A Basic Living Room Gets a Dark and Lush Makeover

Project by: Sandra Gudaviciute of The Knotted Touch
Location: Godalming, Surrey, United Kingdom

Sandra transformed this living room from fine, if a little basic, to a dark and cozy statement room. Given a lot of great elements to work with (helllooooooo floors) she really upped the drama of the room, giving a little nod to the Victorian era in which the home was built.

From Sandra: The house was built around 1900, converted into maisonettes in 1950. The living room was boring white and ‘standard’ and I (and my partner) wished to create a different feeling to the room. I worked a lot on visualizing different styles and decided to go with a dark bohemian/quirky style. We started by choosing Farrow & Ball paint (Hague blue color).

As soon as we decided on a paint color and painted the room we then found a Chesterfield sofa (Debenhams) in purple velvet that would stand out from the blue walls. Although many friends and family members thought it would be a bad idea, they changed their mind after seeing how it complements the room. I then looked for other quirky pieces from a variety of antique shops and unique home stores (like Rockett St George, Abigail Ahern, etc.) and also secondhand furniture stores — in the pictures you can see the TV unit that I upcycled in a dark grey shade.

I’ve added a mix of faux flowers to make the room feel cozier and take the edge off of the dark hues. I placed the round natural color rug in the middle to ‘centralize’ the room — just above the statement chandelier. The large mirror was added above the fireplace to add extra depth to the room and it also works great to highlight the statement lamp.

Many thanks to Sandra and The Knotted Touch!

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