limestone fireplace, room just not working and don’t know why
Hi all - after some opinions/advice on our living room. When we moved in there was cream carpet, we have replaced with a light oak floor and ever since then I just can’t put my finger on why but something looks “off”. I think the limestone fireplace looks so yellow and almost grubby. I am considering painting the chimney breast a darker colour, or perhaps changing the mirror for a round black framed one. Please just any tips or opinions welcomed, I think the colours/warmth is just off and don’t know how to fix it! I’ve also posted a photo of the mirror mocked up to be black(with taped on bin bags!) - does that look better?!
Comments (28)
sksj1
2 years agolucyjones84
2 years agoThank you for your reply, it is definitely all quite neutral isn’t it! I’ve just found an app that lets you try paint colours and now tempted to paint that whole side quite a deep dark colour!
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Comments (17)Thanks for the kind comments folks, I feel the decisions we are making on this house are very 'ours' and can be quite 'marmite' :D. That's a lovely room Forza, I think it looks great as an accent wall as you have other interesting stuff going on surrounding it. Ours was a box with one way in and out so I think we got away with the single dramatic colour. Is yours Drawing Room Blue as well? I know what you mean about being scared :D Minnie101, 2 years in and we have completely done 4 rooms now (library, study, guest bedroom, dining room) and refreshed 3 (en-suite, master bedroom, main bathroom). It's the biggies that are left (Kitchen, living room, hall, 4th bedroom - aka cinema room and the little 5th bedroom). The kitchen needs a complete rebuild due to the bodgery so that won't be for a few years yet. I may give it a coat of paint just to make it look less dreary. The living room needs a radiator moving which means taking the ceiling down in the cellar. Again, needs saving up for :). The hall is a massive job as due to the architecture, there is no easy place to stop half way. It also joins to the cinema room, so need to think about how those rooms work together. The original hall tiles need fixing and the horrible UPVC front door needs replacing. Beans on toast for us over the next few years and I may be able to get it done :D...See MoreCrazy but it might just work, or just plain crazy?
Comments (33)Oops! Sorry guys, I completely forgot to update this! Well, we did it. We went for the bonkers cat wallpaper and invested in some 'for life' sofas. We used Martin and Parker in Derby. They make bespoke sofas for not much more that you would pay at Next or M&S at significantly better quality too. We couldn't do the room until we had the windows replaced, so it did take a bit of time as our window guy (Stuart Harrison, who was fantastic and has done an amazing job) was not able to do them until mid summer 2021. Here are some pics of the work and the final result. It is really scary with a big ol' hole in your house! Lovely new sashes with architrave. Sacrilege I know but we did go for plastic, but they are really well made and look good. Windows in so starting to do the woodwork Making sure we cannot see pale lines if the wallpaper shrinks! How the heck do we do these corners? Carefully! Nearly there. Now we need to remember how to do school trigonometry to put the curtain poles up in the bay. :D All done :) Different angle from the sofa. We found some lovely art deco style lamps to go either side of the sideboard. The new radiators we chose. Moving the radiators into the bay from the wall opposite was not hugely fun as we had to run the pipework through the cellar. Pipes all very much lagged though! The sofa fabric was from a designer duo in Wirksworth called Blackpop. Lovely ladies and glorious designs https://www.blackpop.co.uk. I am somewhat pleased that the pic of this sofa on their instagram account has the most amount of likes of any of their stuff! :D The leather on the chesterfield is so soft, it is lovely. Martin and Parker did them for us. https://www.martinandparker.co.uk/ For comparison with the original post pic. And here is an obligatory cat picture. :) It won't be to everyone's taste but we love it. The room is now cosy, warm and a genuine pleasure to be in. Thank you everyone for all the advice, support and comments. On to the kitchen next, just contacted you @OnePlan (Concept planners) on that. :)...See MoreUser
2 years agominnie101
2 years agoI tried it with a round mirror for you,I think the existing mirror is too high from the mantle and I’d also leave space between the mirror and picture rail.
looks a lovely room
Juliet Docherty
2 years agoThe limestone fireplace is beautiful, it really is. In order to balance the cools and warms I would be tempted to play down the pale slivers (which may not sit well with fire) and introduce some bronze. Bronze is essentially a dirty yellow which is really the colour of the floor. I works really well with pinks and greys. here are some cushions and a round mirror.
lucyjones84
2 years ago
Sonia
2 years agoLovely relaxing room. I think a more interesting wall colour may improve things as it’s all one tone at the moment. I love your fireplace! The mirror is too high as Minnie suggested, it shouldn’t be touching the picture rail, needs to be lower. I think a navy feature wall all across the fireplace wall will add interest and impact. You can add a few navy cushions to bring it together. Gold/brass accessories will look good I think. A rug will add cosiness.
clarekelly2002
2 years agoHolly Bullen
2 years agolucyjones84
2 years agoThank you everyone, today I have purchased a round mirror and done a little “faffing” with accessories and I think it looks a bit better. Absolutely right to everyone that commented the original mirror was too high, I was being lazy and re-using an old fixing for the previous owners mirror!
A rug is next on the list and some colourful cushions to break it up a bit, I really like the bronze idea so will be on the lookout.
Thank you so much everyone, I have felt very inspired today!
Sonia
2 years agoWumi
2 years agofifi589
2 years agoali270
2 years agopaddyart
2 years agoBe careful with your rug. You have a beautifully proportioned room but with a lot of hard edges - the fire surround, windows, sofa arms. Don't buy a small rug that will add another straight sided shape in the centre. Ideally you need one large enough that all the sofa feet sit on the rug comfortably. I would also loose the symmetry of the photos. Try moving the photo from the right and hang below the photo on the left.
If you like a natural textured rug Ikea do a great one called lohals 2 x 3 m
angy1968
2 years agolast modified: 2 years ago
Mary Walshe
2 years agoMary Walshe
2 years agopollyideas
2 years agoUser
2 years agopollyideas
2 years agolspendl 828
2 years ago
Eileen Leishman
2 years ago
Jane Pearson
2 years agomidwalesparky
2 years agolucyjones84
2 years agoThanks again everyone for the constructive comments, we still haven’t found a rug we like but have added lots of accessories to bring some colour in and now love the room. Thanks all x
Wumi
2 years ago
lspendl 828