One of the first things we did was rip all the carpet off the floors. They were better bare than covered in old, stained carpeting. The fireplace left much to be desired. The grey colour looked like blocks of old concrete. I’ll show you what we did with it in another article, transform an ugly fireplace with paint. We couldn’t afford to get it ripped out, taken away and replaced, but a coat of carefully applied paint works magic!

living room before makeover

The top picture above was taken on the day we came to view the property. Notice the old lamps and mat etc had been left in the house.

The picture above was taken after I started doing the DIY projects in this room. A very daunting project where home-improvement is concerned, but I persisted.

I decided that this side of the living room could be used as a working space. The carpet was removed and so was the wall paper and liner, then work commenced.

We used the space as a home office while the diy projects was going on. I moved this desk back and forth, to remove the wall paper, wash down, sand, prime and paint. There was a massive hole in the centre of the wall which had to be filled with many layers of filler before any change could be seen.

With the back wall (the radiator wall) done, and the picture hung, the desk was moved to another part of the room so work could be started on the window wall. Notice all the holes and cracks which have had to be tended to.

This was an extremely difficult corner. The plug sockets had been gauged out and replaced when the paper was on the wall. Filling and sanding, especially in this small space proved tricky.

The corner is now complete. The old, cream curtain is still on the window, but this little plaid number on the wall is my person addition to beautify the space. I’ve made all the fabric dressings for the house. This is a wall curtain hung from what was meant to be a kitchen cupboard handle. I spray-painted it the same colour as the curtain rod and put it at the same height. The blue chair was given to me by my friend. I use it to write in because it’s comfortable. Note the wall curtain I made has another pattern on the inside so I can change them around in the summer. I’ll show you a step-by-step article, How To Make A Wall Curtain, of how to make it.

From this…

To this

The screen hides that old green desk in one of the above pictures. There’s also an office chair behind it. the screen provides privacy and also separates the living area and working area, as my husband uses this space as a home office.

The underside of the wall curtain was made with a different fabric. This is for added use because it can be easily switched for a different summer look. This is very easy to make. The link above will show you how.