25 August 2013

House Tour Part 2 : Living Room

Hey lovely-face!

I hope you're having a simply splendid Bank Holiday weekend :)

We've had a lovely time hosting Tom's brother, his girlfriend (the recipient of the non-alcoholic gin) and their beautiful baby girl. Our niece is by far my most favourite baby of all time, but I feel she may not be equally fond of me; as I've spent the majority of my weekend feeling like Monica...


Due to impending company, last week we made an effort to clean our house (because 8 week old babies are notorious for spotting dusty skirting boards...) which has given me the perfect opportunity to continue my House Tour. I know I've told you all that we live in filth 360 days of the year, but I figure as long as I don't share any photographic evidence of the dirt I can pretend that isn't really the case.

Anyway: Welcome to our living room. Don't worry about taking your shoes off - we hate the old carpet in here. I'm afraid I don't have any "before" photos- so you'll just have to picture shiny, patterned, cream wallpaper everywhere. In case you can't guess, our theme was "country pub".


The far wall is where we keep the scratch map Tom bought for my birthday. The scratched-off area percentage is pathetic; we've even debated adding in flight paths so we can take off more of the gold.
You can also spot our magnetic Scrabble board on the far right.

We spend most of our time in this room, when we're not cooking or sleeping, including eating in here whilst watching our favourite TV shows (we like to watch Masterchef whilst having our dinner- it's a double food experience!). As we really do live in here, it was crucial to find seating that was seriously comfortable. We ended up buying a sofa from DFS, because it's big enough to fit us both lying down; rather impressive, as we're both 5ft10. It can seat 7 people for house parties/afternoon tea, and we've upped the comfort factor even more with piles of cushions and blankets made by my own fair giant, manly hands.


The crochet wiggle blanket was a charity shop bargain (£1.99!)
You can see more of my patchwork blanket here.

We've had to reassure several people that Tom didn't blackmail me (as a veggie of 14 years) into buying a sofa made from the skins of an entire family of cows. Which is rather amusing, as it was actually me who persuaded him. I wanted a sofa that would last us for decades and look better with age. Like an upholstered Helen Mirren. I justified my purchase by insisting other people had already eaten the inside bits, so I was just using the wrapping. 


Murderous sofa and my Rob Ryan style cushion.

I always knew I wanted a vintage leather armchair to complement our sofa but, as it turned out, so did everyone else in the entire world. This meant that every chair I saw cost an absolute fortune because, no matter what Kirstie says, people who live round here would never EVER give away old leather chairs for free. Unless "free" means £200-or-less. Even if the chair is well beyond "vintage looking" and into the realms of "broken beyond repair". The seat of this chair is actually broken, but as long as the seat is piled with cushions and woollen picnic blankets, it's kind of almost comfortable.


The canvas shows one Tom's photos of Brighton Pavilion. We had it printed using a brilliant Groupon discount code (which is just as well, as the print quality is pants).
The chair looks out onto our garden, through huge patio doors - but the garden is a state at the moment so I'm not showing you that :p

We found our coffee table in a second-hand furniture shop, with the original glass top missing. We both loved how worn it looked with the burnished metal trimmings and the odd, weathered-copper-green colour in all the cracks and grooves. It actually has thick wire chain-linked across the middle (which you could see through the glass top) but we decided to make a replacement from chipboard sprayed with chalkboard paint.



Our coffee table top houses the TV remote (which Tom has programmed to work with all of the electronics in here), a box of tissues (a necessity for me whether at home or out and about, thanks to my stupidly runny nose), and some coasters. We don't actually care about people putting their drinks directly onto the table; I just think the coasters are pretty.


Our record collections, in vintage-look crates from Crates 4 You.
The astronomy globe was a present from my awesome friend Katy, and I use the wicker hamper to quickly tidy the living room before guests arrive. Said tidying looks a lot like I'm scooping everything up and flinging it in there to be forgotten about forever. It's not. 

A pub mirror of our local brewery I found in my favourite flea market for nine English pounds.

There are miles and miles of wires as far as the eye can see, but I've chalked that eyesore up as a sacrifice I have to make for Living With A Lovely (electronics-obsessed) Boy.

One of my (many) thermos jugs from Tiger, filled with beautiful flowers from Tom's Mum.

Our new Lego letters

Less exciting/dramatic than Part 1 of the House Tour, perhaps - but I love that this room feels so cosy.

Katie xxx

10 comments:

  1. It's calm and gorgeous. The green is really pretty. I know what you mean about leather chairs. Yours is a beauty. Comfort is overrated! xx

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    1. Thank you :) The green is called Jungle Fever. I totally agree- I sit on the sofa and admire the armchair! xx

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  2. So cool!!! I long for a sofa to lie on. I hate my one with a raging Passion!!!!

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    1. Does CBC have a comfortable sofa? xx

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    2. His flatmate had a comfortable one. Our one is ok here but two people (also tall) cannot lie on it! Yes, you guessed it, I can came back here for another nosy too!x

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  3. i like country pub ;) A friend of mine also recently bought a DFS sofa that is so big it doesnt quite fit where she wanted it to and it sits at a funny angle in her living room. she said 'who measures things when they buy them?' EVERYONE! Anyway, I went off on a tangent, I like the cable keeper doobrey, we could do with one of those!

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    1. It's very handy- although there are another 30 odd cables sitting around outside of it. Bring on the day where everything is wireless! xx

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  4. Your living room is lovely! Your couch looks incredibly comfy... actually everything in that room looks so welcoming!

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  5. What a lovely room! We're going to be moving into a new house in the next few months and I am obsessed with looking for decor inspiration! Love the colours and that sofa looks oh so comfy... definitely afternoon napping potential x

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  6. Looks lovely! I love the vintage crates! How many high do you think you could stack?x

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