Dark Blue Living Room - Before and After Reveal
Last year, I worked on the full room design of a living room in a Victorian terrace in Halifax. I’m so excited to share the final reveal with you!
The lovely client lives here with her three daughters and had got fed up with the existing living room decor during lockdown. She initially contacted me for colour advice but after the initial consultation, decided to go for a full living room design.
The brief was to create a cosy, homely space with personality. The room is used mainly in the evenings when the family all watch TV together. The budget for the project was £3500. Because nothing in the room was staying, this needed to cover all products, joinery and design fees. We were very lucky the room already had some lovely features as a starting point - original stripped doors, restored floorboards, lovely cornice and traditional style fireplace. We were really keen to keep the Victorian features while adding a modern twist.
Before
The room is east-facing and so it doesn't get much natural light. A lot of people think that naturally dark rooms, especially north facing rooms, should have white walls to make them feel lighter. Often though, this can make them feel soulless because there’s not much light and shade to bring them to life. It’s a good idea to bring them to life by using darker colours.
It’s quite a small space and you have to walk through the lounge to get from the hall to the kitchen.
Also at some point, someone silly had chopped away a bit of the picture rail and got rid of the window architrave. All very sad. So they needed to be sorted.
The Interior Design Scheme
After creating a Concept board and talking it through with the client, here is one of the visuals I created at the detailed design stage.
Instead of trying to fight the dark, we decided to embrace it with a dark colour, opting for a dark blue and pink colour scheme for a bold look. Because the room is used mainly in the evenings, deep blue walls would create a lovely cocooning feel and would make the room feel really cosy. For advice on how to choose paint colours for your home, read my blog post here.
I chose the little nest of tables from Maisons du Monde which can easily be moved out of the way to a corner of the room when not in use.
After
And here it is now!
We used the same bold colour on the walls and woodwork - it’s Hicks Blue by Little Greene. Painting an entire room in the same hue creates a seamless finish so that the room feels bigger. Being Victorian, this house has high ceilings so we painted the ceiling here in a complementary white colour. If it had been a new build living room with lower ceilings, I would either have recommended colour drenching the room by painting the ceiling in the same colour as the walls, or dropping the lighter ceiling colour down over the walls slightly, like I did in my new build living room project.
Having the larger sofa in similar blue tones to the walls also has the effect of making the room feel bigger. The cool grey of the rug from La Redoute complements the smaller grey sofa and contrasts with the warm wood of the floor. A tip when choosing sofas for a small space is to opt for styles with raised legs because being able to see more of the floor makes a room feel bigger.
We made the fireplace mantel the focal point of the room by painting it in Little Greene’s French Grey Pale, the same as the ceiling. It’s made such a massive difference to the feel of the space.
We got a joiner to create some floating shelves in the alcoves, including a lower shelf at sideboard height as a more affordable option than another piece of furniture. The nest of tables is stored underneath the shelf when not in use.
See the nice new window architrave and patched up picture rail?! I introduced warm copper and brass accents to contrast with the cool tones of the wall paint. I usually include a bit of gold in a room because it gives everything a lift.
People often think that you have to stick to the same wood tone in a space but mixing light and dark woods creates a more interesting, layered effect. I chose a darker wood tone for the TV unit to contrast with the pine floorboards.
I sourced wall art of things that mean something to the client - from favourite travels to family photos. My favourite print is the one above the sofa - very apt for this house where three girls live - and the dark blue walls are the perfect backdrop for the colourful artwork. I chose soft furnishings to add pattern, splashes of colour and cosiness.
So there you go - a lovely modern living room with original Victorian features. This room reveal really shows how good interior design can make your money go further - you don't need to spend a fortune on products to have a beautiful space. I hope I’ve given you some ideas for your own sitting room - let me know in the comments!
I’m a Halifax based interior designer and I cover surrounding areas, including Leeds and Manchester. I also provide affordable online interior design packages. If you’re starting a project and need some help or inspiration, please get in touch.
