Frump to Fab 2022 - The Big One

liberty_lily

Having spent the past three weeks clearing and selling/donating unwanted stuff ourselves, I appreciate how liberating it can be, Helen 😀 (Btw, I hope your house sale is progressing well?)

On the August Bank Holiday weekend we did a carboot sale, netting £230 for just a few cushions, vintage prints, a coat and one vase. Also took a bin bag of clothing and a mixed box of glasses and some kitchenware to the charity shop, as well as throwing away six hollowfibre pillows that had gone lumpy.

We sold some architectural salvage, two tables, a sofa and some building materials - all of which were surplus to our requirements - for a total of £1000 😁

The whole process has been incredibly cathartic!

As we spent most of August out of action/feeling wretched with covid, we used the cash to treat ourselves to a lovely outdoor sofa and tables for the covered area of the walled courtyard part of our garden. Being end of season we got a great deal (reduced from £1600 to £950!). It was delivered on Friday and has totally transformed the space into somewhere fabulous to sit - a bonus as our main internal living space is still uninhabitable after almost a year 🙄

With the addition of some outdoor lights (good old ebay 😉) plus our existing woollen blankets and some cushions we'll hopefully be able to enjoy it well into the autumn....evenings too!

sugarbaby125

Liberty Lily your new outdoor sofa and tables look great.  

Floss

@liberty_lily that's a gorgeous space and I love your dog, what breed is it?

maman

I always love looking at your photos @liberty_lily. It's like our own online version of Homes and Gardens. Amazing!😊

It's been a lovely day here but getting chilly now. It's warmer in our conservatory than the main rooms in the house. Certainly time to sort out the winter woollies @helensbiggestfan and @Wednesday2000. 😁

I have a good wardrobe of clothes for all seasons. As a football fan I have outfits for being outside in all weathers including thermal trousers (like ski trousers). I didn't expect to be needing them indoors though. ☹️🤣

I have bought myself a heated throw as I'm a bit of a night owl so won't need the heating on late at night for one room. So far I haven't used it but it's getting closer.

I do hope it's a fine day in London tomorrow. I want the Queen's funeral to be a fitting tribute to her 70 years of service to this country. I wouldn't call myself a Royalist but I have so much respect for her many years of high standards and integrity in public life. 

sheilavw

what a lovely sofa and outdoor space Liberty Lily. Yes it is getting a tad colder now, definitely feeling Autumnal.

Wednesday2000

Your garden is stunning Liberty Lily! Sorry you had such a bad time with Covid.

chanie

@helensbiggestfan going back a few posts, you asked about warm trousers.  Uniqlo have some trousers in their heattech range, which may be what you are looking for.  I bought some joggers from there last year, which didn’t have cuffed bottoms, so they looked a bit smarter than normal joggers.  

@liberty_lily another one here who loves your outdoor area. 

@maman let us know how you get on with the heated throw. I’m thinking of getting some, but not sure whether we need them.

our plan for today is to paint the dining room. We started the prep work yesterday and as we are painting it the same colour, it shouldn’t take  too long.  Once it’s done, we only have the hallway and landing in the loft left.  I’m really motivated to get the painting done so that we can the flooring down.  

liberty_lily

Thanks so very much for all your kind words, ladies 😊😊😊

Sorry for not responding sooner but have been glued to the TV coverage of the Queen's funeral...a beautifully dignified send off for our wonderful late monarch, I thought....

Floss - he's an Australian mini labradoodle (or basically an expensive poodle, lol!!!) 🙂 We also have a very naughty Spanish Water Dog - although she's looking like butter wouldn't melt here 😉

chanie

Hi ladies, 

Please can you help me with some home fabbing.  We had the chimney breasts removed in our living and dining rooms and we now have long, bare walls, we need to do something with.   It’s needs to be MSE….


This is our living room, it’s a beige/brown and the sofa is brown leather, underneath the throw.  Happy to throw in an accent a colour, maybe red?

This is our dining room, which is light grey and black.

I’m thinking of some kind of print winks he a nice idea, as we could get the frames from IKEA.

Our previous prints were in the alcoves and I think they would be too small for this wall, by themselves.

liberty_lily

Chanie, your rooms look very restful and calming 🙂

Regarding the addition of colour, there are various ways to introduce it - for example by using it on the walls (and/or ceiling!) or by the introduction of accent pieces and accessories. 

If you believe the interiors cognoscenti, feature walls are out and colour (or wallpaper) should be used throughout the room....but I say do what you love, lol 😆 

We've always done a bit of both - but our decorating style is obviously fairly maximalist/boho and wouldn't be to everyone's taste! 

As you already have your wall colours in place, gallery walls are a great way to bring in personality, interest and a splash of colour. The choice of colour(s) can then be reflected - although I prefer not to go too 'match matchy' - in cushions, lampshades, table linens etc in similar (or clashing if you're more like me, lol!) tones.

For art, I prefer to take my time, collecting prints gradually, picking up those that make us happy as and when we find them (mainly from fleamarkets, carboots and ebay). We've been collecting for 30 years and have (or at least had till we began downsizing our hoard when we bought our current, smaller house!) vast amounts of stuff to choose from when dressing a room. However, with what's available today you can easily quickly build up a gallery wall of inexpensive art from places either local to you or online with - as you say - ikea frames 😉 or else go vintage from charity shops if that's your vibe!

On your walls which are big areas to cover, I'd definitely go large with regards to artwork, dotting in some smaller pieces for variation. It's a myth that small spaces require small treatments (same with tiles - large tiles with less grout lines create the illusion of larger areas 😉) and a wall of tiny art works will look bitty, imho.

Obviously it doesn't have to be art per se - it could be collections of other items that grab your heartstrings - in our bedroom we have a display of Liberty patterned pinwheels, whilst in the guest room it's a whole wall of vintage framed butterflies and in the kitchen copper moulds 😊 You can add in texture with wall hangings/other fabric pieces too.

You can tie it all together by unifying the frame style/colour or by having a theme running throughout the art....or not - like I said it should just be what you like/love. Someone once said that as long as you pick items you love for your home, they will all work together however disparate they might be 😁