In this post, I was talking about starting a full renovation of my rented apartment. I started the project with the living room makeover, decluttering and buying new furniture. This is my first update, and I am super excited to share everything with you.
Those who know me personally also know that I am a widower. It has been 4,5 years since my personal tragedy, and it really affected my quality of life. I surrounded myself with the things of my husband, he had a wonderful home decor taste. Every home decor item had an emotional connection to me. Moving from Berlin back to Estonia, then back to Berlin I took everything with me just to feel connected to my husband and to have this comfort I needed. Years passed and I just realized, that comfort and those items keep me away from moving on and building a new life. And I finally decided to get rid of everything and start new.
Decluttering was brutal. Every home decor item I held in my hands had history and brought happy and painful memories. I have placed the best items in the big cardboard box, wrote “Zu verschenken” in German (= “give away”) and put the box outside. The next morning, the box was empty.
Not so valuable items and broken items I have just trashed. Yes, it was painful, but I have no other options.
I have made some amazing purchases for the living room. First of all, I always live by the rule: if you want to get something new, get rid of something old. Space is everything, so I had to get rid of a few things. I have put on sale some furniture, like a dining table and chairs, couch tables, bookshelves, a standing lamp. A big old couch, which is occupied most of the day by my beautiful labrador, will be collected and recycled next week, which will make enough space to continue with the living room makeover. And now, I could start buying new furniture, that will be a part of my new life.
It is incredible how the taste of a person changes with time. 10 years ago, I absolutely hated L-shaped couches. I thought they looked hideous, took up a lot of space and were super uncomfortable. Now, I have the opposite thoughts. I think it is the most comfortable thing to have for the living room if you are planning to host gatherings with your friends. It is also a perfect thing to have even for yourself when you are at home alone and want to enjoy a book or take a quick nap. So, I finally decided to get rid of my old couch and get a big L-shaped couch. Red. Yes, super red. Not only is it going to be the centre point of my living room, but it is going to be this colour explosion which will capture your attention. In one of my next posts, I will talk about the importance of colour in the interior. A little spoiler alert: you want to avoid too much red. Never paint walls red, but to have some red objects within the interior brings interest to the place and doesn’t overwhelm you.
This couch is manufactured by Hykkon and I got it from Wayfair for nearly 1000 €. It comes with 2 pillows and 3 cushions. Measures are 88 x 285 x 155 (in centimeters). Yes, nearly 3 meters long. It will look amazing!
I have got a nice bookshelf, Greenshaw. Measures are 154,5cm x 74cm x 30 (in cm). It looks super stylish, and I love the dark wood.
In the past 2 years, I have been using my dining table as a desk. Basically, I was eating and working in the same place. Now, this needs to be changed. I want to have a dedicated home office corner, but the desk should not be big. And this is the problem. Normally, if you buy office furniture, it looks big and bulky, and I absolutely dislike how it looks in any interior. Office furniture belongs to the office, not home. So, I was happy to stumble upon this desk Joris, which is not too big, also made of dark wood and black metal legs. It fits my home office corner like a glove and doesn’t require much space. I am happy. Measures: 75cm x 120cm x 50cm.
For the home office, I also didn’t want an office chair. I wanted to have a comfortable and cute armchair that is not too big but looks great. And I got this cutie – armchair Nicholas III. It just belongs to the desk and the colours are so nice, I imagined how amazing it will look when the living room makeover is done.
Finally, living with a dog comes with the fact that my floor is always hairy. I do understand that buying a carpet is going to cost me more time in cleaning, but I am going to take this risk for the sake of beauty. I got this amazing carpet Orinda, that kind of puts all the colours of my living room together. I have chosen the big size, 200 x 280 cm.
It is not done yet. I still want to dedicate some space for the dining area, where I get a new dining table, 2 chairs and a bench. I also want to buy new lamps, bigger bookshelves, a TV lowboard, most probably a new couch table and a lot of home decor items. I already have some plants, but it is never enough. Besides, I plan to buy wallpaper. Most probably a few types of wallpaper. From the electronics, I want to get a new and bigger TV.
I love hosting dinners and movie nights, so this is my dream to invite friends over, eat something, have a few drinks and watch a movie. I am glad it is halfway done, and I already love how it shapes up my new space, built by me. For me.
The result of my living room makeover will be shared when all is done.
Thoughts? If you have anything to add, or even show me your living room, leave a comment! I would be grateful!
Featured photo by wayfair.de
Other photos: wayfair.de and home24.de