Friday, March 14, 2014

our lounge

I am sitting in the garden. I've been told by the doctor that I have a vitamin D deficiency.
("No shit. I haven't seen the arss-end of the sun for like 6 months, guy.")

So as part of my prescription he's told me to sit in the sun for at least half an hour every day. You don't need to tell me twice.

But since it's Friday, I wanted to do a before and after of our lounge. I've showed you the nursery, bits of the kitchen, and now I figure the room that has undergone the most change is up.
Our main living area.

The lady that lived here before obviously liked things a bit more dark. The room was painted in Radicchio, a very red red. The only saving grace is that she did it in Farrow & Ball. I found a half finished tin of it downstairs.

The floors were stained dark brown, and everything needed to be modernised and opened up.

It's taken carpenters to come in and install cupboards and some book shelves, had sanders in to strip and varnish the floor boards, put in new radiators, paint it a light grey, add plantation shutters (my favourite!) and get to work on the general furnishings and decor.

So. In the beginning, there was:
 The purchasing of much paint.
 I started peeling off some of it, as it was all...plasticky.
 The sash windows were also painted shut and broken. We had those fixed and removed the curtains.
For weeks, this place was filled with dust sheets, paint rollers, paint trays and just general shit.
I also eBayed most of our more contemporary furniture. I've just grown out of it, and wanted something more neutral now.


 Note old book shelves.

 For weeks I didn't go in here. It was also the main room to store our unpacked boxes from moving, and the builders were always in here anyway.

We'd do a bit at a time:
 ...while our stuff accumulated dust...
 ...and the builders made cupboards....note colour of floorboards.

 ...this was our living space for months.
  Then things started to improve. And up until yesterday, there was just one more thing to do:
 ...Get these bad boys installed. How rad are the shutters? You can flick them up and down, spy on batty French women walking past, let some light in, some light out, suddenly the windows have a life of their own!
 With new book shelves and cupboards we have more storage for things like...nappies. And Sony Playstations.
 I only kept the 'good' books. Our classics, travel books or books that mean a lot to us. The rest went in the charity bin.

 The mantlepiece is made up of nostalgic treasures. A crystal vase from my grandmother, a gold leaf buddha from Burma from mum, and other bits and bobs I've collected from travelling and vintage stores.
 I got some new scatter cushions (probably the cheapest, easiest way to completely give a couch a new facelift) and framed some new pictures. Added some African vibes with the beaded buck's head, and repainted the lamp completely. It used to be red, with an orange shade. I got a new shade on Etsy and voila!


Wow that was hard work. I need to go for my nap.


6 comments:

po said...

Your decor looks so nice. Please come and decorate my flat. I am hopeless at these things and just the thought of how to do it terrifies me.

Peas on Toast said...

Ah wow, that's such a compliment, thank you Po!
I love doing this type of stuff - I often wonder what it would be like to get an unlimited budget and a mansion and full permission to do whatever I liked....

Val said...

Just love those shutters and the way the light streams in! Absolutely gorgeous Peas!
Well done on a fabulous redecoration.

po said...

LOL was just thinking about how interior decorating terrifies me - and thought that you are about to give birth soon - and then decorating did not seem so overwhelming any more :)

Marius said...

Hello there Peas. I used to read your blog years ago, and happened to stumble upon the bookmark on starting up my old laptop. Enjoyed reading all you've gotten up to in the last few years (last time I read you had just published your book).

Still love your writing... definitely following again. Love the revamp of your flat and congrats on the twin sproglets to be born soon. All the best!

Unknown said...

Well done on the transformation! Your patience finally paid off! You must be very satisfied with the result. You were right with having the red walls painted over. And yes, those shutters you used are really awesome. They fit perfectly with those windows. Cheers!
Greg Arnett @ Sunburst Shutters & Window Fashions