Our living room makeover

I always felt that our living felt a little too obvious for my liking. Have you ever been in a room that hold your attention and each corner you turn to has a story to tell.

I remember growing up when I went to my grandmother’s home. Her living room was filled with small ornaments and décor elements she had collected along the way. I enjoyed exploring everything and asking her about each item. Everything had a story and was a representation of the memories she had experienced – from small gifts from my grandfather to curios she had brought along when she used to sell homewares in Capetown. That’s exactly how I want my home to feel.

I don’t mean I want to stuff it up and clutter every corner with something, but I want it show my personality and have some charm. 

At the moment, we are still far from that. So here’s what I’m hoping to change.

1. Make a separation of the dining room nook from the rest of the sitting area. I want to do this by using shiplap on the walls and painting a different color. Regarding the color, if it was up to me, I would have chosen a nice warm deep color but since the room is south west facing, we get a lot of warm colored light therefore painting it in a warm color will make it too much.
2. I want to add some drapes. I have some plain ones from our old apartment but my heart tells me that a floral pattern. I think they will work really well because there are a lot of straight lines which need softening.
3. Because everything looks new and shiny, I’m thinking of adding a fine art piece in a vintage frame. Perhaps some wall sconces too to frame the piece?

Now I need your opinion, should I add something above the sofa or will that add too much elements?

• Rewiring the light fixture – our current light fixture was perfect in our old apartment because the ceiling there was 3m. But now, it’s proving to be pretty dangerous to be honest. So we have an idea to cut the cord and make it shorter so that we don’t have to buy a completely new fixture. Perhaps we’ll move it and try to position it above the table? We’ll see.
• Obviously because the colors in the living room are now going toward green and cool tones, I have to switch out our current throw pillow covers. What I’m going fo, I currently haven’t found anything to be honest. But on the other hand, perhaps I can keep them if I end up going for a similar color in our bedroom? That way it feels cohesive perhaps?

• Lastly, I’m thinking of hacking the home bar and making it look like it made of wood and steel – one of my favorite material combinations.