Going for Colour – Living Room Moodboard

It’s been a challenge for me, redecorating the living room.  We’ve lived with the current set up that we inherited (3 white walls, 1 charcoal, nasty beige carpet) for 2.5 years and it’s time for a change.

I’ve always had an interest and passion for decorating and interior styling, but this is the first room I’ve done since joining Pinterest and Instagram and starting the blog and generally being more involved in the interiors world in some fashion.  That’s given me so much great inspiration but it’s also confused the life out of me as I’ve been overthinking it.  I would then eventually settle on something and then I see someone else has done it before, and as this post shows, I have a worry that it’s then not my style or that I shouldn’t be pinching someone else’s scheme.

In terms of my own personal style, the first word that comes to mind is comfortable.  I love some of the moodboards and designs I see on Instagram and Pinterest, but you have to be able to live with it yourself.  As this brilliant post from Lisa Dawson shows, you need to be comfortable in your own home, and screw the trends.

I toyed with the dark side but I know in my heart, as fabulous as it looks, it’s not for me. The boho look which looks fantastic on my Instagram feed is comfortable and homely with wall hangings, mud cloth fabrics and kilim rugs, but again it’s not for me.

Having living in a largely white home for the last 2.5 years I want to move away from white in the living room and have some colours and a bit of warmth.  I want to have one dark wall, behind the TV with some custom shelves on the wall (thanks to carpenter brother in law) and then some pale colour and the brilliant Cole and Son ‘Prism‘ wallpaper.

So eventually it started to come together and I’ve managed to create a moodboard thanks to Karen Knox at Making Spaces who put together a great tutorial on how to do it.  Huge thanks to Karen for that!

I’ve picked a rug that’s low in pile (you might remember my post about the challenges of buying a rug with a wheelchair in the house).  The rug has less of a pattern than the moodboard might show and it’s going to work out nicely for us.  I hope!

I’m also going to keep some of our furniture, I will paint some of it and upcycle a small table I bought at an antiques fair.  The sofa is fairly new, so that will stay and the trunk which serves as storage and coffee table.  I wanted to change this to a round table but coffee tables are typically much lower than the trunk and the trunk is the right height and strength for Mr Wheel Chic Home to lean on.  So we’ll keep it for now.

So my newly created moodboard is my first go at putting together a scheme ‘on paper’.  Usually I make it up as I go along.  I think it looks pretty good.  I’m worried about the colour of the trunk, it might be too woody.  But I’m not going to paint it for now, I’ll see how it looks once the whole room has come together.

The main paint colour is Peignoir by Farrow and Ball, this will be on two walls.  This picture makes it look pink but in our room it appears more grey and neutral on our walls and I think it’s a lovely warm neutral.  The Stiffkey blue by Farrow and Ball will be on the wall behind the TV, and we’ll also paint the shelves in the same colour.  The paper will be on the wall behind the sofa.

The feeling of the moodboard is modern, with a tinge of mid-century which fits in with our 1958 bungalow and it’s bright, fun and clean.  Our last house was Victorian and we furnished it in a more traditional style, and I’ve struggled to move away from damask wallpaper and woody furniture. Here I’m trying to change my style to be more modern.

The volume of interiors pictures on the internet and social media has really been an influence on this process.  In fact it’s almost been a negative element for me.  I’ve been overwhelmed.  However, now I’ve come out the other side what I’ve learned from it is that it’s not necessary to follow a trend.  DO WHAT YOU WANT.  PAINT IT WHAT COLOUR YOU WANT.  I’m putting that in capitals because I needed to have a good stern word with myself about it.

This scheme isn’t going to be for everyone.  And neither would I want it to be.  It’s my scheme for my home and I’m the one living with it daily.  I want to have some things in my home that are on trend, but otherwise my stuff is a collection of 1970’s Homepride men, current high street bargains, the odd antique and a one eared 3 foot panda who sits in the spare room.

The room has been plastered, the shelves are going up next weekend, and then we’ll get the carpet in.  The carpet is a temporary measure until we decide on wooden flooring throughout the main living areas.  And we won’t change any flooring until we re-do the kitchen, which won’t happen for a couple of years.  So carpet it is..

So that’s my scheme.  Next up, hallway and redecorating the kitchen.  I know what I want in both of those rooms, no agonising there.  I’ll share those plans shortly, along with full bathroom reveal in all it’s teal glory.  I need to get the right light to take the photos of the bathroom and get the finishing touches sorted.

Do you use moodboards for your designs or do you just make it up as you go along?  Let me know in the comments!