This sitting room is probably my favourite room in the house. It has certainly undergone the biggest transformation. From sitting empty when we didn’t have enough furniture to fill it, with a fake pebble wallpaper ‘feature wall’, to a jewelled escape from the outside world.

I knew I wanted a dark blue sitting room and rich, colourful velvet sofas in this room. But Hannah (our interior designer – read more about our experience of working with her here) really helped to bring it all together. And incorporate prints and fabrics I’ve been carrying around since I travelled to South America in 2010!

Stiffkey Blue & Bright Pink Sitting Room

We started with the dark blue walls. In fact the inbuilt cupboards were already painted in Stiffkey blue so it was easy to continue this colour. (Colour matching the Farrow & Ball paint for a Johnstone’s version for a cheaper, longer lasting finish.)

I REALLY wanted a pink velvet sofa. And Hannah balanced this out with a medium blue velvet sofa that blended with the walls, allowing for colourful cushion accents and matching pink footstool. We bought these Iggy sofas from Sofa.com taking advantage of the discount that many interior designers get on products. My Aunt used material from my previous travels to Peru to cover cushions for the sofas and that go so well with the painting I carried rolled in my rucksack for 3+ months after hiking to Machu Picchu.

The West Elm side tables in this room match the ones in our other living room but with different coloured legs. We loved the slim width and marble top. But it also means they will work if we move and need to put them in a room together. We waited for West Elm to have a sale before purchasing the side tables & coffee table!

Hannah is big on lamps, something I hadn’t paid much attention to previously (and why I so appreciate having the expertise of an interior designer involved to add character and style without going overboard). I would never have thought to pair mismatching lights as inexpensive features in the room. This black one from Pooky is very subtle. And I love the texture of the white lamp (sadly can’t find a link).

It’s a toss up for my favourite item in the room between the bar cart and the aztec print chair.

I probably need to ditch some of the old drinks from the drinks trolley but I was overexcited when we first bought it and added every bottle in the house! The chair is from Anthropologie (again, we waited for a sale to purchase) and I think works really well with the bright colours and prints in the room (sadly no longer available). The biggest waste of money goes to The Frame TV that our friend convinced us was worth it to hide the TV and replace it with a print when we weren’t watching it. The reality is that if we’re not watching it, the TV is fully off and still looks like a TV!

Ultimately we’d like to replace the old carpet with wooden floors to match our hallway and get a nice rug to keep it cosy, and replace the fireplace with something that goes a little better. I’m also planning on replacing some of the picture frames to make it more cohesive. I cannot wait to decorate this room for Christmas, with a tree, lights and garland for the mantlepiece.