For a while now, I've been really keen on the idea of giving our living room a bit of a facelift.
Of all the rooms in our house, it was probably the one I was least happy with. Our kitchen, although tiny, is quite modern and our bathroom is also quite suited to my personal interior style but our living room was the fly in the ointment.
Aside from the more obvious issues of old wallpaper peeling off on damp walls and the carpet feeling outdated, my biggest problems with the room were: 1) The old fashioned cream tile fireplace - it's unusual shape made it impossible to cover up or hide, and the color and style of it made it impossible to decorate around as it clashed with every possible color palette - it was, in my eyes, an eyesore right in the center of the room.
and 2) Our sofa - we'd had it for 10 years or so, it was broken underneath and looked tatty and overused - it was also teal, a color I loved 10 years ago but had since come to loathe! Such a strong color also dictated what we could do decor-wise in the room.
But my problem was that as private tenants, we don't have the luxury of making big changes to the house. We had no chance of knocking the fireplace out, and I was at a total loss as to how I could make it look any better.
And although I'd been toying with the idea of a new sofa for years, It seemed like it just wasn't a sensible move with three very young children in the house. I wanted a light coloured sofa and I just knew they'd ruin it within a matter of weeks!
But with a bit of thought (and some questions asked of my lovely followers over on Instagram!), some ideas started to take shape and FINALLY we found solutions to our problems.
Although we weren't able to change the carpet, we were given permission to paint the walls - so gone at last were the plain cream walls and instead we chose two shades of gray - a light rain for the majority of the walls and a darker slate shade as a feature wall on the chimney breast.
I chose these colours as it meant I could easily change the accent colours whenever I felt like it simply by changing my cushions, throws and decorative bits and bobs as SO many colours go well with gray.
To begin with though, I opted for blush pink cushions and throws with rose gold decorative pieces dotted about.
Luckily, I was introduced to a company who gave us the ideal solution to our sofa problems.
Aquaclean is a revolutionary new fabric which is household stain resistant, and - luckily for me - there are a range of beautiful sofas and armchairs made with it.
Aquaclean technology is the perfect solution for those living with children or pets who are worried about the usual household mishaps that go along with them - tests show that all sorts of stains from cake and wine, to blood and even stubborn marker pen are easily cleaned off Aquaclean treated fabric.
All you need to do is remove any excess residue from the area, dab with a little water and leave to dry - and the stain is gone! Aquaclean have yet to find any household stain that is resistant to its treatment which I think is pretty amazing.
It works on old and new stains alike, and is completely pcfs free too.
We were kindly gifted a beautiful Chesterfield sofa from John Lewis which is made with Aquaclean fabric - as you will see in my photos below, the sofa is absolutely stunning - the sofa of dreams in fact!
And not only is it beautiful to look at and incredibly comfortable, but the Aquaclean fabric means that I don't need to worry about the potential damage my three tiny tearaways are likely to do it.
No matter how many pens they try to attack it with, how many cups of juice they spill on it or how many accidents they have on it - the Aquaclean fabric will just require a little water before looking good as new again.
How incredible is that?! I wish I'd known about this years ago, it really is the answer to every home proud parents prayers!
You can find out more about Aquaclean technology and the products they sell HERE
As for solving the problem of the fire place, we decided to try something we'd never heard of before which was suggested to me by some followers - Fablon!
This simple adhesive paper is designed to cover tiles and is usually used to change the surfaces or backsplash areas in kitchens or bathrooms, but after having a browse of the designs in our local B & Q we came across a gorgeous white & gray effect which I thought would be ideal for the fireplace.
We decided to give it a go and I'll be honest, it was a VERY tedious job as it had to be done one tile at a time - it took us three nights to finish, but I'm SO thrilled with the finished result.
I feel as though the fireplace has gone from being an eyesore to a real feature of the room, and the color means that we can now do anything we want decor-wise - I just wish I'd known about fablon sooner!
I can't believe it only cost £12 to give the fireplace a total makeover - and it can all be removed whenever we decide to move out so it's ideal for renters!
So with our sofa and fireplace problems solved, we simply added a few new decorative bits & pieces to finish off the room.
A candle garden on the dining table (which we moved in to the living room, as with our old sofa gone we had much more room for it and it's left the dining room free to be used purely as a playroom), a new mirror above the fireplace, a little artificial plant to add a bit of greenery and that was it.
We just need to find something to add to the fireplace itself to fill the space as we don't use it, I'm thinking some logs and fairy lights will do the job nicely.
I'm so pleased with how the room looks now, and instead of being a room that made me feel anxious and uncomfortable it's become a calming and comforting space to relax at the end of a busy day.
Just what I needed!
Take a look at the photos below to see how the (almost!) finished room looks.
How Our Fireplace Looked Before:
And How It Looks Now:
*We were gifted a sofa from Aquaclean for the purpose of this review, however as always all words and opinions in this article are my own
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