Sitting room chaos...

Nana Gyaama

3 years ago

last modified: 3 years ago

Hello everyone, 2nd post in one day. Would really value your advice, please. This is the living room for a flat I’ve moved into. First, I think the purple walls are dull, and too loud. The wall itself is short, but very wide so that makes it even more obvious. Any ideas on how I can make a miracle cozy twist to this wall? I’d also appreciate some ideas for curtains for the very large windows, please. Any ideas to bring this room to life, with very minimal furniture, please, as I enjoy the feeling of ‘emptiness’. Thank you very much.

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Comments (13)

Sonia
3 years ago
That wall is pretty grim isn’t it? You don’t say if it’s a rental, but I would paint it out in a nice soft green, something like F&B Cromarty or Mizzle or Dulux Jurassic Stone. Both very restful. I would paint a couple of coats of white emulsion or primer to help get rid of the purple before you paint your chosen colour. With the curtains I would go full length in a simple neutral shade such as cream or very palest green, although a simple botanical print would be attractive. You could also get some cushions to bring in the green too. Dunelm sell ready made curtains and cushions at a good price so worth a look. If you hate green then any soft tranquil shade will do. First colour pic is Cromarty.
Sonia
3 years ago
Tranquil Dawn is another lovely shade by Dulux.
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Just a cheap but effective solution. We also have a kitchen / diner in an L-shape with a small lounge area attached.................all open plan. We have one large radiator that was heating it. Firstly, I notice that you have no curtains on the window in the middle. All the curtains ( including the window ) should be thermal backed and as thick as you can get to stop the heat going out of the glass. Secondly, the little radiator in the middle of the double doors doesn't look like it is large enough to have an adequate heat output for the size of the room, so I would change that. There are charts on line to work out the size you need, or if you enquire at any decent plumbing merchants, they'll work it out for you. Adding a good depth window sill to under the window will help prevent heat loss up and out of the window too. We bought a ceramic radiator to plug in, in the conservatory as a back up to our larger radiator and it works a treat! Really slimline too. However, the biggest saving on the heat loss is our curtains, which are really, really thick, make sure they cover the sill.
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Nana Gyaama
Original Author
3 years ago
Thank you so much, Sonia. This is so helpful. Very much appreciated. Can’t wait to get rid of the purple!
E D
3 years ago
There are much cleverer people here than myself, so not too much advice from me 😊, but I would say if you prefer a sparse look, in general I feel it’s even more important you pick the right interior elements, furniture etc.

F.i. what plans do you have for the positioning of the TV?
Carolina
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Sonia has some pretty good ideas for you there. And so does E D. If you enjoy a minimalistic interior, without too much visual stuff, you need to pick the right things. Don't fall into the 'only small furniture' trap :-) A balance between some solid pieces and visually light items, like in the photo below, is important.

Интерьеры BoConcept · More Info

This room reminded me of yours. We obv don't know what the rest of the room looks like, but since you have dining chairs in the bay window... Don't look at the style of it. It might not be to your taste, but it hopefully gives you some ideas?

Квартира дизайнера Ольги Сирук · More Info

I'd put lots of closed storage on the TV wall, that you can also use to put your TV on. Look at Ikea's Besta system for example.
Nana Gyaama
Original Author
3 years ago
Noted, with thanks E.D. its a rectangular-ish room (width, purple wall area, 18ft and breath, window, area, 14ft) so I just assumed the centre where the tv is will do. Its a very small screen, so perhaps, not worth placing so much ‘attention‘ on it? I’d appreciate your advice on this, please. I plan to get a small white bookcase to declutter the TV stand. Or I could get a more matching stand if necessary. Such a novice at this, please feel free to laugh 😂
Richard L
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Bookshelves - lots of them + pictures - break up that monolithic wall.

Not necessarily built in - but walls of books (if you're into books) or just things are fantastic.

I love the pot plant doing his best in the middle of the floor :)

I've no idea of your budget - Ikea always used to do timber shelving IVAR - we started out at our first house, and you can buy extra parts and let it grow organically to hold books/hifi/tv whatever?

Found a link:

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/cat/ivar-system-11703/

Still got bits of it now in the loft, 20 years later, and very useful for adhoc storage during other room renovations.
Carolina
3 years ago
Ikea also has lots of curtains that might work well for you. If you can, put the curtain rod closer to the ceiling. Floor to ceiling curtains will look luxurious and calm.
Carolina
3 years ago
Maybe something like this?
Sonia
3 years ago
Nana we all started at the beginning knowing very little. My first rental was filled with donated furniture and little else. You learn as you go along. 😊
Nana Gyaama
Original Author
3 years ago
Thank you very much, Carolina and Richard. These tips are invaluable. I did indeed fall into that trap and it’s not gone very well - tv is so small compared to the rest of the room. I’m thinking of getting the bookshelves as Richard suggested to fill that side up a bit after repainting, and then a storage kind of TV stand as shown in one of the images. Might have to get a larger TV. I’m browsing ikea at the moment for the curtain colours Sonia suggested. I’ve got a long enough tension rod, so could take that higher than the current rod is now. Got the dining table, which is rectangular and light brown, hoping it doesn’t conceal the curtains. I’ll do these bit by bit to see how each twist, adds up and transforms this room 🤩

Really can’t thank you all enough!
Carolina
3 years ago
Just be careful when you get bookcases to not overfill them with small stuff. You mentioned you like empty space, and bookcases not filled with books require a bit of styling to get them looking good. They often tend to look cluttered and busy. But there are lots of good styling examples on insta and pinterest.

Don't get bookcases just to fill a wall, is actually what I'm trying to say :-) If you've got lots of books it's another story.
Nana Gyaama
Original Author
3 years ago
I understand what you mean, Carolina. Thank you ever so much :)