We moved into our new home four years ago and since then there has been countless DIY projects, redecorating and even a new kitchen and we’ve finally just got around to transforming one of the last rooms in our house, the lounge! And I can honestly say it was worth the wait. Here’s everything we did and what we used including a review of the V33 paint.
When we moved into our home four years ago, we had a pretty long list of things we wanted to change. Like most people moving into a new house, we had lots of ideas about how we wanted to make it our own, but unfortunately, time and money don’t always stretch quite as far as our Pinterest boards would like!
Over the years, we’ve slowly worked our way through the house, personalising the kids’ bedrooms, having a new kitchen fitted and tackling some of the bigger, more expensive jobs that needed doing.
And then there was the lounge.
The lounge was one of those rooms that was just… fine. We didn’t particularly love it, but we didn’t hate it either. It was perfectly liveable, comfortable enough and, with three kids, there were always other things that needed our attention (and our budget!) more urgently.
So, for four years, we lived with it.
But recently, we finally found ourselves with a little bit of time and some budget to spare, and decided it was time to give our lounge the makeover it had been waiting for.
Goodbye Pink Sparkly Wallpaper!
The first job was stripping the walls, and I can’t tell you how satisfying it was to finally say goodbye to the pink sparkly wallpaper!
Now, don’t get me wrong, there was nothing particularly wrong with it. It just wasn’t us. It had been there since we moved in, and although we’d managed to live with it for four years, I was definitely ready for something a little more grown-up, warm and cosy.
Once the wallpaper was gone, we moved on to ripping up the carpet, which was very much overdue a replacement. After years of family life with 3 kids and a dog, it had definitely seen better days, and I knew that changing the flooring would make a huge difference to the room.
Even at this early stage, with the room looking a bit like a building site, I could already see the potential!
Finding the Perfect Paint Colour with V33 Paint
One of the biggest decisions was choosing the right paint colour.
Our house has quite a lot of grey running throughout it, which was a look I really liked when we first moved in. But over the last few years, I’ve found myself being drawn more and more towards warmer, softer, earthy tones that make a room feel inviting and cosy.
I wanted the lounge to feel like somewhere we could all relax together, rather than just another room painted in a shade of grey.
After looking at different options, we decided to try V33 paint in the shade Hemp, and I am so pleased we did!
V33 paint was actually a brand we hadn’t used before, so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but we were really impressed.
One of the things I love about V33 paint is that it can be used on all different surfaces, making it a brilliant option for all sorts of home renovation projects. From walls to furniture, cupboards to tiles and so many other surfaces, the V33 paint range can help transform a space without necessarily having to replace everything. You just need to make sure you’re choosing the right colour for your vision.
We found the V33 paint really easy to work with, which is always a bonus when you’re trying to fit decorating around family life. As it’s a multisurface paint it comes with an additiv system liquid that you need to mix into the paint, this only takes a few minutes and is easy to do. Once mixed in the paint went on beautifully and as there is no need for undercoat it makes it so much quicker too.
I was also really pleased to find that the V33paint didn’t smell really strong or weird like some paints do and it dried pretty quickly too.
Once it was dried I was pleased to see that it was the exact sort of warm, natural shade I’d been hoping for. It’s neutral enough to work with lots of different furniture and accessories, but it has a lovely warmth to it that makes the room feel so much more welcoming.
It was exactly what our lounge needed, and once the walls were painted, I couldn’t wait to see everything else come together.
New Flooring, New Feel
With the painting finished, it was time for the new flooring to be fitted.
We decided to match the flooring we’d already had installed in other areas downstairs, and I’m so glad we did. This was the EuroHome range from B&Q.
Having the same flooring running through the downstairs spaces has made everything feel much more cohesive. Rather than the lounge feeling like a completely separate room, it now flows beautifully with the rest of the house. It’s amazing how much of a difference something as simple as matching flooring can make.
The combination of the new floors and the warm Hemp walls instantly made the lounge feel brighter, more open and, surprisingly, so much bigger.
Which brings me to one of the biggest surprises of the whole makeover…
The Sofa That Got a Second Chance!
Originally, we’d planned to replace our sofa. It’s a big sofa, and we’d always felt that it was slightly too large for the room. So, when we started planning the makeover, buying a smaller one was definitely on our list.
But then something unexpected happened.
Once the new flooring was down, the walls were painted in the V33 Hemp and we’d moved the television ever so slightly, the whole room suddenly felt so much more spacious.
Honestly, I couldn’t believe the difference!
The sofa that had previously felt too big for the room suddenly looked like it fitted perfectly.
And not only that, but the colour of the sofa worked so beautifully with the new paint that it almost looked as though we’d planned the whole room around it.
So we decided to keep it!
As a family of five, having a big, comfortable sofa that we can all pile onto is actually really important. I love that we can all snuggle up together to watch a film, and the thought of downsizing had never really appealed to me anyway.
Being able to keep our lovely big sofa was definitely a win in my eyes.
And, of course, not having to spend money on a new sofa was an even bigger bonus! Hello holiday fund!
The sofa wasn’t the only thing that ended up staying. We’d also originally thought about replacing the curtains, but once the room started coming together, we realised they actually worked really well with the new colour scheme too.
It’s All in the Finishing Touches
Although we managed to keep some of our bigger pieces, there were a few finishing touches that we knew we wanted to change. One of those was the sockets and light fittings. The room previously had quite old-fashioned gold fittings, which didn’t really suit the look we were going for. We replaced these with a beautiful antique brass finish, and I absolutely love how they look against the Hemp walls.
We also added some gorgeous, handcrafted rustic, chunky oak shelves, which might just be one of my favourite features in the whole room. The natural wood works so beautifully with the warm tones of the paint and adds that extra bit of texture and character that I felt the room was missing before. We managed to find these on amazon for an incredible price too.
I love the combination of the Hemp walls, oak shelving and antique brass details. Everything just works together to create the warm, cosy feel I’d been imagining.
It’s a much softer, more timeless look than the grey and sparkly wallpaper we started with, and it feels so much more like our style and I absolutely love it.
There’s just one tiny problem…
Now that we’ve created this gorgeous, warm and inviting space, I keep looking around the rest of the house and thinking that all the grey suddenly feels a little bit cold!
So, despite spending the last four years slowly working our way through every room, I now have the overwhelming urge to start all over again and bring this lovely cosy vibe into the rest of the house.
I’m not entirely sure my husband or our bank account will thank me for that!
But for now, I’m going to enjoy our finished lounge, make the most of our big comfy sofa and appreciate the fact that, after four years, we’ve finally ticked the last room off our decorating list.
Although, let’s be honest, is a home ever really finished?
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