Decorating the living room

We’ve had a steady stream of visitors lately which has been lovely, a great side effect is that my house has never looked so clean! Let’s be honest, I can’t be the only one who cleans for visitors?!

Of course the only problem with having a clean and tidy house is that it really shows how shabby everything looks. We moved in 18 months ago and whilst we’ve decorated our bedrooms we haven’t really touched the downstairs rooms.

The colour scheme is coming together thanks to tins of Annie Sloan paint. We’ve been painting lots of furniture and as soon as the new sofa and snuggler arrive I think the living room will come together really quickly. That just leaves the floor. Urgh. When we bought the house we were fooled into thinking the floor had wooden floor boards. On closer inspection, ok, on the day we moved in, we realised it was lino and over the last few months it has ripped in places. I can’t wait to replace it with something. I’m trying to persuade my husband to have carpet, something neutral and hard-wearing from Carpetright would be great.

tins of Annie Sloan paint at Home Barn

Aside from the floor we’ve done a couple of things. We had lovely wooden shutters installed in the front windows and French doors leading to the garden. We bought some new items of furniture, including a wooden console table and sideboard, lots of toy storage for the children and some shelves for grown up bits and pieces.

One area you know I keep pretty spotless is my mantle piece. I change it every month to reflect the seasons and I love writing about it. It’s also one of the few areas I can keep the children away from. It’s free from pieces of Lego or Barbies and it’s staying that way!