I have been living in my home for 2 years and only since the New Year am I finally getting down to redecorating. We bought the house so it's ours to do as we wish, but being honest we just have not had a single penny to put into it. We got married in July 2015 which took up so much time and money, then I left my full time job to go freelance (which is always a bit bumpy at points) and basically the house remained the same. Very, very brown and 1960's had clearly made it's mark... if you catch my drift.
Anyway so it's a New Year and all I can think about is making this place ours. I am sick of looking at textured wallpaper, brown tiles and dodgy flower prints - it is time to make this reflect our personality...
The problem with both my husband and I, is that we get so excited by our ideas we tend to dot them about. What I mean is that we will start one project then start another and nothing seems to get finished! This time we are finally looking at the lounge/living room as a big focus. We have an open plan lounge/dining room which once upon a time head some sort of wall divide. It turns out that open plan isn't the hottest thing to do with your home, so we're looking to create a divide again but instead of a bog standard wall we are looking to make it with book shelves. Doubles up as storage and allows light through without completely blocking it off.
I think for me personally the carpet is first on the agenda, with the hideous Egyptian cotton painted textured walls. They.need.to.go. The carpet is some sort of dull aqua tone?! Not sure what was going on when they originally decorated but by looking at the rest of the house - there were some extreme palette clashes!
So how can you spruce up your living room? Firstly work out how much size you have to play with? We have massive windows which is great but can make negotiating furniture a bit of a pain. This also means storage is hard to slot in therefore DIY skills and investing in storage saving furniture is key, but this comes at a big price and it's a huge time investment. It's all well and good me saying this but with little money to do huge jobs what can I do about it now? Easiest thing? Update my look to keep me from going mad looking at this god dammed textured bloody wallpaper. We have had this very green looking living room since we lived at the flat - it has to go! So I have created some potential looks and ideas to really spruce up my living room, and these are all from the new Next SS16 range because I have truly fallen in love with everything they have launched this season!
// Lavender Romance
Lavender teamed with other rich warming tones such as deep greys is light but somehow warming for a living room. I wasn't sure on lavender for my lounge as I have white and lavender colours in my bedroom, but teaming it with plaid and greys makes it that little bit different. This is a very romantic theme in design with the additional peonies, elegance in the tea lights and of course the painting that oozes love.
// Orange Studio
This is probably my least favorite of the pack because the jury is still out on my relationship with the color orange. This look is part of the Next studio collection and it's very simplistic and bold. Whether it's too cold for a living room I'm not sure but if you like deco inspired prints, bold colours and angular furniture, then this is the one.
// Woodland Chalet
This look for a living room for me is classic. Woodland or chalet theme immediately makes the living room feel 'cozy', but my only fear of this is it looking a bit daft in the summer. You know? I feel red plaid would do the same as it just could look too much like you need a Christmas tree and big fire to complete it, come summer it could look out of place. I adore that stag chandelier and of course Dex the doorstop pug - obviously.
// Teal Fresh
I really like teal anyway and having it for a living room color is great, but there is the danger of it looking cold, so adding in creamy tones and pine will warm it up. The best part is teal will always look fresh, so when summer comes you can put away your cream faux fur throws and it will look super light and breezy... like a little meadow! With that in mind I'm leaning towards this as much as the first one!
There we go! SS16 in living room ideas courtesy of Next products and my creative eye! I am really torn between either teal or lavender... but I'm already planning how we can go about changing things over, up cycling and really knuckling down with making me house proud... as at the moment I'm really not. 2016 is going to be my year to get things organised and my house looking beautiful! Any one else doing a big revamp of their home this year too?