Budget Living Room Makeover
On moving in, the owners of this house decided that they wanted a fresh new look. The living room was too “busy” for them. There were too many patterns and dark colors. They wanted something softer and subtler, even dreamy perhaps. But the budget was limited. They had to achieve as much as possible for their money. They were also great DIY fans. So they decided to tackle the decoration themselves.
Settling on the color of their leather lounge suite to work around. This was the basis for the scheme. Rag rolled walls with a cream base and a dusky blue wash create a soft almost sky look. The carpet was replaced with a mid tone blue cut pile wool, durable and being one tone makes the room look larger.
Too dark and dated for the young couple.
By removing the net curtains, more natural light was able to enter the room.
Budget Living Room Makeover
The net curtains were removed to let in natural daylight and privacy was still maintained from trees and plantings outside.
The curtains were replaced with simple calico drapes with Indian cotton check tiebacks, a roman blind was added with a check border. Cushions were added to balance the accent fabric. As the budget was limited, new furniture was out of the question so a calico throw was draped over the coffee table to soften the space.
In conclusion the room was given a brand new look by simply replacing the carpet (the largest expense), painting the walls and making new drapes, cushions and throws.
The fabric used was calico, a very affordable fabric, using the Indian cotton as accents, slightly more expensive but not much, and the owner made the drapes herself using the existing tracks. The walls were time consuming but low cost, as when rag rolling you use a medium which goes a long way and only require a small amount of paint to tint it.
The effect was just what they wanted, soft, subtle and dreamy.
Written by Lee Brown
