We thought we would tell you a little more about our recent living room project here in Dorset and explain about the various design decisions we made to complete this gorgeous scheme.
The living room is the main reception room here in our pretty Victorian cottage and was fairly challenging in the fact that it is north facing so receives very little daylight and is also long and narrow. The walls were a blank canvas to start with being white apart from the main fireplace wall which was painted in Autentico deep blue / teal sometime ago which we were keen to keep along with the existing Roman blinds in Leilani - Golden Sage.
As the room needed to feel welcoming and much much cosier we settled on Dulux Khaki Mists 4 for the rest of the walls. This warm stone colour would work really well especially with the faded raspberry colourway we had in mind for the curtains which was again to add warmth.
The scheme colours were then set! - faded raspberry and teals to tie in the existing feature wall. We then just needed to decide on fabrics in these colours and varying scales to make the whole scheme work.
The room has three sets of windows set along 1 wall. We chose our Indian inspired Elise design originally designed by Jaqueline Milton in faded raspberry as the hero design for the three sets of double pleat,full length, interlined curtains to add luxury and warmth. Interlining helps insulate the room in the winter and the curtains hang so beautifully too. Pom Pom trim down all leading edges adds fun, texture, colour and movement. Matching poles in a soft dove colour complimented the curtains perfectly.
For the secondary fabric Vicky designed “Zamira” especially for the room which is a fabulous teal and raspberry Ikat design to pull the scheme colours together. The design has a contemporary feel to lift the overall look and we made the bold decision to put the design on two pretty little antique French chairs. The chairs were expertly upholstered by Hayley - “The Dorset Upholstress” and now look a million dollars. We also upholstered the back of each chair in a dramatic plain teal fabric double piped with the Zamira design as a special contrasting finishing touch. Zamira was also used to striking effect for feature pom pom sofa cushions.
To anchor the scheme we added luxurious plain stone fan edged velvet cushions in deep teal and mid blue. A further mix of mid blue and faded raspberry cushions were then added to the sofas and finished with various trims to soften the look and add texture, all expertly handmade here by our expert seamstress Alli.
Our new faded raspberry Tilly fabric also made its debut being launched for the room for piped sofa cushions. The design is small and textural to compliment the other designs.
At the back of the room there are two matching bookcases with cupboards beneath. We decided to sink these in by painting them to match the main walls and then wallpaper behind the shelves in our subtle Jhansi pattern in Millstone. All wallpapers are applied easily with paste the wall method. The soft, gentle millstone colour sets off ornaments and our cranberry glass perfectly.
We decided to place a desk behind the sofa in front of the blue cupboard at the back of the room to help section the room so it doesn’t appear so long and narrow. Two white lamps were added to compliment the palest sofa and were finished with our handmade French drum shades in contrasting dark teal plain trimmed with Zamira.
A striking rustic wooden lamp base ( to echo the floor) complete with handmade Cranborne rivermist shade was placed next to the fireplace and a gorgeous tonal ceramic base and shade from Pooky was placed next to the middle set of curtains. Wall light shades were kept plain to as to not over complicate the look. The pretty overhead candle chandelier was fitted with remote control battery operated candles too which was magical on Christmas Day!
Additional seating was added in the form of a rectangular stool upholstered in kingfisher Shillingstone Stripe and a very smart drum stool in Mollie mid blue teamed with plain piping in raspberry which doubles as a footstool or small occasional tray table. These drum stools are now available to order online in any of our fabrics.
We found the perfect “Kasbah” rug at Weaver Green to complete and further anchor the scheme. The rug has the added benefit of being completely washable and is so striking against the wooden floor.
The final finishing touch we added were the two completely unique handmade appliqué Indian horse pictures that I had the greatest fun making. The design was hand stencilled and the saddlery was then made from some of the fabrics used in the room scheme. Gold flourishes were added and finally a mount was applied in Leilani golden sage to echo the Roman blinds on the other side of the room.
Vicky and I really hope you find the above information helpful and hope it has given you a some inspiration and an insight in to how we put an entire and detailed scheme together. If you have any questions please do email us. We are more than happy to help with your own schemes should you need it.
