The LoungeThe Lounge

While Paul is finishing up the bathroom, I thought it was finally time to address the elephant in our house. The Lounge. To be frank, this room really has us banging our heads together with despair. At times we are brimming with inspirational ideas and forward momentum and at other times it seems like we are completely immobilised by our different directions and the ugly budget beast.

But as they say when trying to eat an elephant, just take one bite at a time. Doesn’t this saying make you shudder – eeek?

Anyway, let me walk you through our starting point…. There are so many interesting art deco features in this room. From the diamante tile ceiling to the massive prison-like window in the front. Can you believe it in the corner there used to be gold, pendant lights? The gold domes still remain.

As some of you might know I am a House Rules programme addict. I thought it might be challenging and clarifying for us to approach this room like we were contestants on the show. If you are not aware of the show (heaven forbid😉) there are 7 teams who travel the country to completely remodel each other’s homes. At the end of the week they are scored by the judges and the homeowner. The rooms that are assigned to each team are given 5 design rules by the homeowner, known as the
House Rules.

Last night while Paul was totally engrossed in some blockbuster movie (I know my timing is impeccable), I bailed him up to discuss our 5 rules for the lounge room. So between adverts here is what we came up with:

1. Blend the old and the new with flavours of Hamptons and touches of Industrial design.
2. The room must be super comfortable for those cold winter nights, but also possess a sense of simple elegance and charm.
3. Install a gas fireplace for the room. However, this must not be under Paul’s prized possession – the 3D t.v.
4. Hide Paul’s ugly tv and stereo system (I came up with that rule on my own) 🙂
5. Various ambient lighting for watching movies and task lighting for Cheree’s reading on the couch.

Armed with a new and focused plan here are some of our ideas to re-invigorate the space to meet our five room rules.

Rule#1 Nothing says the Hamptons like a good built in.

To add some touches of industrial we have thought about painting the inside of the windows and internal doors an edgy black? This is quite out there for me as I don’t tend to decorate with black. I might need to percolate on that idea.

A much safer industrial option would be a floating steel coffee table. For me this piece also hits our brief with the oak
parquetry pattern top. So Hamptons!

Or some industrial lighting. I can’t beleive this light is from K-Mart NZ? Whoaaa!

Rule# 2 I would love to swap out our dumpy, but super comfortable couch for either a large sectional or a more in proportion leather sofa. The size for some reason seemed to work better in my smaller space back in my apartment?

Rule#3 We would like to install a gas fire in the room. The only way we can do this is by building a partial wall in our front window and installing it there. Or placing the fire on the back wall and turning around the sofa. However, Paul has said he doesn’t want his back to the sea as it doesn’t feel natural to him. I don’t know when he turned into a Feng Shui guru, but I do have to agree with him here. Changing the window configuration means we will lose some light into the room.

My all time favourite fireplace. I am such a fan of white painted brick and chunky wood shelving.

Rule#4 I found a few ways to hide Paul’s ugly t.v on Pinterest. I think the first option would really test Paul’s patience.

A peek-a-boo t.v – so cool!

How creative, camouflaging the t.v with wall art?

Rule #5 The light below hits the Hampton brief with elegant chrome while also hitting the industrial note. Talk about a win-win!

Finding industrial task lighting was fun…

I would also love to put up a chic industrial chandelier but at £2,265.25 I don’t think so? Also, our low ceiling height is going to make it near impossible.

Well, I think that might be a wrap with the 5 House Rules we assigned to our lounge. Limiting the room to 5 guidelines really helped us to collate our ideas in a way that wasn’t so overwhelming. I think the elephant in the room just got a lot smaller! However, I would really love to know what you think? Please feel free to put on your judgy hats and rate us. How did we do?