Living Room Design - Hillside Farm
Firstly, let me start with an apology for not being in touch sooner. As you may have seen from my socials we moved house earlier this year after renting for nearly 12 months, which as you can imagine has been quite a journey in itself. However, throughout this time I have also been extremely busy behind the scenes with client design work ( a little of which I have been sharing with you on my Instagram page) and my precious family. I finally feel able to focus a little more on the parts of my business that haven't quite had my full attention, including keeping you and my other lovely, loyal followers up to date with all my news - including design tips, styling advice and any exciting events or trends that may be on the horizon.
Living Room Design - Hillside Farm
So today, I would love to share with you my thoughts and the design process behind our recent living room design in our new home. Our new house is a Georgian farmhouse - and is approximately 300 years old. We still can't believe we are lucky enough to be living here - after a very long, and at times stressful wait, we finally feel we have found a forever home. The previous owner had wonderful taste and again, we feel very fortunate because they spent a lot of time on the upkeep and we moved in with the roof, windows, oil tank, and other structural work having been recently completed. This gave us huge peace of mind and we have been able to start planning the decor. As much as we loved the traditional Georgian styling that was here, it was always going to be an occupational hazard for me to move in and not put our own 'Joy' mark on it.
We also knew we would be installing a new kitchen at some point soon, so it made sense to start with our living room which is at the other end of the house and can be kept separate from any mess that may take place later.
It is a beautiful size, with gorgeous original features including the fully restored working shutters. It was painted in a traditional Georgian red, and I wanted to lighten/brighten the room just to make it feel slightly more calming. Red is a colour that can stir strong emotions and works really well within certain settings, but our main aim here was to create our own sanctuary for family and friends to relax in.
I worked with The Decorating Centre in Ashby who were very kind and reached out to me to work on the scheme together. They are a wonderful small business who supply the most gorgeous paint and wallpaper brands, including Little Greene (who I always recommend to clients as I have used their intelligent emulsion in our homes and know that not only does the colour look fantastic, but the quality is simply perfect and it really does wipe clean too - ideal with three boys) www.designerpaintstore.com
I used Little Greene Slaked Lime Mid intelligent emulsion on the walls, and their intelligent eggshell on the panelling. We kept the ceiling simple with brilliant white - as having lived in a cottage with low beams, I really love the feeling of height we now have and wanted to enhance this (a tip to bring the ceiling more into the room or make it feel more cosy is to use a darker shade on it, or paint the same as the wall colour).
I designed the panelling - which was then installed by Josh Steele ( @steele_joinery on Instagram). Josh was fabulous, he completed it in two days and is a very talented joiner. The panelling has definitely achieved what I wanted - to add texture, but also to stop the walls feeling too bare due to being a fairly large room. I have also been able to now use the top ledge to style my beautiful paintings from @oysterbridgeandco and @emelinewatchorn.
There is beautiful original detailing on the window frames and architraves. I didn't want to cover this up by having curtains, which would have also blocked more light from the room. So I designed the two roman blinds which were made by Jane (our wonderful workroom at Joy Interiors) in Kate Forman Blue Roses fabric (www.kateforman.co.uk) - adding a touch of faded Georgian elegance.
Our sofa from the old cottage ended up working perfectly in the centre of the room, allowing furniture to be placed behind and to stop the room feeling too large. Another tip, you don't need to push furniture back to the walls, try arranging it further into the room to create a more cosy feel. I then purchased the large console table and sideboard from the lovely Liz Morris (@lizmorrisdecorativeinteriors) - which I styled with my existing pretties (that had been in storage for a long time), together with a few more I purchased from @honeysuckle_and_roses. I also loved that the sofa being velvet, added more texture and the lovely deep shade of french blue really complements the blind fabric.
We changed the wall lights to aged brass ones from Jim Lawrence (www.jim-lawrence.co.uk) which tie in beautifully with the aged brass finishes around the house. We also added an oversized, large pottery urn lamp from @homeandvintageliving which gives lovely, soft ambient lighting in the evenings.
Lastly, I was again very fortunate to work with Crucial Trading (www.crucial-trading.com) who I use for a lot of my client designs due to their vast range and their style being perfect for most of the designs I produce. We replaced the dark grey carpet for a lighter, speckled wool one (Opal Mushroom) which really helped to keep the light/bright feeling within the space.
I absolutely love this room, it really is our family space where we sit to relax and where the boys like to chill. A fabulous start to our family home renovation, and I look forward to sharing more with you soon.
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To put it simply - I love houses and being able to help transform them into unique homes. I have always been involved with interior design and styling - taking my formal qualifications in 2008/09, with Joy Interiors being established in 2010.
During the last 12 years I have built an impressive portfolio, working closely with my clients and really understanding their requirements - creating bespoke designs for both residential and commercial projects. My work has been featured in national publications including 25 Beautiful homes, House Beautiful and The Sunday Times.
I work with a strong team of trusted trades - only working with the very best who I know will deliver a premier service for interior design solutions. This enables me to offer a full design service from concept to realisation. I offer a friendly, relaxed approach - yet deliver a truly professional service - creating designs I am proud to be part of.
