Please help me decorate my living room

[pigsinmud]

We have lived in this house for nearly 14 years and I didn't like the wallpaper when we moved in! Dh pulled a section of wallpaper off...ahem... 3 years ago and it is still like that! It needs doing.

It is 10m long & 5m wide. Front door opens into middle of the room, with bay window either side. Walk across from front door to door to the hall and to the left of that door is another door. Fireplace (not in use, but considering woodburner) is to the right of hall door. Dado rail all way round. Need new carpet.

Tell me what to do!

I would like paper to the rail and then paint underneath - perhaps not necessarily on all walls. Dh is not keen on paper. I think because it is papered at the moment, I can't imagine this big room with just bare painted walls. I quite like this one I am so crap at this sort of thing!

New curtains perhaps too.

Wow, that's a big room! Did it used to be two rooms with a corridor between them, from front door to hall door? Is it Victorian (sounds like it?) Just trying to visualise.

Starting with flooring... if your front door leads directly into the room, you're going to need something pretty hardwearing. Would you consider having a wood floor, with rugs on it, instead of carpet? That way you can have a wooden "pathway" from front door to hall door, much easier to keep clean than carpet. It might also help divide the room into "zones".

Personally I would paint it not paper it. Partly because it's such a big room - I think that amount of any patterned paper (even if only above the rail) could be quite overpowering. Also because paint is cheaper and easier to patch up if it gets any damage [cheapskate emoticon].

How about having one colour of paint above the dado and a different colour (or a slightly darker version of the same colour) below? I reckon you could go for something quite bold in a room that size with two big bay windows.

Alternatively, do you use the room as two rooms? For example a formal half (with the fireplace) and less formal half (with a TV...)? If so then you could have separate colours for each half. Not sure what you would do where they join though....

If you have a dado rail that you are retaining then a Feature Wall looks a bit silly. Friends have done this and it just looks odd.

I agree with Minipie on wood floorboards and rugs, for practical as well as aesthetic reasons. Then, personally, I would paint the whole room white, get some fabulous floor length curtains in a big bold colourful Scandi print (Marimekko etc), and put up some big pictures.

Oh and a big statement pendant light fitting, if you have high ceilings.

Thanks for replies. It used to be 2 rooms. Was once the telephone exchange & bakers - at the same time. It doesn't have a focus - have computer, sofas, bookshelves, stereo and toys in it at the moment. Tv in another room. I would much prefer it to be 2 rooms as I prefer smaller rooms. We thought a woodburner would help create a cost feel at one end.

I'll ditch the paper - not convinced by it anyway! Dh would love a wooden floor, but we have a dog. Will she trash it with her claws? We had thought of 2 colours - darker below the rail.... Just need to find the colours!

Meant to add was built in 1860s. Yes to high ceilings.

What a fantastic big room! Only prob with painting walls that used to be papered is that they areprobably not in great condition underneath. Paper covers a multitude! I'd have a logburner at one end,with seating round,and a dining area or study/snug at the other.
re wooden floor - i have a similar sized room(used to be sitting room and kitchen, now combined in a Lshape) and i'm havinbg Karndean planks put down - they look like wood, but are warmer, hard-wearing, and easy to keep clean.

Forgive my bad guessing at measurements 8x4.5m - have just measured properly

Sorry I don't know about wooden floors and dogs but I'm sure there must be something which will stand up to claws (and carpet can't be very dog friendly I'd have thought?)

It sounds to me like you could do with dividing it into 2 rooms or at least into 2 "zones" using furniture.

Dividing into 2 rooms is a pretty easy job for a builder to put up stud walls and plasterboard.

Or, to divide into zones, you could use bookshelves to create a "corridor" down the middle and thereby divide up the room. So you would come in the front door and as you walk to the hall door there would be a bookshelf to your left and a bookshelf to your right, if that makes sense. Or maybe a bookshelf to your left and the back of a sofa to your right. Anyway, you get the idea .

I think reinstating the fireplace or putting in a woodburner is a great idea. Then you could make that a focal point for that half of the room. Have the sofas and books and stereo in that part of the room and make that the "relaxing" zone. Then the other part can be for toys and computer and can be the "active" zone. Or whichever way you prefer.

You could divide up the space with something like this but it might not be to your taste.

If you're going to keep it as one big room I would go for some lovely long and wide wood-plank flooring and then zone the area with large area rugs. Dinesen do fantastic wood flooring for large rooms but they are £££ and there are other manufacturers who do similar in oak formuch less money. I could be wrong but I think if you go for hardwood flooring as opposed to softwood, that would be a better bet with a dog. At least any terrible marks could be sanded out and refinished. Also, wooden floors will smell better surely than carpets/ dogs - I can't imagine that's a trouble-free combination as the carpet will trap dog hairs and odours etc.

YY to the comment about paper covering a multitude of sins. It may be OK underneath but you won't really know until you strip it off. You might have to do a fair bit of filling and sanding if it's lumpy. Beware big-time if it's anaglypta-style or textured wallpaper - that's very often put up to cover nasty lumpy and pitted walls IME

Thanks for this. Plaster is very good as previous owners had whole house replastered, but have decided to go with paint. This has kicked us into action - been to stove place today. About £6000 (worse case scenario) for stove to be fitted - could knock it down a £1000 with a cheaper stove. Something to think about anyway.

Dh very against splitting the room up. Have already moved furniture so have coffee table, comfy sofa and computer (which gets used for tv too sometimes) into one end - just trying to imagine the fireplace in action. Other half looks empty at the moment!

That sounds an extortional price for a woodburner, why is it so high? (see other woodburner thread, generally around the £2k mark).

If you have a dog I would say wooden floors are a much better idea than carpet. Engineered oak that's oiled (not lacquered) is meant to be best for not showing up scratches.

Ref the room, I definitely agree about zoning it. Our front room is large too (6.5m x 4m) and we've zoned it with a woodburner at one end with sofas and a library type area with large bookshelf, chair, coffee table etc at the other end. I have pics on profile, have a look!

Don't split the room up - you'd be left with 2 v small rooms. Use a room-divider/shelving ifyou don't like the whole room as one.
Re log-burner - that's a ridiculous price! Unless you need a chimney to be built, it should cost about £2k to fit a decent log-burner (£500upwards) about £1000for the flue and £500 for other stuff like hearth and surround. Get another quote or go online to HETAS who regulate the industry. They will give you the name of installers in your area.

The woodburner we like is nearly £2000 . Fitting is £1250 for 1.5 days work, might need scaffolding for roof access (£500) as we have an awkward roof - we knew that from past roof work! Flue to go up old chimney and through roof (no chimney stack as removed in loft). Obviously we will go to other places for a quote, but we were expecting this as several friends have had to fork out a fortune for their woodburners.

Have just looked at Korndean and Amtico floors...bloody hell this will end up costing a fortune!!

My Karndean is costing me £1000 for the product then £5-600 for the fitting. The local shop quoted £3000 for supply and fitting, ex VAT!!! Expensive it is but will last for ever. And it's great if you've got dogs, so hardwearing.

Which logburner do you like? At £2000 it must be phenomenal! Post a link? I bought a Red-enamel Carron logburner, waited ages for it to come into the country as they wereshort-stocked. But I use it every night now and love it. It also comes in Cream, Green, Blue or Black enamel.

this one I have found it online for £1700, rather than the £1935 at the stove shop. It will fit very nicely into our fireplace, which at the moment is just a hole in the wall. There was another one for £990, but forgotten which that was. We liked the grey contemporary look.

I don't mind paying out for the floor if it's going to last well. Our house is a cold house and I didn't want to go carpetless without a woodburner as the living room already feels cold with carpet, so I thought it would feel even colder without carpet! It is difficult as the front door opens straight in to the living room so we have muddy shoes to contend with as well as blasts of icy air!

Love the log-burner! V stylish. Have you looked online for price-comparison?

Re the floor - i thought we might have a problem with cold, as when we took up the carpet the draught through the floorboards was arctic! We took the floorboards up and fitted rigid-board insulation (Celotex) between the joists which helps enormously. Wickes do Celotex boards, we paid £130 for 10 1"thick boards, which was enough for the kitchen/sitting room, hall, and dining room! Was a huge job tho, lifting boards, removing skirting (which we were going to do anyway for flooring job), redecorating (again, going to do anyway). The boards were simple to cut and fit once the floor was out of the way!

captainmummy - does Karndean stand up to dogs' claws? My two have scratched off the wax from my wooden floorboards in places by doing handbrake turns round the living room. I love the look of Karndean but would hate to invest in it and then have them bugger it up.

Not 100% sure retrozebra, i don't have dogs. I did have 'limestone' Karndean tiles in my prev house, and used to 'dog-sit' for a week at a time, a few times a year. It stood up to her claws ok, but it was the most fantastic stuff to start with - didn't show the dirt (looked the same when clean as dirty!) and never showed any scratches or scuffs. Suggest you ask in the showroom - Karndean is a specialist-fit, not DIY so you'd have to go thro a professional anyway

Thanks, I'll do that

I have had dogs and wooden floors - yes the claws did leave marks, but it didn't seem to matter, floors still looked nice. If they wee or sick up on it and you don't notice immediately that is a problem, but a problem with carpets too I suppose.