I have been making slight changes to my living room since May now, adding a ladder desk to create a home office and as we are short for space it was the best way to add some workspace in. Ladder desk made bespoke to my design by S.E.A designs Ballymena and you can find them here

The additions and changes has been over a longer period of time as, well, for a start renovations aren't cheap! This month we changed the blinds from vertical to Venetian blinds but as the room is at the front of the house we had to do all rooms, not the cheapest update when there is 3 windows in the playroom.... no its not a big room at all, there was no need!

We got our blinds from Village Blinds in Ballymena 

Over 3 years ago we painted the entire house white (timeless by Dulux to be specific, one of my most frequently asked questions). Previously I decorated the house by walking around with the Dulux colour chart ('This room will be red, this room will be mocha and brown (going mad!), this one will be green...' you get the picture). The house was dark and not big enough to pull off all the colours of the rainbow so until we  I got a really good feel for each room, Colin painted all the rooms of the house white and I have loved it!! Until recently where I now feel it is a little too clinical, I want to remain neutral and still very light but I do want to add tones to the walls and add the colour through the items in the rooms.

With the living room I want to loosen my reigns on my desire to be minimal and instead create a more cosy feel, mix textures and colours, materials and prints. I am letting go of 'rules' there will be old mixed with new and a more eclectic vibe.

Rug from Ikea, coffee table an old one of my sisters that has been upcycled. I have added a new (very large) wicker log baskets from Cox and Cox, it will save mutliple runs to the garage for logs for the fire and I love the mix of texture it adds to the room alongside the wood and copper pieces. It is on the plan to get selves built into the alcove with a cupboard at the bottom (need all the hiding places), the tv mounted above and shelves in-between. It is such a large but wasted area currently.

Yesterday we placed an order for our new sofa, we are super excited to team up with Drumbriston The Sofa maker and design our own sofa, when I say design we picked the shape first (narrowed down to two and it wasn't easy to finally pick), got to choose from over 1,000 fabrics (I had to pick about 10 books and then just stop looking) and then choose a footstool design and fabric and finally add cushions. It is a family run business, we met Paul, Vanessa and Michaela in the store, the sofas are made about 30 minutes away in a workshop by Pauls Dad, uncle and cousins (not to create a family domestic but I got the impression they were very, very particular!) The service has been second to none (I mean literally, Bella was being fed watermelon at one stage), in my own field of work I understand clearly the importance of great service but when it is your own business, your own product, it just naturally is on another level. I can't leave out Donnacha, Fiadh and baby Caoilte. I fell for this family and mum of 4 Vanessa who is rocking two jobs, we had so many 'I get it' glances to each other throughout... anyway back to sofa designing! I have a habit of falling for people and service (and great coffee, honestly a trip to the Linen Green for its amazing coffee shops is recommended). Here is a sneak peek of what we have ordered, I feel I have went really bold with my choices, well as bold as my old just white and grey self can be. I still kept the basics relatively safe but I fell for this velvet sofa which I originally spied in deep purple. It was love at first sight, the sofa I kept going back to but we just needed to make it a little more child, crumb, dog and yogurt spilling friendly.

I have ordered a Chesterfield style 4 seater sofa in navy herringbone, a cuddle chair in silver grey herringbone (the fabric is industrial so for bars, clubs etc so is easy to wipe clean or you can take the covers off and wash them). I added a pattern grey/ navy footstool with scandi style wooden pin legs to tie the sofas together and in with the more modern elements of the room. I hope it will all work out the way I have in my head, I brought out my Pinterest mood board with all the styles I love and I think we have been able to bring them all together. I can't wait to see!

I hopefully will be sharing a post before Christmas with the shelving finished, the window that has 'popped' (is that the term?) replaced and the new sofa in place! Then it's just all the cosiness of Christmas.

Side note- This time last year we had placed a bid on a site but after 4 months of headaches it fell through, funny that right now I believe that happened for a reason.... life has been crazy hectic this year in a great way and I have really fallen in love with our wee home again and the ways that we can maximise the space from it to make it perfect for us. For now we are not holding back on decorating by waiting on the perfect house but instead investing in our wee home to make it perfect for us. We don't know what the coming months or years will bring but I know that sometimes it feels great to just live for the now. 

Anna xx