Hello guys, I thought I'd do a post
about my new living room of my new place - I will be moving there in early March 2016 and I love the idea of starting on a blank slate. My current living room is pretty small and
the look has been "tropical garden" with plenty of plants and hammocks. I will have a garden with this new place so I will resist the urge to fill my living room with plants and use the garden instead! Given the opportunity to design a brand new look for a living room that measures 8.8 x 5 meters (44 square meters - that is a fairly large space), I want to see if I can try something totally different and make full use of that space to create a living room that is so unique my visitors will start taking photos the moment they step into it. The floor is wooden and there is a working fireplace. I will include two photos to show you what it looks like now but when I move in, the place will be completely empty as I don't want their furniture.
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| Looking from one side... |
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| And now looking from the other side |
Here are the following looks that I have found rather interesting and would very much like to incorporate into my future living room. Please let me know which you think are most impressed by leaving a comment below.
1. The modern art gallery
For this look, there will be paintings on the wall and either one big sculpture or a few small ones in the middle of the room. With this theme, it will be all about art - it won't feel like a cosy living room but who wants a cosy living room when I have the space to create something that can give the visitor the art gallery experience?
I do enjoy visiting art galleries very much (well I like to be surrounded by objects of beauty), so it would be nice to turn my living room into a modern art gallery. I will have a tiny sofa in the corner, a few chairs for the visitors and maybe a small visitors counter (that can function as a dining table). The great thing about this look is that it doesn't need to be expensive, I would probably create the pieces of art myself rather than buy a Picasso painting and it is a look with great character!
2. The dance studio
Well, really all I need for this look is a lot of mirrors - that is the main expense and then it is all about keeping the floor clear and resisting the urge to clutter it up with stuff (well, I will have a spare bedroom for storing my
barang-barang). I like the idea of using mirrors anyway because it creates the illusion of space - my living room would feel twice as large when you have mirrors on the walls. I currently have mirrors in my current living room and believe me, compared to my neighbour's flat downstairs (she doesn't use mirrors), mine somehow feels a lot larger even though the dimensions of our living room are identical. I could even add a ballet bar just to remind visitors that it is a dance studio - but I like the clean, simple, minimalist look.
Hopefully having my own dance studio will make me dance a lot more at home!
3. The Moroccan Riad experience
I love my holidays and one of the countries that has left a very deep impression on me is Morocco. They use such vibrant colours to decorate their buildings and everything from the tables to the lamps have such character. The moment you step into the reception room in a traditional Moroccan Riad (the word Riad refers to a courtyard - it comes from the Arabic word for garden), all your sense are stimulated. I would have a little water feature gurgling away in the corner amongst the tropical plants and all the furniture will have that distinct North African look.
I have had so many interesting experiences traveling in North Africa that it would be great to bring some of that experience to my living room for my to savour everyday. The funny thing is that I have seen how real Moroccans and Tunisians live and they tend to go for a very modern, simple look - but it is these resorts catering for tourists that try to create this stereotypical North African experience for the tourists and I love it. But is it a little bit over the top for my living room?
4. The traditional Library reading room
Now it has been ages since
I've had a fireplace and I have never ever had a working one, so I was wondering what I could do with the fireplace and I came across this look and boy, I sure liked it! I already have the wooden floors, so all I need is to get some wooden shelves in. I think it challenges the notion that libraries are somehow old fashioned, but this is a good mix of a traditional and modern look. The irony is that I don't have that many books
(well it is the age of the Kindle) and I would actually need to go out and buy some books to fill the shelves, but I do think that this look certainly has a lot of character and draws focus to the fireplace. I could also combine this look with the dance studio or the art gallery look - it has a lot of potential and creating that bookshelf around the fireplace would not cost much at all.
5. A Games Room (well, quite specifically a ping pong room)
There is actually plenty of space for a ping pong table, but it doesn't have to be the kind of dull green ping pong table. I found a rather snazzy one online (see picture above) - I have no idea how much it will cost but it looks pretty darn stylish to me and I'm sure I can adapt a regular dining table to double up as a ping pong table that looks as cool as the one in the photo. It is the kind of project that will create a rather interesting and unusual piece of furniture and besides,
I totally love ping pong. I used to play it a lot as a child and I love the idea of inviting my friends over for some games! This could be combined with the dance studio look, to create an overall sports-related theme for the living room.
So there you go - those are the five looks that have inspired me so far, which one(s) do you like? Are there other looks which you think I ought to consider? Please let me know in the comments section below.
I am flying out to Slovakia tomorrow morning, so please bear with me if I take a while to respond to some of your comments. Many thanks!
A games room? It will be great for socialising and throwing parties! :)
ReplyDeleteWell, when the weather is nice (not too cold, not raining), I imagine a lot of the socializing & parties will be in the GARDEN rather than in the living room. Trust me, I am gonna create the most amazing urban garden in London.
DeleteI like the library look. That should not surprise you. Floor to ceiling bookshelves with the sliding ladder. Deep cozy armchairs around the fireplace. Bankers and Tiffany lamps. Nice part pieces on the walls. Some jazz music and you will be set for entertaining.
ReplyDeleteOh that look is easily achieved - I just need to build some shelves around the fireplace. I don't think that would go well with the clean lines needed for the art gallery or the dance studio look though?
DeleteThe clean art gallery look may go well with the floor to ceiling book shelves library look but not sure about the dance studio. I think the latter is too cold and impersonal.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThey all look really nice! Personal favourite will be the art gallery and least the Moroccan. The Moroccan one is nice when it is in a resort but to be living in an African setting everyday with so much color stimulation seems quite a sensory overload. Plus you will have to be mindful not to get anything along the way that clashes with that look. Art gallery will be great imho cos you can adjust constantly like a real art museum. You can even invite your guests to create art with you and use it in your house as live exhibition! That said, I love ping pong too so perhaps a decorated ping pong table might blend in as art? My 2cents worth.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your suggestions. Yes you're right, I am ruling the North African look out. It's fun to stay at a resort like that when on holidays but to live with it 24-7 is a bit too much. I am probably thinking most seriously about the art gallery look now. The dance studio idea is not that easy as I need to keep the living room pretty empty to have a dance floor.
DeleteYou sound like a typical Taurus! If you are indeed one, like I am, then you will rock the modern art gallery look. When we renovated our place, which has a rather large living area like yours, I went for a tropical garden look with a modern art gallery. We put up artificial turf on some of our walls to give it a textured look, and remaining walls are decorated with modern art pieces and photographs that I produced myself. Our grass walls never fail to amaze visitors - it is always a conversation generator. Your living room will rock this look because it looks bright and airy. Most important for an art gallery look to take hold is actually the lighting. You need to add a few Museum style spot lights, those types that are adjustable in their brightness and depth. I will get rid of the can cove lights on your ceiling and replace with rows of Museum lights if budget allows. That will make the place look really classy both in day time and night time.
ReplyDeleteI documented our renovation journey on budgetreno.WordPress.com, if you are interested to see the grass wall effect.
Thanks for your suggestion. I have just returned from Slovakia and am exhausted, I will check out your blog soon. Cheers for the notes ref: the lighting. That's quite easily done I think.
DeleteCongrats are in order, your living room looks huge!
ReplyDeleteBeing a dancer, I'm biased towards the dance studio choice since it'll be very useful for home rehearsals/practices especially when you're auditioning for roles (assuming your neighbors are okay with the noise level).
That said, am not sure how the studio setting will work out with the fireplace so the library would be my second choice...
Oh Istel, I hate neighbours who disturb me, so I would never disturb my neighbours. In any case, I just want to create the dance studio look - it's not like I will be having a room full of dancers practising their routines there. It's not an actual dance studio...
DeleteHaha, I meant it as a private rehearsal area for yourself and perhaps some guests. My team instructor used his living room as a private practice area sometimes during the day for last minute performance practices. We(around 4-5 dancers) took great care not to jump/thump on the floor to avoid annoying the neighbors .
DeleteIf it's just a dance studio look for pure decor purpose then it might appear a little cold and impersonal like what Di Talasi mentioned or that was how I felt when I was in my instructor's place. End of the day, perhaps the consideration would be how it will gel with the general ambiance of the house?
Oh the layout of flat is v strange: my living room is above my bedrooms. So, you enter (1st floor), you go up a flight of stairs to the 2nd floor and those are my two bedrooms + 2 bathrooms on the 2nd floor, then the big living room + kitchen are on the third floor and the entire roof above my living room and kitchen will be my roof garden. And I still have to plan my roof garden, but before I make grand plans, I have to find out how much load the roof can bear etc so for example, my plans to get a jacuzzi may not work if it proves to be too heavy.
DeleteSo yeah, I can jump up and down all I want in my living room and the only people I will disturb are in my bedrooms downstairs. Strange I know, as conventionally, the living room is lower than the bedrooms, but such is the property.
Having said all that - I'm leaning towards the art gallery look. It is nice and wouldn't cost much.
Wow I really love the idea of the modern art gallery and the dance studio, tho I'm tone deaf and can't dance at all. The library is pretty cool as well!
ReplyDeleteZhiyi, I hate to be harsh with you and I don't mean this in any critical way, but please take this as constructive criticism, as something you could learn from.
DeleteMy new living room is really going to be where I will be spending a lot of my time for the next 10, even 20 years. So how is the fact that you are tone deaf or that you can't dance got to do with my choice of design? Am I designing a living room for you, or am I getting ideas to create a living room for me?
You see, you've made a mistake that so many people make: they start talking about themselves whether it is relevant to the topic or not. And that's a major turn off - there is a fine art to pick bits of information that is relevant and interesting to the other person, so for example, if you were to say something like, "I have been to this art gallery in Singapore where they have done something really interesting with the light design, it was quite ingenious the effects they managed to create with their lighting." Then I would be like, aha - I'm interested in finding out why you liked what you saw in that art gallery: but are you ever going to sing and dance in my living room? What are the chances of that happening? How is that a factor in the way I would make my decision?
It is but irrelevant information - you did what some people do in terms of saying the first thing that comes to their mind without thinking if it is relevant or useful info. My neighbour did that recently: I am moving in a few days and she asked me where I was moving to. And she then she asked, "is that near the Morrison's supermarket in Chalk Farm?" I said no, that's some distance away, I'm on Camden Road, that's not that near Chalk Farm at all. She then went on and on about how she liked that Morrison's supermarket in Chalk Farm despite the fact that it would be highly unlikely for me to ever want to visit that supermarket (it is not near my new home). What is the point of recommending a supermarket that is neither near nor convenient for me to visit? There is quite frankly, no point - oh but she likes it, so she wanted to talk about it whilst ignoring the fact that the information (that it was a good supermarket) wasn't useful or relevant to me.
Some people just like talking to hear the sound of their own voice and just say whatever pops into their minds without considering the other party: it's a conversation, you're meant to engage the other person and at least offer information that is interesting, useful or relevant to the other party.
I'm sorry if that sounded bitchy. I couldn't be asked to point that out to that neighbour - I'm moving in a few days and don't really care if I ever see her again. But there's a useful lesson you can take away from this.