Before and After with Inspired Wallpaper

Slowly but surely I’m working my way through the house. Technically, it’s my husband doing all the manual labour and mercifully he’s dutifully following instructions. And I also say slowly, I mean really slowly. Our living room has seriously been overdue decorating for oh several years now but you know life. So as you can see from previous posts like this one and also this one I’ve been firmly in the decorating and spring-cleaning mind-set. I also wanted to create a space where my family and I could relax in our own little haven. I am at home quite a lot due to chronic pain and other health problems so making our main room calming and somewhere I actually want to spend time is incredibly important. I also wanted to decorate on a quite a low budget and with a little bit creativity we managed it.

To help create a peaceful space I picked beautiful soft grey tweed effect wallpaper from Inspired Wallpaper*. The Crown wallpaper has a fine herringbone weave and the texture is similar to cotton. There’s a couple of reasons I eventually decided on this wallpaper: I wanted the feature wall to be grey or a similar neutral colour and I also wanted it to have a Scandinavian/ natural feel to it. This wallpaper fits perfectly with those themes, I think. Here's the before photos:

As you can see from the before and after photos my living room looks much better now. (I’m still not quite finished; you can see some wires etc.). But I am so happy with how it’s turned out. The TV and stand used to be where the fireplace was but unfortunately the actual fireplace has been all bricked up. There were reams and reams of books on the shelves too so you couldn’t see just how much the white paint had faded, thankfully. It’s a much less messy space now and just looks more relaxing and inviting. And of course my two little assistants just had to get in on the action. 

My husband did all the decorating for me so I’ll paraphrase his words: He found the Crown soft grey wallpaper incredibly easy to put up. He pasted onto the wall rather than onto the wallpaper which he found much easier to manage that way. The weave pattern is quite delicate when wet so you have to be gentle not to rub off the pattern. Other than that this has been the easiest wallpaper he’s used. It also helps there’s not really a pattern to follow and God knows that makes things so much easier. And me? I am delighted with how it looks. The light grey colour with a subtle pattern has transformed the overall look of the room. It feels much lighter and airier than before. To further create that feeling of space I added a large circular mirror which is an absolute bargain at £34.99 from Argos. The diameter is 70cm and has a lovely scallop detailing around the edges. I am so impressed with it.

So as mentioned above I don’t have the facilities at the moment for an actual log burner so I picked up a cheap electric stove from Amazon. This little stove is currently only £39.99. I, of course, couldn’t not get some logs and kindling to go with my electric fire (erm). Anyway, I think it adds to the natural/rustic feel I’ve tried to recreate. I also picked up the “hearth” or tiles from B&Q for a whopping £4! The packaging was bust but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the tiles.

As there wasn’t a mantelpiece I wanted to recreate one but do it cheaply. I saw this gorgeous acacia wood shelf in IKEA and I figured that might just work! I think it does, it’s probably not to everyone’s taste but I love the grainy finish and just the overall look it gives. I’ve placed my beautiful embroidery from Stranger London upon it as I love the work and I also think it echoes nicely with the shape of the mirror. Although, I might actually put it on the wall.

So overall this little makeover has been done on a pretty tight budget but I hope I’ve managed (or I should say we’ve managed) to make it work with a little bit inspiration (and maybe a look or two at Pinterest). Even if you don’t like the look of this wallpaper or the style of interior I’ve went for there’s a good selection of designs at Inspired Wallpaper available. I’m sure you’ll find something for your own personal taste.

So what do you think? Do you like my little makeover?

*Wallpaper was gifted to me, all pictures and words by me.

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