Living Room

A few weeks ago I started watching a home decor programme on TV, and was seized with a sudden desire to make a few changes around my house! I decided to make a start on the living room.

I'd always fancied a feature wall, and I decided that this olive green colour would go well with the cream, black and red colours I already had in the room. I also wanted a bit of a retro feel to the room, and felt this colour went well with a retro look. The programme I'd been watching had emphasised working with the era your house was built in, so I supposed that the retro look might fit in well with my 1950s or 60s house. The colour gives a really warm feel to the room, and every time I walk in there it makes me smile.

I got some gorgeous fabric with a retro pattern of green, grey and black, and covered some of my cushions with this.

I also added a few yellow details around the room. I decided to make a feature of the retro lights, which I'd not been very keen on, by adding some yellow to them, and now they fit in well with the retro style. I also painted some dried seed pods yellow (I already had some painted red).

I bought a lovely tray from a charity shop, and the wooden blocks spelling "home" were from another charity shop. I displayed them with my mid-century modern wooden cats. I also converted one of the photos I took in Kyoto to a vintage look, and had it printed to go in a frame.

I spent a lot of time reorganising all my ornaments into different groupings. I put most of my vintage kokeshi dolls together on a wall shelf, and I love seeing them displayed in a group like this. Right in the middle is the little mirrored ornament, inherited from my gran, which was one of the things that got me interested in Japanese culture.

I finally found a retro coffee table, although it needs a little bit of work (I didn't have it when I took some of the photos!). It was only £10. In total the mini-makeover cost less than £100.