Hi Tavolla, As you didn't provide much information, I thought I would give you a creative layout to help you think outside of the box a bit. Your living and dining rooms are very "normal" layouts in the UK and many people tent to be very unimaginative when positioning furniture and laying them out ;-) Also, I don't know anything about you or your family and usually I woudl want to know how you live before providing a layout for anyone. But I thought, no-one had given you any help yet, so why not just do a fun sketch! I also don't know your level of knowledge or design aesthetic, so please don't be offended if I explained the obvious ;-) So here is your quick layout sketch. I hope it will help you set up a lovely home. My only other note, is if you plan on hanging pendants above the table like I have drawn, ensure that they align with the centre of the opening to the living room or very obviously off centre, so that they don't look like a mistake. Be deliberate with your choices and have a good reason behind their placement. If you chose this kind of layout, the lights and the table will "steal the show", so if it were me, this is where I woudl invest my money, as they will be visible from 3 rooms - all of the time. I'd love to see photos of your finished room! Jo x

I'm trying to figure out if that sofa is sitting back flush against the breakfast bar? A quick sketch of the floorplan would help. I think you're trying to squeeze a lot of different pieces of furniture into one room - bookcase, linen cupboard and console table. It could end up looking very cluttered and cramped. My instinct would be to get a good carpenter to build one bespoke piece that can accomodate everything - bookshelves above, cupboards below, and made to measure spaces for tv and hifi. A custom built unit can be pricey but you get exactly what you need, plus builtin furniture transforms a room into something cosy and homely. I'd use most of the wall where the Olympic Games poster is. The tv should be towards the corner where the tub chair is presently, and i'd use the smallest tv possible! Consider having the unit spraypainted in a colour rather than plain oak- this would really add personality.

Ah thank-you, yes that would help! The rooms overall are very light, apart from the hall downstairs. The living room has light carpet and mid-grey ophelia sofas from next - I would eventually like to restore the original floor boards but we will have this done at the same time as the original parquet floor in the hallway (so in the next few years). I have alcove shelving and a light wood and metal TV stand - overall nothing too special but the space works for us - just need to get a few finishing touches (shutters, footstool). The other rooms are up for decoration - I'd love to have the dining room white walls with 1 or 2 walls in G&B 1946 paint but I'm worried it will look a bit out of place, as it does now in Sage green (I ended up painting the room on the colour I love and not thinking about how the room would look in the house and how we use it - I don't want to make this mistake again). The dining table and chairs is currently a light wood colour, which I may paint depending how the room ends up and we have a dark solid solid rustic fireplace. The house is mainly used from late afternoon onwards during the week and all day at weekends. I love a more traditional feel but also love the scandi feel (prehaps as it's so light and calming). I really like the idea of having more darker styles in the home but not too much as I think our home suits a much lighter palette (1930s 3-bed semi). All of the woodwork is painted white apart from the original doors which are various shades of light wood and I'm not a huge fan of wallpaper hence thinking about just re-painting all the walls. Should I try to pick a few colours which are present in each room then add additional shades/colours which compliment, in the different rooms? I guess I'm feeling a little lost now I have free-rein (always been in rented houses).

Hi, your ideas sound pretty much on point. On the alcove shelving I would remove all of them and add three shelves spaced out evenly and add nice doors to the bottom of the shelves - a builder or joiner could easily come up with some MDF doors for you. If you are looking to add depth I would suggest painting the alcoves in dark grey like Worsted from Farrow and Ball. Or you could paint the entire room in a lighter shade of grey. See the picture below for what I mean about the shelves and doors underneath. It will be a good idea to still keep some some shelves otherwise the walls could look a bit too bare. Your general layout seems fine, though I would draw out the sofa and chairs to scale on a floor plan just to be sure you will be able to fit everything in. For example it might be a better idea to have two armchairs side by side on one side of the fireplace and another sofa opposite, depending on the size. It really comes down to what you will be doing in the room, and who will be using it? If you have a lot of guests coming round I would add as much seating as possible but if the room is mainly to watch tv and relax you may prefer to less seating. If you can provide some dimensions I can draw up a plan with the seating to give you an idea. For your sofa and other bits of furniture Danetti is a good brand for Danish furniture. I'm not sure what are the dimensions of your sitting room but something like this L shaped sofa would give you that Skandi look. https://www.danetti.com/living-furniture/sofas/studio-3-seater-right-hand-fabric-sofa-with-chaise For the colour scheme and decor pieces keep them to a restricted neutral palette and add lots of texture using fluffy cushions and rugs as you mentioned. The key with Skandi look is to create a lot of layered lighting with lamps and candles, so you could add a lampshade on a side table with a floor lamp in the corner and even put some candles in your fireplace until you get the wood burner in. Hope this is useful for you :) Rukmini