Money is no object and you have to decorate your sitting room from scratch - how do you do it?

[Livingly]

I lied - money is very definitely an object but let's pretend! My sitting room (Edwardian house) has a fireplace and over mantle, french doors, a wooden floor and nothing else!

I have no idea what colour scheme to go for on walls, window dressings, furniture etc. I know it's often advised to chose one item like a picture for inspiration, but I don't have any (pictures or inspiration!).

I'm open to, and will be very grateful for, any suggestions, and images too if you'd like to share.

Thank you :)

[Livingley]

I'm really tempted by your floor @Emma. What did you have underneath? At the min I have floorboards.

[EmmaStone]

EmmaStone
Sure here's a little pic:

You can see the edge of our Ikea rug too 😀
Thank you Emma, I absolutely love that floor, it's beautiful.

Thank you, we're delighted with it 😍

[Tadpolesandfroglets]

That Ikea sofa looks very uncomfortable to my eye. I’d want something you could sink in to....

[Livingly]

[quote Brigante9]@Livingly Zubrowka? My absolute favourite.

I would go for plain walls, a neutral colour, soft yellow, white with a hint of something? Then you can add in whatever, really.

I have bonkers stuff, 8 foot mirror, old canoe turned into shelves etc. Point being, you can put anything you fancy in once you’ve painted the walls.[/quote]
You are evidently a person with very good taste :)

[Livingly]

@EmmaStone

Sure here's a little pic:

You can see the edge of our Ikea rug too 😀

Thank you Emma, I absolutely love that floor, it's beautiful.

[EmmaStone]

And this is where we bought from: www.luxuryflooringandfurnishings.co.uk/thorpe-spring-oak-herringbone-70-x-350-x-18mm.html

Great prices, and quality seems brilliant, fitter seemed happy enough. We went for solid wood as I wanted it to theoretically be a forever floor - can be sanded down lots of times as necessary over its life.

[EmmaStone]

Sure here's a little pic:

You can see the edge of our Ikea rug too 😀

[thunderthighsohwoe]

I’d kill for bare, wooden floorboards 😍

[Livingly]

@SimonJT

Hes now only allowed to drink wine out of one of these. I also discovered that red white most definitely stains brick as well!

I think I should only be allowed to drink out of one of those too

[MulticolourMophead]

Have been reading with interest. My money-no-object vibe is boho/hippy, so the ideas here are interesting but not me. I do think picking a sofa and working from that is a good way to go, though.

[SimonJT]

Hes now only allowed to drink wine out of one of these. I also discovered that red white most definitely stains brick as well!

[Livingly]

I must admit I like the look of your radiators but I bet they're a bit inconvenient for drying your smalls on ...

Throw some more red wine on your sofa and you can then either justify buying a new one, or alternatively have a uniquely patterned (wine tie-dyed or something) sofa.

Hey - perhaps I'm not so bad at this decorating thing as I thought!

[SimonJT]

Yes its a radiator, mine are more a dark gray and much longer, they essentially run the entire length of the external walls, apparently common in old industrial buildings. Thats the sofa I want, but in a darker grey, the one I have right now is from Ikea and has a huge red wine stain!

[Livingly]

Treacle love those wallpapers too!

[Livingly]

I knew this thread was a mistake - now I love almost every picture that's been posted! I have no ability to discern/choose, and shouldn't be allowed to have decorating responsibilities! (I also shouldn't be allowed access to vodka but we won't go there!).

Emma would you be able to put up a pic of your parquet flooring?

Simon is the blue springy thing a radiator? Apologies for ignorance and in mitigation I love your sofa!

Blustery I love that green settee too.

3133 we only call it a sitting room because that's how the estate agents described it when we first moved in over 20 years ago - we'd never had a sitting room, only a lounge, so we were impressed! Back then it was meant to be a child free room, and we all know how that works out! It's about 15 years overdue a makeover and so here I am begging you lovely folks for help!

[Meruem]

@Treacletoots
I love EJS wallpapers. I’ve just done a wall in my bedroom with the “extinct” paper. It looks amazing.
I’d put a really lovely picture above the fire OP. Everyone has mirrors and it just feels a bit dated. I’d also second choosing one piece Of furniture you love and building on that.

[SimonJT]

All the walls are exposed brick so I’d leave that, radiators are also original finned tubes so I’d keep those. The windows are original (black) metal frames. So really it would just be furnishings, at the moment I have Ikea stuff as I majorly over spent on the bathroom.

I have my eye on a nice gray bench sofa that has a black metal frame, then a few armchairs in different styles. I have some natural cotton rugs so I would keep those. The media unit attached. I would look for sofa side table etc second hand to find something thats both nice and good quality. I have a nice cranes upright piano.

I do have some art on the walls, I would like to expand that but don’t want to break the bank.

[BlusteryShowers]

@Treacletoots I love bold wallpaper like that!

[BlusteryShowers]

I love colour so I'd quite like a blush pink and emerald green palette with a bit of gold.

I also love the navy scheme that others have shared but I've got aubergine now so I'd go light next time.

[Treacletoots]

I'm going to throw this out. Emma J Shipley - she creates magical animal centered wallpapers in beautiful colours. We are just deciding which to use for our living room next to our verdigris (f&b) green walls and thinking the pink lynx one.

Linky:
emmajshipley.com/collections/wallpaper

Also LOVE @Lonecatwithkitten above with the blue Room, pink Stripe on the door. Going to steal that one!

[LatteLover12]

You need to get yourself on Pinterest and Instagram OP, there's lots of home pages on there. On Instagram (which I prefer to Pinterest) you can just search for different hashtags like 'home' 'lounge' 'edwardian' etc and you'll see people's makeovers and renovations.

It sounds like a beautiful room. Good luck!

[Lonecatwithkitten]

So many different things you can do I know the first picture is all the rage currently, but I hate it too sterile.
Number three is what my DP would like, but I hate leather and feel it's cold.
Number two would be my choice alone.
In the end we are taking inspiration from an Arab rug DP has ( bought in Jordan) which is primarily reds and blues, Sofa is a herring bone blue with contrast probably red/yellow cushions. Neutral flooring with carpet on top.

[EmmaStone]

We're redecorating our living room at the moment. It's a LONG work in progress. This week we had parquet hardwood floors installed, which I'm thrilled with. We're having a marble fire surround installed later this month to replace the wooden one (open fire staying). Think we're going to paint F&B Parma Gray, but I'm also toying with possibly wallpapering one wall with F&B lotus wallpaper (the one with the Parma Gray background), I just can't get my head around which wall would be best. I need (lots of) new curtains. The current (previous owners') curtains were clearly bespoke, expensive, and are ok, but past their best and don't tie into the new colour scheme.

Furniture isn't changing for now - light brown sofa, leather armchair, lots of medium and dark wood furniture. Lighting a mixture of dimmable spotlights (existing) plus 2 statement pendants (ours from precious home, can't wait to get them back up when ceiling has been decorated). Blue and beige abstract rug from Ikea should tie the Parma Gray and soar colours together nicely. Various blue accessories dotted around the room, lots of photos and art that needs to go on walls.

[31133004Taff]

Yes to buying curtains and sofa first and then build around that.

You describe the room as a sitting room rather than lounge. That gives it a different vibe. More warm and cosy - artisan.

[PETRONELLAS]

I’d go light but with textures - velvet sofa, thick curtains with a puddle train, thin Roman blinds, dulled silver/pewter. I love all the navy rooms around at the moment but wonder how liveable they are. I would start with the sofa then build around that.