Our Recent Interior Design Makeovers

by Charlotte
(Yorkshire, UK)

We've been busy with lots of sorting, clutter clearing, furniture re-arrangement, and general interior design makeovers recently...

I think we've done a good job of getting a new look, without spending much at all - a bargain makeover is my favorite sort!

Most of the new look is achieved by re-arranging furniture from other rooms, and bringing some older pieces out of retirement in lofts and garages (don't be too quick to throw away - you don't know when you might use something again!)

We wanted to get a less cluttered home, but also re-create a more country cottage, like we had when we first moved in - we've been moving towards something a bit more modern, gradually...

...but I don't think it suits our home, or us! Hopefully we've achieved a nice blend of traditional, country cottage and modern...

We like it anyway!

Here's what we did...

Living Room



The walls were already green, so we left them, as it's a nice color, and re-painting would take too long!

We softened the modern lines of the sofa with throws and sheepskins, and added pink cushions, to alter the color scheme slightly...

We moved the modern shelf units out, pushed the sofa back, nearly to the wall, and brought in a more traditional looking bookshelf/dresser from the home office upstairs...



We brought our old chair back in out of the garage - and cleaned it up with lots of leather clean and feed - being out in the garage has given the leather quite a nice distressed look...

The chair is quite large and dark, so again, we softened it with pinky cushions and throws...



We added a small, antique pine unit, with wicker baskets (again, from the home office) which matches the large bookcase/dresser - and swapped the modern, lime-striped curtains with some cream, pink and blue, cottage-style ones with little flowers (out the loft) - instant transformation!

We also brought in an old pink and cream rug we had in the bedroom at one time, and put it in the center of the floor, with the ottoman as a coffee table...

This helps fill the open floor space nicely, and the carpet helps to lighten and soften the look...

I just hope the dog can keep his mucky paws off it! He's been having his feet wiped in the hall, after his walks, now!

We still want to paint the fireplace wall (not shown) a soft pink, to draw it all together, and pick out the pinky tones in the fireplace bricks...

The Hallway/Under the Stairs


Since I move my home office upstairs, the under-stairs area (hallway) had become a bit of a dumping ground - very unslightly!

We had a big clutter clearout, which helped, and moved the 2 modern units from the living room into the hall (filled with books).

We also added our red leather chair (which had been in the lounge) to create a useful 'snug' for reading, and somewhere to sit when talking on the phone...

(...since the desk disappeared from under the stairs, we'd been reduced to standing to talk - well, it's one way to keep conversations short!)



We think it's a really nice way to brighten up the understairs area, get some storage in it, and make it into a useful phone, and 'snug' reading area, too...



Our bedroom

Not too much to do in the bedroom, just some clearing out of old clothes, tidying up, and fitting a different light fitting (again, from out of our overflowing loft)...



My Home Office

I moved into my home office some months ago, but have only just got everything sorted...

It took a while to move this nice big desk from under the stairs...



I'm loving having a window right next to me now (it was very dark under the stairs, where I worked for nearly 3 years!!), and the orchids love it too!

We fitted a Venetian blind yesterday, so that I can adjust the light levels for working (in Summer the morning light comes streaming in - wonderful - but it makes it difficult to see the computer screen properly!) Now I'm sorted...

We also spent some time sorting through, and re-arranging all out CDs and magazines, which are also stored in the home office...

We didn't actually throw that much away, it was just really badly arranged, as we'd initially done it in a bit of a hurry...

This meant, though, that we were able to actually get rid of 2 whole units out of the home office, which found new homes in our living room...



My home office is much more usable now, and easier to work in - although we're still planning a lick of paint, on the dull white walls - current choice is lilac!

It all seems much better organised, tidier and a lot more pleasant to live in now!

A lot of work - but it was well worth the effort - and very little money spent at all! All from elsewhere in the house, and re-cycled!

:o)