Over the last few months we’ve been decluttering the house; if you’ve been reading for a while, you’ll know that until recently I’ve been a pretty big collector of…. well, stuff. Vintage plates, retro china, milk jugs, fabrics, cushions, candles…. you name it, it was everywhere. When it got to the point that dusting took over an hour, I decided that enough was enough, and went on a huge clearing-out spree. I lost count of how many straining bin bags were sent to the charity shop, but one thing I do know is that it’s wonderfully light and airy in our lounge now!
The room itself is pretty dark (I’m sitting here at 12.45pm and have the light on…. in August…), because the stairs cast a pretty big shadow, but I think it’s still my favourite room. Now I’ve cleared everything out, it does need a bit of attention though; I love the fireplace behind the sofa (if you follow me on IG, you’ll see this quite a lot!), but it needs painting, and so does the dining table and chairs. They were second-hand from Gumtree, and I think I’m going to paint the top and supports white or grey – they’re in really good condition, but aren’t very wipe-clean friendly, which is pretty important when you’ve got littluns dribbling chocolate and spaghetti hoops all over them.
Even though I’ve just got rid of loads of stuff, there are a few things I’m looking for to cosy the room up a bit. I honestly think you can never have enough storage baskets; they’re great for holding everything from toys to books and magazines, and I’m always on the look out for glass bottles to hold my beloved flowers. Blankets and cushions are also on the list, and I love how twinkly lanterns and tea-lights make the room look – I really want to create some sort of natural-ethnic-cosy-haven style room, ready for when the evenings start to get cooler. Although being a summer person, I’m totally in denial that Autumn is around the corner!
I’ve recently discovered the amazing Homesense, and it’s one of those shops that I could quite happily go and live in; the sister store of TKMaxx, it’s like the homewares section time a gazillion – full of little gems at bargain prices. I’ve created a little wishlist from their current ranges below, which coincidentally is full of things that would fit right in with our little lounge makeover. The shops themselves are designed to be explored rather than just ‘shopped’, so the best thing is that you’ll probably come out with the one thing you wanted and a hundred things you didn’t even know existed!
This is a collaborative post.