The living room is the heart of the home, a place where the whole family gathers round the TV on a Saturday night with bowls of popcorn and a place warm and cosy to relax.
When we first moved into our cottage it felt damp, cold and worn. The layout and natural features of the place were beautiful but it was in need of some TLC.
I strongly believe just the smallest bits and bobs can transform a room, so here if how I transformed our bland, cold living room into a cosy family retreat.
We decided we wanted a natural rustic theme throughout the room to keep it matching with the cottage. It just wouldn't look right if we decided the colour theme was luminous green, maybe in a modern flat you could make something that crazy work, but not in a 350 year old cottage!
We got these photo frames from The Range and added our favourite family photos to them to keep the room homely and family orientated.
I love little positive messages dotted around the house, just reading them makes me smile. We have this stuffed beige and cream heart hanging on the lounge door which we got from Dunelm Mill. I love the textures of it, the softness, the rope and the wood.
We also got this light blue wooden message with 'Follow Your Dreams' written on it. Even though its just hung up outside the lounge it sub consciously adds a positive vibe to the house. This was purchased in Store Twenty One.
Candles were added to the room to create warmth, light and a gorgeous clean vanilla scent. You can use candles to create different dynamics to the room by using candles of different shapes and textures. The candles in the photos above were purchased from Tesco and Primark.
To make the room feel more 3D we added this neutral coloured candle bought from The Range that has a knitted texture to it with a suede feel heart tied round the top of it.
Light is a really easy was to create a warmer more glamorous feel to a room. To keep within a natural, country cottage theme we added a range of flowers to our twig/branch style lights which contrast slightly to the brassy rose gold coloured vase they're standing in. We chose orangey red coloured poppies to add a little splash of colour to the room. We thought poppies were the perfect flower as they're natural wild flowers which tied in with the country theme we were trying to create.
The vase and pot were purchased from The Range and the flowers from Dunelm Mill.
We used lettering placed unevenly on top of the fire place to make the room more homely and again, creating depth and texture by the use of the uneven placement of each letter.
We also added a cream fleece throw, a cream ribbed light reflecting square cushion, a cream teddy bear texture rectangle cushion and a soft beigey cream coloured faux fur square cushion to the sofa. This added extra texture as well as homeliness to the room.
When creating a room it is important to remember that it is an experience to anyone that visits, and an experience is remembered through all five of the senses. So when we added accessories to our living room we ensured we placed plenty of textures throughout the room for feel, light and warmth created with the candles and lights and a pleasant scent made from the candles.
Follow that simple rule and you will easily create a room that stays in a guests mind, for all the right reasons.
Remember to chose an appropriate colour theme that transitions from room to room appropriately so the whole house 'flows'.
I hope these little tips and photos helped any budding interior designers out there or anyone looking for inspiration to decorate their own living room.
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