Interior Design Ideas
Our Lounge Makeover

...taking our tiny, dark lounge and quickly & inexpensively making it lighter & brighter.

We decided we wanted a bit of a revamp in our lounge...

...triggered mainly by the fact that our old sofa had developed a huge tear in the seat - unrepairable unfortunately!

Rather than going for something exactly the same, again, we thought we'd take the opportunity of geting a slightly new look with a makeover...

...and also make an effort to lighten and brighten the room a little, as it was starting to feel a little dark, and our room really is very small.

...and equally, we didn't want to go through the effort of repainting!

When we chose our new pieces of furniture for the room we decided to keep them quite small and delicate in stature - although small by the standards of modern sofas and chairs, our old sofa and chair appeared very dark and chunky in the room...

...and to be honest were a bit overwhelming in the small space.

So when we went to choose our new sofa and chair we were looking for something a bit lighter in color, as well as lighter looking in size.

We chose furniture with legs, as this allows you to see more of the floor, so making the room appear a little larger - one of the best interior design ideas for decorating small spaces.

The chair and the foot stool (also acting as a coffee table, with a drawer for storage) we found in a nice burgundy red leather, which gave a little more color, brightness and interest to the room, contrasting nicely with the green color scheme on walls...

We aimed to lighten the whole room with accents and accessories...

Instead of dark red curtains we chose some light voile style curtains in a fresh, zingy lime green and brown - they filter light from the window into the room wonderfully.

We swapped our dark wood blind for white wooden venetian blinds, and this actually has made a huge difference to the amount of light bouncing around the room...

....especially at night, when the blinds are shut, and you get the benefit of 2 big white rectangles, reflecting all available light, rather than a dark, flat shape, absorbing light.

It's worked so well we've also swapped our yellow blinds in the kitchen for nice, bright, white ones!

We 'lifted' the room a little, too, by swapping some of the photos on the walls for lighter and brighter ones that serve to provide a nice light and bright focal point on the green wall.

A big change has been the furniture arrangement...

...we spent quite a few weekends clearing clutter, and as a result were able to remove one piece of furniture completely (the TV unit) and position the TV on a corner shelf in the corner of the room.

We've re-arranged the room so that we now have a large floor space in the centre of the room, and this does help the room to feel much larger.

We might even need to get a rug now!

We love our new room's arrangement and new look too - so much fresher, lighter and brighter...

...and lots of room for the dog to jump and play too - so he's pretty impressed too!

So if you, too, are just looking for a fresh feel to your room without a huge makeover, perhaps you can just re-assess what you want to change, if you want to make your room:

• lighter and brighter?
• more interesting?
• bigger?
• cosier?
• more contemporary?

UPDATE May 2011: See our budget interior design ideas in our recent makeovers in our lounge and elsewhere...

It doesn't need to be a massive chore to update and freshen your look.

Click here for more ideas for fast fixes in your home...

Take a look at more interior design ideas for a living room makeover with the gallery pages

...or check out the interior design themes and styles, here...

..and some contemporary interior design ideas and inspiration with our hot new trends

More practical and stylish ideas for interior decorating your living room

Have you done your own room makeover? Share your own interior design ideas and projects here...

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