Redecorating my Living Room on a budget – the after pictures….

On Saturday I shared some photos of my living room before my Bank Holiday makeover and today I’m almost finished so I thought I’d share the after photos with you.

It hasn’t gone quite according to plan as I still have one wall to paint and I didn’t manage to find any large frames to hang my wall paper samples in so I still have my old picture up at the moment. I’m going to get Mr Frugal to do his bit this week sometime and paint the wall and I’ll be on the look out for frames at boot sales and in charity shops over the next few weeks – I know exactly what I want, I just have to find it. 😉

Just to remind you then, this is what it looked like before I started on Saturday….

And this is what it looks like now (the lighting it terrible thanks to the inevitable day off work rain)….

The sideboard and TV area looks a million times better in my opinion!

I bought some photo paper and shabby chic style frames from the pound shop and printed out some of my favourite photos to sit on the sideboard which cost me a total of £6.00 and I think they look lovely on there.

The bunting above the TV was £5.00 in the reduced bin at B&Q and I love it although I was looking for something a little bit more flowery if you know what I mean but this will do until I find something in a pretty fabric in a charity shop that I can use to make my own.

Since we put the TV on the wall I don’t like burning candles on the sideboard beneath it so I had in my mind that I wanted a little side table that we could use for this.  I hunted everywhere on Saturday for one – charity shops, the car boot sale, even in shops like Argos but I couldn’t find anything that I really liked.  Then on the way home, I remembered about a little charity shop that’s in a little row of shops near where I live so I called in there and found this….

It’s so unusual and at the time I had no idea what it was but I loved how unusual it was so I paid the £4.95 they wanted for it and brought it home to figure out what on earth it was and what I was going to do with it.  Thanks to Instagram, I now know that it’s a cassette tape holder from way back when so I won’t be using the storage compartments but I did give it a quick spray paint (Valspar 2 in 1 primer and spray paint is AMAZING) and it now looks brilliant as a candle table next to the sideboard.

I’m not great with painting so the spray paint was an easy option for me and took no time at all to do one I’d given the table a good clean.  I gave the top of the table three coats as it was a little bit scratched but the rest of it I just did the once so that it has a slightly distressed look and I’m really pleased with how it turned out!

The curtains were a brilliant bargain too (or at least I think they were) because they were a third of the price of the ones I was originally looking at.  I wanted the pair that matched the cushion on the cuddle chair but they were £72 which I was considering as I really thought they would bring the room together.  Then I found these plain curtains in B&Q which are exactly the same shade as the cushion but just don’t have the white stitching on them.  When I saw the price tag of £23 it was a no-brainer really and they look so nice hanging up.

The lamp stand was £33 and I was considering giving it a quick spray with the leftover spray paint at one point but I’ve now decided to keep it as it is although the shade is going to need replacing I think as I couldn’t find one I loved so I’m just using this one for now while I look for something better.  When I find the right lamp shade, this one will go in Miss Frugal’s room as it will be perfect for in there.

The cushions are the only things that aren’t really frugal – they cost between £12 and £16 each but in my defence, I bought cheaper cushions last time and they went bobbly and looked really worn quite quickly so I thought buying better quality ones would be better in the long run.

So what do you think?

I think I’ve changed my living room completely without investing in a new settee or decorating (other than painting one wall this week to match the other walls).  The changes really all have been in the accessories and although I’ve chosen a really calming colour palette in there for the Spring and Summer months, it will be really easy to update to a stronger more warming colour in the Autumn and Winter.

My room makeover was inspired by the lovely Jo Behari and the team at MoneySuperMarket  – have a read of my post from Saturday to find out more about this.

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