Help me with my living room again 😩

[Youagain2025]

Sorry it's me again. So after thinking about doing something with my sofa that's gone out of the window.

But I do want to completely change the living living room. So basically change the walls and the floors, curtains.

My no 's are no dark walls. It has to be light although I will consider a medium sort of colour. Do I just paint or do wallpaper as well? Or maybe some sort of panelling

Floor wise I want to rip the floor up and put something better down. I'm open to the colour and type. I'm also now happy to put a rug down but short pile type.

I'm very against cushions and floor lamp/low light type. As I don't like a room that's dimmed . I like it bright light wise.

I have taken a few pics of the living room so there's a better idea.

I'm hoping to make a start this week.

I've tried to add screenshot but I've failed.
Dulux do a sage green in their heritage range. Dunelm do one too.
If your b&q has got one of those paint mixing stations you should be able to find a colour that's lighter than the standard sage if that's what you want. But I think you'd be surprised a colour can look dark when it's just a small square, but it looks ok when you paint a whole wall with it. Especially in your room where you've got that white unit to offset it.

If you can’t afford to buy a sofa DO NOT waste money changing up the flooring—that’s not financially reasonable. Pay off the sofa, and then sell it and purchase something that fits in the room, isn’t black and isn’t as dated as the sofa you have now.

I just can’t see a point in buying more things when you’ve had to put a sofa and wall unit on credit.

you don’t need to change things up right now. You need to stop making rash choices and be more thoughtful in the future about massive furniture choices.

My first paragraph still applies! I know you’ve stripped the wallpaper, I was just referring to it to identify which wall I meant. The sofa is still a large black horizontal item in the room, even in 2 parts. You need some verticals to counterbalance it. The wood slats would do that, if you like them.

I 100%disagree with everything you have said. Apart from the floor comment. I can do the floor later.

Maybe i don't understand 😕 not saying I disagree. I think im just not getting it.

You can disagree but you have a giant sofa that doesn’t go with the room, you keep making costly choices that don’t work and then throwing more money at it to try to fix the room. The sofa is the issue, it’s massive, oppressive, outdated and black (which doesn’t make sense for someone who doesn’t like dark colours).

That's your opinion

I'm afraid I agree with @pepperminticecream , which is why I suggested redecorating with the sofa-you-want in mind.

I didnt realise you were still paying off the existing sofa though, and I wouldn't make any significant changes til then. Few throws for the sofa - you can get easily removable fitted covers now which would cover up the black - a cheap rug maybe. Anything you do in the interim will be a false economy as you'll (presumably) redo it all anyway.

That's fine we don't all have to agree . We all do things in different ways. Its just not my way that's all . And I want to decorate regardless. To me it makes no sense to think about what sofa I will get in years to come.

This is something I want to do that is positive to me that makes me feel good . I don't care if the sofa is crap at the moment. That does not mean I need ti maje everything negative

Also, painting a room without have multiple test swatches which you live with for at least a few days to see how the paint changes during the day is a bad move. You can’t just slap paint on the wall—and I wouldn’t paint anything until you have your dream furniture. You need to swatch white paint as well and make sure it looks right with the room, the natural and artificial light and the white wall unit.

I woud concentrate on getting some inexpensive art (a big black and white photograph for behind the sofa to tie in the black sofa and white wall unit), and then find a dream sofa that you can save up for and ONLY once you have that would I make other big changes.

Can you speak with the store where your black sofa came from and see if they’ll let iou exchange it for something else? How long have you had it?

I've just realised I think I remember your previous threads (redecorating your children's room?) In which case I understand much more why you're so keen to redecorate now rather than wait, and understand the effect on your mental health.

Have you ever looked at the house & garden website? There's a lot of inspiration there and if you don't like traditional/ country styles just look up modern / city / minimalist / unusual rooms, they feature lots of designers with different styles.

One piece of advice from interior designers is if there's something in the room which you really dislike, or is ugly or awkward, then embrace it and make it a feature.

If you're keen to cover the black of the sofa without using throws then you could look up "fitted sofa covers". They're pretty cheap and I'm sure you'd find one for the shape & size of your sofa.

You could also look at peel & stick/ removable wall paper if you wanted to try something you can easily change. Not sure about cost though.

It’s a bit difficult to explain the principles of design in a short post 😂 It’s all about proportions and balance. You obviously have some innate artistic abilities to be able to design the triangular wall pattern so you probably have a feel for it, even if you think you don’t get it!

Trust me, the vertical slats you chose will look better than the half panelling you also liked.

Before you buy have you looked on FB marketplace for anyone selling green testers which would be cheaper than buying them?

Well done you on getting wallpaper stripped and now the white paint as undercoat.

Best tip I ever had was to paint on a plain piece of paper and stick them up on the wall on different lights

I know you want to get done but is it not better to get the right colour?

I might have missed this being mentioned earlier but is there any reason why you can’t cover the sofa with throws? That would totally soften the effect of the black and the throws could be easily swapped if you fancy a change

Thank you. With the sofa cover idea thing . The reason I have leather is because i can easy wipe it down. And keep it clean which is also a big thing for me .

Sometimes I try and look unusal decore living room ideas. But it seens to be in big grand posh houses heigh ceilings etc . I just want it in a standard house .

Peel and stick is expensive.

Because it would stay there long enough to take a picture . Then the kids would probably plays tents with it. Wrap themselves up with lt. The dogs would roll all over it. It would be covered in hairs/fur. Its just not practical .

👍 yes it is that why I haven't done it yet . It's just I wanted to get it done. But now I have back tracked on the colour it will probably take longer . In the mean time I'm painting it white rethinking/exploring.

Test paint on market place of simlar is to much faffing about. The paper thing is a good idea

Sounds like a nightmare

Do you mean if i was to choose panelling i would be better of with this type. I don't even know if I would im just thinking of different things.

I keep thinking about oak wood on the walls and as end tables etc. But I don't know how that works even

I think the settee will be perfectly fine once it’s split up and isn’t so dominant as 2 black leather settees is perfectly normal in lots of peoples homes .

I am glad to find someone else has the same experience with throws. And cushions for us!

I like your idea for behind the TV.

I also think I remember you now. Did you not do a really funky wall of abstract bright colours for one of the kids?

I know it's a bit backwards in design terms but is it worth seeing if you can find prints/canvas/ some sort of wall art that you really like and then work from there?

If you like bold maybe you need to find your statement piece and work from there?

I think the black sofa could look great if you had something with some black but that introduces something a bit more vibrant.

And I still like your unit!

Yes that's what I'm hoping . Someone up thread showed me end tables that were nice and will hide the unfinished ends.

I meant these wooden slats that you liked. You could try doing it like the photo with only part of the wall with the slats but it can be tricky to get the proportions right. See how the console is placed so 2/3 is in front of the panelling? You could try that with your sofa (thirds always work well in design). If you get the proportions wrong and don’t like it, you can always do the whole wall 😂 Oak tables and oak panelling would probably be too matchy matchy to look good. I would consider something different for side tables.

I like the purple ones less but it’s not bad. I just thought it was very “you” as it reminded me of your DC’s bedrooms 😂

Do you like bright colours like the bedrooms or did you just choose them for your DC?

Do you mean like in the pic? But with the sofa instead of the tv and cabinet? If so this sounds so childish but I kind of don't want to because everyone else is doing that. And I would want to be a bit different

I like bright colours. Bright colours =happy for me. I would have bright colours all over my house if I could.

I'm glad I'm not the only one with crushion and throw issues 😅

Yes I did the kids room in bright colours.

I have heard about using pictures/canvas etc as a starting point . But my brain doesn't work.