the cushions which match the curtains - you get the idea! Don't get me wrong they look lovely and I'm a huge fan of Next but I prefer to play around with a colour palette more. I'd always wanted a grey lounge and decided rather than choose another accent colour I used different shades of grey and textures to create an interesting look that could easily be updated by adding in another colour at a later date or on a daily basis by using decorative pieces such as flowers.




2 comments:

  1. You did an excellent job on redecorating the living room of your new house. The gray wall looks very nice along with the furniture. I think my favorite thing in the room is the silver lamp in the corner. It is somewhat whimsical and fits perfectly in that spot. Congratulations on your new home. Thanks for sharing this.

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  2. My wife and I are currently refurbishing our home and your blog is inspiring both for tips and tricks on how to create a lovely interior without breaking the bank! Your lounge looks wonderful, especially when you compare the Laura Ashley style you had before with the modern chic look you have now. Did you know that grey is the new magnolia?

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