Make a House a Home – Snug / TV Room

Welcome back to my new blog series, I hope you found the first & second instalments informative & helpful for your own renovations or decorating projects & you can see much more on #rachaeltaylorhome. I’m pleased to finally be sharing lots of detailed ‘before’, ‘during’ & ‘after’ photos of other rooms in my home.

The next room we tackled was what we call our cosy, snug TV room. It’s smaller than my design studio & it was previously used as a dining room. It was a simple facelift & there was nothing too drastic to change. However it did involve using my own wallpaper design, cushions & commissioning two bespoke pieces of furniture.

The above image is taken from the original house sale brochure.

It was the first family room that we worked on so I knew I always wanted to make a statement with my own design work. Having a small child has really changed how I would naturally do things – rather than having the paper adorn a larger wall I kept it to a side wall. You still notice enough & it definitely catches your eye as you walk past the room, however it’s away from the main sofa where Blayke tends to sit (& climb up the wall…) I don’t want to feel like I’m beautifying our rooms & then be too scared to mess them up. My designs make a bold statement but what’s more important is that they are there to be enjoyed. I also didn’t want to place the wallpaper on the larger wall as my Husband really wanted a wall mounted TV. The busy design of the wallpaper can really captivate & distract you, so whilst trying to focus a TV screen would probably give you a headache.

I looked through my collection with Milton & King & made a decision to go for the ‘Shapes & Squares’ design as I wanted to add a cool edge to the room, it was probably the most masculine design I had. However, the pops of mustard & bright magenta stand out enough to add a trend led feminine twist. I consulted with my Hubby too as I wanted him to be happy & this was his choice also. Most of the time he just leaves me completely to it & gets a surprise!

Initially I thought I might create a brand new design from scratch but I’m glad I didn’t as it works so well in the room & I’m a nightmare when it comes to designing for myself or my own personal home projects. I just can’t make a decision as I know there are truly endless possibilities when it comes to surface pattern design.

The paper naturally led the direction for the rest of the room. We had bought a new sofa just as we moved in & it was a happy accident that the buttons matched so well. I like to match accessories to a certain extent, however I don’t like things looking to coordinated. I naturally bought decorations with more yellow & blue accents when shaping the rest of the room – they were all in various tones & I added some contrasting patterns rather than using the exact same ‘Shapes & Squares’ design on the soft furnishings too. The tall black cabinet is an old Ikea media unit that we had & I just liked it tucked in the corner so we kept it there.

The most tricky thing was the floor lamp – I wanted a large yellow statement piece with a metallic finish & just struggled to get one that didn’t look cheap in colour & wasn’t ridiculously overpriced. I found an absolute bargain at Habitat (can I just say Habitat is GREAT). It wasn’t quite what I had in mind as it’s a lot smaller with a twin head but it works so well & we just love it.

Next was the gallery wall – I kept this quite small & away from the main sofa where Blayke could climb up & play with them. We have so many great pieces at our old house so it seemed a shame not to use them. I currently have a messy storage room & everything is just laid out, it feels like my own home made accessory shop.

I like things to look randomly placed (but believe me it’s never random). I played for hours one evening & didn’t sit down until I finished the wall. I love a good measuring tape & spirit level – they are my best friends!

Later on we added an Ikea picture rail to add some personality to the plainest corner in the room. It was also a great way to display family & wedding photos. I kept the frames to safety glass only as you can never be too careful. Blayke’s a little climbing Ninja!

The room functions for us as a family exactly how you see it, Blayke has a large play area in our open plan space & this room is where we mostly watch films & TV so we don’t really keep toys in there. It’s the one adult room that we have & it’s nice that it just stays tidier. Although Blayke really enjoys the room too he often grabs my hand, points at the door & walks me in. He then grabs the remote & directs it at the TV when he wants some chill TV time & he does exactly that. It’s great that we have two key family rooms with two very different purposes.

A number of these images were taken at different times & I thought it was a good way to show how I’m always moving things around a little & how the room looks in different lighting.

We were luck enough (or unlucky) to have a tint film on the window as we moved in which meant that we didn’t need to rush in & dress the windows however the tint film was a pain to remove. In most of the other rooms it came off in a large piece or a few large pieces, however this one was a no go. I tried everything & it just wouldn’t budge – this meant it involved a lot of scrubbing & patience as we peeled back the layers.

Weirdly it was truly beautiful as we peeled it away leaving a decorative pattern. I drove my Hubby mad stopping to take pictures as we were both cleaning. We were at the window for hours on numerous evenings; I think the neighbours thought we were mad.

We then added contemporary white shutters again for a simple clean look, this room faces out on to our road so it gives us privacy, the thick louvres & panels flood the room with light when open & help to keep the room cool too. We also have the option to fold them fully back should we wish too & we can also open the top & bottom panels seprately. We’ve slowly started to add the shutters around all of the house as we just love them & have been really impressed with the quality & customer service from Perfect Shutters.

As a designer I’m lucky enough to feel confident when it comes to creating or commissioning unusual pieces. I had searched to find an innovative company to work with & the wonderful Jess and Jules got in touch. The pair are superbly talented with their own skill sets & teamed together they are definitely a dynamic duo to watch.

I briefed in a footstool from my own yellow ‘Sketchy Stems’ cushion fabric. Jess and Jules have a fantastic array of components for sale such as hairpin legs & various shaped plywood bases. I picked my favourites & let the duo work their magic. The sofa in our snug/TV room was quite small so it was the perfect home accessory for putting your feet up.

Next came the happy accident. I was walking back from the dentist & spotted an usual letterpress up-cycled toy box at a local antiques store. The piece itself was a diamond in the rough & needed a bit of care. I knew just by looking at it what I could potentially do with it & had a vision for it to pulled apart to create two unique side tables using all of the original elements. Therefore I snapped it up straightaway & reached out to Jess and Jules for their opinion, as I really trust their eye for this sort of thing.

I loved that it came with a interesting narrative too as it really just added to it’s charm – I found out that Channel 4 filmed in the shop & Simon O’Brien worked on the piece in their forthcoming show that will air soon called ‘Find it, Fix it, Flog it’. Apparently it was made in the actual shop for the TV show.

The finished letterpress tables were just everything I imagined & more. I can’t recommend Jess and Jules enough they really listened to my needs & they always work their magic so perfectly every time, you can read more about the bespoke furniture project over on their blog.

The details

Yellow suitcases – Maisons Du Monde, Candlesticks – Gift from a friend purchased at Oliver Bonas, Mustard frame – Habitat, Pineapple candle – Oliver Bonas, Turquoise media unit – Ikea, Sofa – DFS, Chair – DFS, Shapes & Squares wallpaper – (my own design) Milton & King, Window shutter – Perfect Shutters, Lamp – Habitat, Sketchy Stems reversible cushions – my own design, Bohemian cushion – my own design, Footstool – bespoke, Letterpress table – bespoke, Picture ledge – Ikea, Alphabet Hearts – my own design & Scribble Shells mug – my own design.

If you have enjoyed this post please stay tuned, as I’ll be working through our home renovation progress chronologically.

With special thanks to…

My husband for lots of help, Steve Parnell our lovely decorator, Ken Davies Electrical, my licensing partner Milton & King for the complimentary wallpaper samples of my design & Jess and Jules for being truly magical with my bespoke furniture.

P.S. The next post includes more bespoke furniture & bold colours!

Until next time… have a great week! Rachael xo

Update!

I am always switching & moving bits around in my home to keep each room fresh & exciting. Since renovating the snug room it has been well used & lived in & I’ve been continuously adding extra little touches, so I thought you’d like to see how it is looking!