Please help me turn my living room into a cosy warm space instead of beige and boring

[SandyChick]

Hello, we bought a repossesed house back in October that we gutted. We literally had to start from sctratch..plastering, new skirting,coving, doors, kitchen, bathroom etc

We're at the stage of putting it back together. Everywhere is Magnolia at the moment.

I really need help with the soft furnishings side of things. Im not very good at making it feel cosy. At the moment it just feels beige and boring. Apart from our sofa (chocolate leather) we need to buy the rest of our living room/dining room furniture. We have an 18 month old so need everything to be child friendly but its quite a dark house so would really like light ish carpets etc.

Any tips or advice would be gratefully received.

This is our sofa

We;re thinking of something like this too??
www.next.co.uk/shopping/homeware/livingroomfurniture/82/2

Or this...

www.next.co.uk/shopping/homeware/livingroomfurniture/81/3

Apart from that its a black canvas

I prefer the first fireplace. If you keep the walls and floors neutral then warm things up with cushions, curtains, rugs etc?

Maybe go for warm tones like reds, purples and golds - lighting is also very important in creating warmth, I like lots of lamps rather than overhead lights.

If you are trying to warm up a room avoid too much steel, silver, blue and white.

It's hard to know what to suggest without knowing your taste/the house's period/its aspect but I would say that if you have a lot of rooms to decorate and a lot of furniture to buy but you aren't feeling very inspired then just wait until you are. Read lots of magazines and you are bound to see something that gets you going. As for the magnolia, just paint over it - if you don't like the new colour, then paint over it again, paint is pretty cheap and you can afford to make the odd mistake. If you ask around, you are bound to find a friend who would leap at the chance to don her Lawrence Llewellyn-Bowen hat and do it all for you...