Why does this have to be so hard haha!
I have had some more ideas for furniture in the Living Room after finding some gorgeous pieces. Some cheap and some not so.
First of all this couch. I think I must have it!! It's the Charlot French Provincial Sofa by Matt Blatt and I am completely and utterly in love with it:
Isn't it beautiful? (♥ω♥ ) ~♪
I have also found some other armchairs I quite like from Ikea:
Ektorp Jennylund in Sagmyra grey check:
The Strandmon in Svanby grey:
TheStorsele in black:
And the Finntorp in white:
As you can see, there's a few different styles here. I am so bad at choosing!
I have decided I'd really love an electric fireplace on the wall between the Living area and the Dining area. Fireplaces can make a space seem so cosy but a real one isn't overly practical for us (and to be honest I'm not keen on hauling wood around). I have found some gorgeous electric fireplaces at Early Settler that have a beautiful period feel. I love this Regent Electric fireplace (｡♥‿♥｡):
Which I would pair with this beautiful Richmond mantle:
You can also buy black granite or white marble hearths to go with it. I am thinking a black granite hearth would look stunning against the limed bamboo floorboards:
Hopefully having it on that dividing wall will make it well positioned to warm up the main living areas. We are intending also to have double glazing on the windows as well which should help with keeping the heat in, in the winter and keeping us cooler in summer. Our current house gets hotter in Summer and even colder in Winter ＼(>o<)ノ
I'd also love to use the little area in front of the fire to create a little division between Living and Dining/Kitchen. I am thinking about doing this just by placing a chair facing the fireplace and maybe a little lamp table depending on how much room I have (I don't want to make it look too cramped). I think this chair from Freedom is perfect. Both modern and period looking with its black metal frame and black and white striped cushion:
I'm still looking for a side table/lamp table that I like. I want it to be white and have the French Provincial look but I want it to have a round top. All the ones I have liked so far have square tops so I guess I will have to keep looking!
*Update* I have found a side table that I love and would work perfectly!! It's from eBay by a seller named milkcart900:
So gorgeous!!
Last thing for the Living area apart from decorative furnishings is an area rug and an entertainment unit for our television to sit on. As per always I have found a few different rugs that I like (〜￣▽￣)〜
Top of my list at this stage is probably this rug I found on Ebay under a seller called dealsdirect:
Black and white stripes scream French to me and they also suit a more modern look too. I'll be having thick even stripes elsewhere in the house as well and I'd like a cushion with some on it so I think it would fit in nicely.
The other rug I am looking at is also from Ebay by a seller called onlyonline:
Again I am planning on having some black and white damask decor throughout the house so this rug would also match beautifully. However I am thinking that maybe this would suit the Master Bedroom more than the Living area.
As for TV consoles again there is a choice of two at this stage. I want a TV entertainment unit that is white, elegant and fairly low as we have a very large TV (I swear it looked smaller at the shop @.@) so it needs to be able to all fit. One I love but it might be a bit more than we can afford which is this one from Mint Black:
I'm definitely leaning towards this one as though even though it's a bit more than I should probably spend it's actually really cheap for what it is. I love all the beautiful detailing and given we are going for fairly simply design armchairs and sofa I think it would be nice to mix it up with a bit of decorative furniture.
The other one is about half the price and I do still really like it just not quite as much. It's this one from the Elegance range at Fantastic Furniture
I do still like this piece. It's not as fancy as the other one but it's still elegant in its simplicity. It also has a price tag of about half as much as the other one so we'll see!
I've changed my mind a million times about what sort of sofas and armchairs I want and I'm still not 100% sure yet. I really want to make sure I get the balance of period and modern right because like I said last post, I don't want it to start getting tacky. Especially given we don't actually have a period home, I fell in love with this 'Lady Lounger' sofa by Mint Black but I know that it would be way too much for our space.It's still gorgeous though.
I think I have pretty much settled on a modern leather black couch with period style armchairs but I am still a bit up in arms about which ones. With our small budget, 3 children and a cat that sometimes likes to scratch our couch (ಠ_ರೃ) we will go cheap and bonded leather. Fantastic Furniture have some lovely looking couches for reasonable prices. There are two main ones I have been looking at which are the Tribeca:
And the Quattro:
I think I am leaning towards the Quattro though because even though it's modern it also has a bit of the old fashioned/period look so should complement the other pieces I choose. I'm still not 100% sure though
(」゜ロ゜)」
As for armchairs, again I am having trouble picking between a couple
(´−｀) ﾝｰ
I really like the look of these chairs by Mint Black but I'm not sure how comfortable they would be as armchairs:
I adore the shape and look of them though so even if I don't use any for the Living area I think I'll still buy one and find somewhere to put it ( ﾉ^ω^)ﾉﾟ
However I also like the look of these Wing Chairs from Fantastic Furniture and I think they would probably be more comfortable as armchairs:
I am probably leaning towards these because I also love the idea of the combination of leather sofa and fabric armchairs. You can get them reupholstered in different fabrics so then it's also a matter of picking a fabric. I am thinking maybe this floral red fabric just to add a bit of colour as most of the Living/Dining/Kitchen will be very monochrome.
I thought this might be a good way of adding a splash of colour and then I can also add small splashes of red into the other rooms. I figure the red and the floral pattern might help stop the space from looking too boxy and boring.
Finally I also thought I might add an ottoman instead of a coffee table as there won't be a whole lot of space between the sofa and the TV console. I'm thinking of getting this Ottoman from Fantastic Furniture:
And covering it in this fabric which carries the red and white of the armchairs and helps make the space even more visually interesting:
I do love this one though by Early Settler Recollections called Camille:
Hmmmmmm, I'm shocking. Lucky I have awhile to decide haha.
I have been to-ing and fro-ing on what I want to do with the lighting in the Kitchen/Living Dining area. I have had so many ideas although all involve at least one chandelier. I think I have finally settled on something though
＼(^▽^＠)ノ
Like I said I always knew I wanted a chandelier in either black or white. I thought I might scour eBay and see what was on there as the budget isn't huge and I thought I might find a bargain. I found a few different ones that were well priced that I really liked and I noticed they were all by the same seller and that the seller not only offered free shipping Australia Wide but had a website too. I thought I'd check it out and lo and behold the company is actually fairly local. Their name is Ivory&Deene and if you are a fan of pretty chandeliers that are also quite cheap then I suggest you take a peek at their website. I have been umming and ahhing but I am now pretty set on the 12 arm Cassie black vintage chandelier:
It's just stunning and under $300 as well which is unbelievable. I have always wanted a chandelier. ( ˘ ³˘)❤
Originally I was thinking of having 2 chandeliers but I didn't realise the ceilings were cathedral (don't ask me how I missed that haha) and I also thought the space probably wouldn't suit 2 as it's not exactly huge. I also want to have a bit of a modern mix throughout my house to complement the French Provincial/Victorian pieces and stop it looking too over the top.
I did some searching on google images and found this which I thought was pretty perfect for the look I was trying to achieve:
I love the look of the chandelier in the centre and the down lights discreetly lining the centre of both sides of the slanted roof. Obviously I would just have the one big chandelier right in the centre of the room though. Even though the down lights are a more modern looking fixture I think they complement the old fashioned looking chandelier nicely and would help prevent my home from looking tacky which I want to avoid. I found these on eBay by a seller called bestlightings:
They are pretty cheap and are also LED meaning they should be cheaper to run and also last longer (which is good because I don't think I'll enjoy changing light bulbs on a Cathedral ceiling!
I also found this funky floor lamp from Freedom that I thought might work for the Living area:
It's a nice mix of modern with the chrome but also has that old fashioned look. I really love it and I think it makes a nice sculptural looking piece as well as being functional as a lamp!
And I think that's about it for the lighting in that space. I may need to wait until these lights are in to see if I need anymore.... and for that I'll probably need the house 。(⌒∇⌒。)
