Of all the rooms in our home (a relatively small three-bed semi), our living room is the one where we spend the most time together as a family. If I’m honest, it’s also the one that’s been a little neglected of late. Having invested in a kitchen extension during lockdown and a recent decoration of our hall, landing and stairs; the rest of the house had to go on the back burner for a while. That said, in 2023, the living room is finally on our list for a refresh.
The living room is the very heart of any modern home. It’s the setting for snuggling up with the popcorn for family movie nights, the place where we host and entertain friends and family and the place where we relax and share stories at the end of the day.
From super sofas to terrific TVs and copious amounts of natural daylight, here are just a few of the elements I think make the perfect living room (and hopefully a wishlist to be shared with my partner to bring to fruition!)
A dream sofa
Probably the most important element of our living room – the place where we all rest our legs at the end of a busy day of school, work or play. Our sofa has certainly seen better days and is definitely due for an upgrade.
This time around, it will be a toss-up between fabric and leather. Now that the girls are older, a fabric sofa may just about be feasible, although leather has certainly survived its fair share of child-related trauma over the years.
I’d love to have an L-shaped sofa big enough for us to all cosy up together over the weekend, watching the latest Disney+ movies with space to stretch our legs. I also love the idea of a footstool, big enough to stash magazines and books out of sight when guests arrive unexpectedly!
Add cushions, a big cosy throw or weighted blanket – I may never want to leave.
A cinema-style TV
With our trips to the cinema being few and far between, I often feel like we’re missing out on that cinema experience – the awesome sound quality and the amazing large screens that make totally captivating viewing.
I’d love to be able to invest in a qled tv, which are not only super thin and lightweight but also have 8K screens that take 4K Ultra HD to the next level. Qled tvs also come in 65 – 85” screen sizes, meaning we can watch our favourite movies on a big screen at home, with striking contrast and superior colour depth.
Good quality lighting
Confession time. Our living room currently has a bare bulb hanging from the ceiling and it’s been that way since 2013. The result? A poorly lit, dull lounge with shadows galore – it doesn’t exactly scream comforting and homely.
This time around, I’d like to consider a combination of ceiling, wall and floor lighting to create a warm and cosy ambience in my living room. Not only will we be opting for smart bulbs (Alexa turn on the lamp anyone?) but I love the idea of a large industrial-style lighting as a focal point on the ceiling – with fully adjustable brightness so we can tailor it to meet our mood.
Plants
I may be just getting old, but I am officially turning into a plant lady. It’s not just a result of me rapidly approaching 40 however. House plants are actually proven to boost your mental health and wellbeing, reduce stress and can remove pollutants from the air, making your living space a more attractive and relaxing space to be.
I’d love to invest in some larger-sized plants such as a potted kentia palm, yucca or snake plant, to bring some greenery in to the room, as well as some trailing ivy or vine on wooden shelves in our alcoves. Obviously they’ll be surrounded by books I haven’t got round to reading yet. #keepingitreal
A personal touch
Last but not least, I want our living room to feel like home – a little insight into our world and the people in it. To achieve that, I want to display some photos of us – our family and the moments we cherish and will remember the most. I take photos ALL the freakin’ time (current camera roll balance 61,129) but in the modern world it’s rare I actually get them developed and display them.
From high quality frames to a canvas or gallery wall with a few of our favourite prints, the challenge now will be agreeing on which ones make the cut!
For many people, house renovations are a sort of hobby. For others, the thought of all that interior upheaval and DIY fills them with dread. Nevertheless, if you own your own home or flat, it’s likely you’ll do renovations at some point in your time there. You may have just moved in and want to make it suitable for your needs and put your stamp on the place. It could be you’ve lived in one place for a long time and some changes are long overdue.
Whichever stage you’re at, there are so many reasons to renovate your home if you have the funds to do so.
If you want a change but can’t afford to take that leap, renovating your current home is a fantastic way to make it feel brand new. You’ll see it all in a whole new light and feel that excitement for coming home.
Maximise space
It’s so easily to accumulate bits and pieces over the years that don’t necessarily fit with your use of the space. Often, floor space may be taken up with multiple storage units to accommodate it all. We’ve all been there, but there are easy solutions.
It sounds obvious, but you probably aren’t making use of all the vertical storage space available to you in your home. Installing modern fitted wardrobes maximises your storage and frees up space to walk around, instantly making your home feel bigger.
Swapping out floor-standing lights for wall-mounted options lifts your eye and creates the illusion of a bigger room.
Create a haven
Is your home allowing you to be the best version of yourself? Renovations can be crucial for making your space work harder to support the trials and tribulations of modern life. For example, for a growing family, you may find installing more bathrooms takes the pressure off your morning routine and makes everyone calmer, dispelling arguments before they begin.
This post is in collaboration with Moprhie. I was gifted a Morphie Wireless Charging Station for the purpose of this review.
You can never have too many chargers right?
I don’t know about you, but in this house, we always seem to be fighting over Apple chargers. The kids both have tablets for homework and play and always seem to be stealing the chargers from the side of our beds, meaning when we need one, we can never seem to find one.
With multiple items to charge overnight including my iWatch and iPhone, it always feels like there are never enough chargers and never enough space in the socket by my bed unless I unplug my bedside lamp – so it always feels like hard work.
We have recently been looking into wireless charging stations that offer the ability to charge multiple items simultaneously.
Morphie 2-in-1 wireless charging stand
Moprhie is a 2-in-1 wireless charging stand that allows you to simultaneously charge your air pods, Apple iWatch and iPhone all on one central charging post.
What is the Morphie 2-in-1 Wireless Charging Stand?
The Morphie charging stand includes a built-in Apple Watch magnetic charger as well as a dedicated charging stand for your iPhone. In addition, the USB-A port means you can easily charge a third, wired device like your AirPods Pro or AirPods.
With a convenient charging stand, everything you need will be charged and ready to take on the next day. The wireless charging stand is engineered to safely deliver up to 7.5W of power to your iPhone for a fast and efficient charge.
The easy-to-use charging stand can charge your iPhone in portrait mode or in landscape mode, the latter of which is handy for watching love island in bed without having to hold your phone too!
A smooth, glass finish makes the Morphie look sophisticated and adds a touch of style to any tabletop.
Our thoughts on the Morphie 2 in 1 Wireless Charging Stand
The Morphie has been a huge hit and has made me life SO much easier!
When I go to bed I simply dock my iPhone and pop my watch on the base and the job is done. No scrabbling around in the dark trying to switch over plug sockets.
The Morphie looks clean tidy and stylish on my bedside table, with no huge amount of trailing wires or cables.
The fact the phone stands upright whilst charging is also really practical – allowing me to charge my phone on my bedside table whilst being held at the optimum viewing angle for watching Netflix or ItvHub on my phone before bed.
My only criticism? As handy as the light on the Morphie is for showing that the device is charging, I find it a little bright and as it ends up being at eye height when I lie on my side. You do also need to make sure the phone is pushed back enough to trigger the charging.
The Morphie 2 in 1 charging station retails at £99.95 and is available at Zagg.com
As my regular readers will know, this house has been through quite a few changes since the start of lockdown, including building a new kitchen extension and the addition of an extra room/office at the back of our very long garden.
After working at my dining room table for two whole years (usually surrounded by the kids toys and having to clear away my work every evening before tea) we finally decided to take the plunge and invest in a garden office for our home. We hired a carpenter and did a DIY build and I can honestly say it was worth every penny. We chose to create a space with a duel purpose – somewhere I could comfortably work in the daytime (and shut the door on my work at the end of the day) but also a snug / living space where we could chill out and watch TV in the evenings or have movie nights with the girls. My partner is a huge fan of football, so a place where he could head with some friends to watch the match on a big screen certainly had its appeal!
Since my employer has adopted a hybrid model of working going forwards, I now spend my working week with a mixture of working from home and working in the office. I have found the flexibility and work-life balance of this hybrid way of working really beneficial, allowing flexibility for my childcare and social arrangements, spending less time commuting and more productive working time in the familiar comfort of my own space.
Having worked in my new environment for a few months now, I was keen to add a bit more individuality to the room. The first step was attempting a DIY wood panelled wall with an integrated picture rail, adding a splash of colour whilst displaying some of my favourite prints and artwork.
DIY Wood Panelling
I’d seen DIY wood panelling being done a lot on Pinterest and Instagram and thought, really, how hard can it be? Thankfully I also have a partner who is pretty nifty with DIY tools and know-how, so with his help, we set to work on creating our own specification that met our requirements.
We bought pre primed wood to make life a little bit easier, but you can create a panel wall using simple mdf which is kind on the purse strings. You can attach to the wall using no nails glue or a nail gun (or indeed a combination of both). The one thing I will say is to make your measurements carefully. We knew that we wanted a fairly high height picture rail, but the measurements and spacing between panels need to be measured super accurately to ensure a consistent distance between each panel. It’s also great to make sure that the panels are even, using a spirit level of laser tool to ensure accuracy. We did stick one panel in the wrong place which was eventful and resulted in a lively debate, but we got there in the end!
The hardest part of the process was preparing the wood for painting, sanding down the joins and filling cracks with decorators chalk to avoid creating a coating that the paint wouldn’t cover. We opted for Farrow and Ball Pavillion Grey which was a relatively light grey shade, but I can definitely recommend Valspar paint too, which is great for rooms where your wall may get knocked or touched with kids sticky fingers!
The painting did take a few coats, and I do still have a bit of touching up to do, but overall I am really pleased with the finished effect. Neve of course wanted to help and it was very cute watching her take such care with a minature roller!
After
When the wall was dry, we then got to the fun part, decorating the wall with a range of our favourite prints from Desenio.
Desenio have absolutely loads of modern, on trend designs to choose from and they are always at really affordable prices too. There are having a HUGE midseason sale at the moment, with lots of discounted options of up to 45% off prints at the moment, meaning you can save even more off their already very reasonable prices and update your living spaces without needing to spend a fortune! By far the hardest part is deciding which prints to choose, as there are always plenty of options to suit every style and taste – you can check out their bestselling options, collaborations or the latest seasons trends, or search for prints under a certain theme, such as black and white, nature prints or retro and vintage. As well as prints, Desenio also have a wide range of wall hanging options, from frames to mounts, hooks, picture ledges, poster hangers and even washi tapes to create a look that is completely personal to you.
If you’re struggling to picture how the prints will work in your space, you can even check out Desenio’s inspiration rooms for lots of ideas on how to combine prints into gallery walls, centre pieces and themes to match the rest of your interior.
I wanted to stick to a monochrome / black and white them in my office and love the simplicity of the designs. Next to finish the overall effect, I want to purchase some hanging / trailing plants to dot between the images. I’ve also bought some additional prints so I can swap around and mix up the frames to reflect the seasons.
So what’s the verdict?
So what do you think? Overall I am xhuffed to bits with how our panel wall has turned out. I think the prints look great and have totally changed the look and feel of the room. If you’re thinking of giving a doing a DIY wall yourself I can definitely recommend it – a huge impact with very little effort and I love it.
AD – This post is in collaboration with Summit At Home
As I’m sure is the case for many of us, as much as I fully embraced the benefits of flexible working pre covid, working from home full time was never part of the long term plan. Suddenly here we are 18 months later and I have yet to step foot back in my office.
When we first went into lockdown back in March 2020, like many people across the UK I started working from home and our offices were closed to all employees. With a small 3-bed semi and no separate room or garage to use as an office, we simply had to make the most of what we had available to us at home. This left me working at the dining room table, trying my best to successfully work (and homeschool!) whilst maintaining a normal work and home life balance.
With my employer now adopting a hybrid / blended model of working going forwards and the fact I also run my own business from home, we decided it was about time to invest in our own home office space. A space not surrounded by LEGO, without the constant background noise of two small humans and with the benefit of a very short eco-friendly commute down my garden. I can finally free up my dining room table to, you know, EAT at, and enjoy sitting by day in an environment far more conducive to working!
If you’ve been following my Instagram stories as of late, you’ll know that our new garden office is approaching its final stages and I am so excited to have been able to work in there for the first time this week.
Why is an ergonomic office space important?
As someone who works in HR by day, I know just how important it is to look after your physical and mental wellbeing when working in an office – whether that’s a traditional office space or when working from home.
Factors such as taking regular breaks, making sure your screen is at the right height and sitting at an ergonomic workstation where you can adjust how you sit really is key.
For the last 18 months I have sat on a dining room chair to work. Whilst great for eating and lounging, a chair such as this is not designed to be sat at for 8 hours a day, meaning I often found myself crossing my legs, folding up one leg or sitting cross legged to raise up my height. None of these things are great on my physical wellbeing, neck or back. I would often feel tense and uncomfortable at the end of the working day.
Who are Summit At Home?
I have recently worked with Summit At Home on a review of their home office chairs. With over 45 years experience, they really are the experts when it comes to finding the right chair for you.
Summit chairs are designed with safety and comfort in mind. Their chairs offer Dynamic Sitting, meaning each of the chairs can be adjusted whilst you are seated, enabling you can constantly move positions whilst you work and keep your spine healthy and happy.
Summit At Home home office chairs are made to order here in the UK with a free 10 day delivery turnaround time. They even come with a 5 year guarantee!
Our Experience of the Ovair Office Chair from Summit At Home
I found the Summit At Home website really easy to use. I will be honest that when it came to choosing a home office chair I didn’t really know where to start. I wanted something that would tick all the boxes in terms of health and safety, but also wanted something that was aesthetically pleasing and was going to be comfortable whist fitting in with the colour scheme in my new office.
I took the handy quiz on the Summit At Home website, which asked a range of questions about my working environment, how long I would be sitting for. whether I had any existing back problems and budget, and this helped recommend the most suitable chair from the range.
I opted for the Ovair Office Chair for a variety of reasons. Firstly the Ovair comes with built lumbar support to help maintain a healthy S shaped spinal curve. It also has dynamic sitting which responds to your movement and helps you maintain a suitable seating position throughout the day.
From an aesthetic point of view, I also absolutely loved the soft mesh back of the Ovair chair. Not only did it look less formal in a modern home office environment, but helps to keep you cool and comfortable temperature all day long.
In terms of features, The Ovair Chair from Summit At Home has a gas lift for chair height adjustment (which can be done whilst sitting), Height adjustable lumbar support and caster wheels to base. It also comes with optional extras including memory foam seat pads and height adjustable armrests.
The Ovair Office Chair is also available in 15 different colours (with colour swatches available if you want to try them out first). These range from traditional office colours such as shades of black, grey and blue, as well as more striking colours such as lime green, calendar pink, and coral.
Our Experience of Summit At Home
I am super impressed with the ordering and delivery experience from Summit At Home. The chair arrived quickly and in line with their suggested turn around times and was really well packaged, coming in a large box already assembled! This was a real bonus for someone like me who gets ‘the fear’ whenever anything comes flat packed or requires any kind of piecing together. .
I was really pleased with the look and feel of the chair on unpacking. The Forecast Grey colour is absolutely perfect for the colour scheme of our new office, and unlike other chairs I have had previously with a solid back, the mesh back looks really fresh and modern and a little less formal.
The chair is really easy to adjust (one handed), being able to quickly and easily raise and lower the height of the chair as required. You can lower using the gas lift lever whilst sitting, which is really handy if you are working on multiple screens and need to occasionally adjust your seating position. The lumber support is also easily adjusted using the small lever under the chair.
The chair is fairly lightweight 11.3kg in total and with a tiled floor, the casters move freely and easily. With a larger size desk, this means I can easily move around and twist and turn as required and have feet both flat on the floor without the temptation to fold my legs!
Overall, I am really pleased with my choice of office chair. Whilst they are a significant investment into your home office, you can’t put a price on working in comfort and looking after your long term physical health. Whilst I think about it, it’s probably time I arranged an eye test too!
Would you like the chance to WIN a Summit At Home Office Chair of your choice?
Thanks to the team at Summit At Home, we are giving one lucky reader the chance to upgrade their home office chair and wave goodbye to back pain or discomfort when working from home!
Entry is using the rafflecopter link below.
The winner will be contacted by SummitAtHome and can pick any chair from the entire Summit At Home collection (excluding the Brinkworth Air) in their choice of 15 fabric colours. (You can check out the full range here). The chair will be made in 10 working days and delivered fully assembled. No cash alternative. Delivery within the UK only. Our full terms and conditions are here. Giveaway runs from the 7th November 2021 to the 21st November 2021. Winner will need to provide their email address for Summit At Home to contact them and must select their chair within 5 working days of being contacted. GOOD LUCK!
Don’t want to wait? If you’re not feeling lucky or would prefer to get your hands on a SummitAtHome chair sooner, you can currently get 20% off their entire range with their Black Friday offer! Use the code BF20A at checkout to get 20% off everything until the 29th November 2021.
If you’ve been watching my Instagram stories recently you will know that life has been a tad hectic in our house over recent months. Not only are we finally getting the kitchen extension that our house so desperately needs, but we have also been building an office / snug room in our garden. It’s been really exciting watching the space come to life over recent months and after a labour of love from us all, we are finally getting to the exciting parts – painting, decorating, artwork and furniture! I can not wait!
Having worked at my dining room table for the last 2 YEARS (usually surrounded by the kids toys and having to clear away my work every evening before tea) I am really looking forward to having a work space I can personalise and truly call my own.
With my employer also adopting a hybrid model of working going forwards, I am looking forward to having a work space that I can feel completely comfortable in, as well as being able to shut the door on and leave at the end of the working day. It’s so easy to experience home and work life drift when both occur in the same physical space/
We are putting the finishing touches to our office as we speak, but I have already chosen a number of prints from Desenio to help add some personality to our space. Having already had a number of prints in our home from Desenio, their prints and frames were the obvious choice. Whilst the office is not quite ready for the big reveal just yet, I hung them in our living space to get a feel for how they will look in situ. Now they’re up, I don’t really want to take them down! It might be time for a living room overhaul too!
You can see the prints I have chosen in the pictures above and below. Our office room is going to be fairly clean and bright, with white walls and grey soft furnishings, so a monochrome colour scheme was ideal. With wood panelling being added to the back wall, the plan is to create a picture rail on the top for some of our larger prints to stand pride of place and be the first thing that catches your eye as you walk in to the room.
We also looked at some inspiration with some of Desenio’s other wall art ideas – from larger combination gallery walls to feature walls on one side of the room. With prints of different shapes and sizes, the options really are pretty endless!
I wanted to select some larger pieces that would really make a bold statement in my office, and I very quickly fell in love with these Painted Shapes posters – abstract illustrations with a colour scheme of black, white and grey. There a number of different options available and they work really well in groups or pairs.
Printed with a white border that perfectly frames the design, we opted for two of the 50 x 70cm print with a wooden black frame. We felt that the two complimentary pieces worked really well together and were the perfect combination of feminine and masculine vibes for our new living space.
Desenio have absolutely loads of modern, on trend designs to choose from and they are always at really affordable prices too. There are even a few discounted options at the moment, meaning you can save even more off their already very reasonable prices and update your living spaces without needing to spend a fortune! By far the hardest part is deciding which prints to choose, as there are always plenty of options to suit every style and taste.
If you’re struggling to picture how the prints will work in your space, you can even check out Desenio’s inspiration rooms for lots of ideas on how to combine prints into gallery walls, centre pieces and themes to match the rest of your interior.
If you follow my stories over the next few weeks, I will finally get to share my finished space and move my Desenio prints into their new home. Now just what to put back in the living room….. 🙂
Hi, I’m Lucy, a thirty something mum of two from Birmingham. A memory maker, tradition keeper, stationery addict and Mr Men fanatic. HR Advisor by day and sleep deprived Mama by night!
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
3rd Party Cookies
This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.
Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.
Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!
