Our lounge makeover is sponsored by Achica

In case you missed the previous installments here they are…

Home makeover on a budget – Week 1

Home makeover on a budget -Week 2

So last time I posted  I showed you our moodboard and explained what we wanted from the lounge makeover . Nowit was time for the hard work to begin.

We had to remove our clutter. It took absolutely blooming ages (I made the kids help till i realised they made it worse and banished them to play!)

We had books we haven’t read in years, jigsaws in split boxes with  pieces missing. We had money down the sofa and crumbs and things underneath it that I had thought lost a long time ago. Oh dear. It was rather embarrassing really.

Look how fabulously simple and uncluttered the lounge looked once we had completely cleared it!

It gave me a real sense of calm, peace and potential to see it uncluttered (such a shame Christmas was round the corner!)

Painiting

We painted it a soft vanilla. I thought I had wanted a bright cherry yellow and was rather adamant about this. The Dulux site is a wonderful place to read about colour and here is what they have to say about yellow…

Within interiors, yellow lightens and welcomes. It helps to expand any space, a perfect solution for dark hallways and small rooms. To create a soft, inviting look, start with classic creamy yellows which will bring warmth to spaces with limited light

You can also order your colour testers from here and if you decide on a colour you like they even give you some room ideas to go with it, I think the soft vanilla  looks lovely with they grey in their scheme  (but I am more of a red kind of girl!)

y

Jen from Love Chic Living who is advising me throughout this project INSISTED I buy paint testers and live with them for 24 hours to see how the different times of day/light in the room impacted the colour. Such attention to detail is unusual for me but she was quite stern about it! She was so right, the bright yellow I thought I loved was way too much for such a small room and looked oppressive. She sighed a big sigh  of relief at this. The Dulux soft vanilla was light and fresh and perfect for us.

Decluttering

I am a bit of clutterbug by nature  and my husband doesn’t like to part with something even if it is broken (he thinks we will always find another use for it but we rarely do.) A while ago I read a wonderful book by Sheila Chandra called Banish Clutter Forever  I will do a round up of all the inspirational reading I have done towards this makeover soon and tel you all about it but basically she tells you to clear a storage space first so you have somewhere to store your stuff  that needs storing (if you know what I mean! )

We made some space in the loft ready and it was time to clear out!

 OMG take a look at  where all the stuff went….

 The single best thing I could do for my room makeover after painting and cleaning it was to not put all this ‘stuff’ back. I got rid of my husband and the kids for a few hours and I was utterly ruthless. I had a couple of charity bags and a recycling bag and a rubbish back and a storage box at the ready and it was head down, focus, CLEAR THAT CLUTTER.

As soon a the bags of broken toys  were full I put them out by the dustbin, Then I sorted out a box of loved but not currently read or played with books and toys and these went straight to the loft and  the charity bags went straight in the boot of my car. I was worried they would all come back and say hey mum where’s my stuff but get this…no one has ever noticed anything is missing. can you believe it!  Just shows you.

I felt relieved to have cleared it and we had much, much less to put back.

Cleaning

                                                                           Photo credit: LibertyGraceO

Our lounge is not a light room , it is also right on the street. At this point we could not replace the blinds so a really good clean was in order. There are a lot of good cleaning tips all over the internet you just need to google the specific thing you want to clean. A bit of elbow grease do the job!. It is well worth it.  A clean fresh home makes you really happy and if you blast out a bit of music whilst you do it the time soon passes (I like a bit of Micheal Buble/Desert Isaland Discs myself – I’m gettting older!)

A sneak peak

I will show you how the new room is looking next week but would you like to see another product form Achica that formed part of our makeover?

This Little Bird Called Fred cushion is from the Zeena’s Little Friends collection. It features a lovely silkscreened image of Fred the bird, and a gorgeous printed reverse on 100% linen. and it is handmade. For £13 I thought this was a lovely inexpensive addition to our room. Achica often sell uinusual items for the home that are just that little bit quirky and inspiring. I love Fred!  It also picks out colours from the prints; we chose from Achica. Here is one of them

 

I chose this print with a colourful pile of books with a wonderful quote by Dr Seuss:

The more that you read the more things you will know,

The more that you learn the more places you’ll go.

I chose it because the colours reflect other colours in the room  such a s the turquoise and red  and also because we have an abundance of books int hie room and reading is a huge family love. The print was sold by Achica and is by Visual Philosophy – Books Pile, Fine Art Print, 30 x 42cm and it cost £24. I absolutely love it. It captures the spirit of my family and the room.

Next time I will be showing you our complete makeover and I am so excited. Our living space looks so much better and is a happier calmer place to be..see you next week for the reveal!

Meanwhile if you are loooking for design and living inspiration the Achica Living bloggers are diverse, informed and so stylish their tips are brilliant!  I love to read their posts I feel stylish by association.