This is part of my series about how
I’m decorating my apartment.
You can check out other rooms here.
I’ve always loved the look of old-timey smoking lounges. You know the style: tartan everywhere, dark green walls, floor-to-ceiling bookcases filled with antique books, wood panelled walls and ceilings, brass tables, and leather chairs. Although I’d never buy anything made of animal leather, I am seriously in love with everything tartan. This is my inspiration:
The room I had to work with wasn’t a perfect fit for this style of decorating, since its wood panels and ceiling were already painted white (and I wasn’t about to strip and stain them — not in a rental, anyway!) so I did the best I could with what I had. While the light fixtures, drapery, rugs, and some of the furniture was gifted for these articles, I nabbed several great vintage finds off of the local version of Craigslist and DIY’d.
This was before we moved in (that’s the previous tenant’s furniture):
And this is now…
This brownish-green velvet sofa is Flamant’s Sofia Sofa. I put a herringbone throw blanket over the top to give it a more casual look, and to protect the velvet:
I got these gorgeous, soft, tartan curtains from Curtains2Go, made for my apartments’ extra-tall ceilings. I was very pleasantly surprised by how high-quality they are. They feel and look like a wool-cashmere mix, but they’re vegan (and won’t attract moths into your home!)
Here’s the sofa I bought for €50 before I painted the wood gold (using a semi-transparent gold paint that shows the wood underneath). I plan on reupholstering the seat cushions using tartan fabric matching the drapes, and making several throw pillows from the same fabric. I’ll update this article once I’m done!
And here it is after I painted the wood gold. I got all the furniture you see in this shot used. It’s all vintage. The globe opens up into a bar (I scored it for €40) and the chairs are antiques (for only €25 each!) #TotalSteal!
And, of course, a gratuitous kitty photo (if you want to see more, follow our kitties on Instagram):
The candles are electric and I love this stag head candle holder:
This gorgeous aged iron pendant chandelier is from the Fredrick Ramond Collection at Hinkley Lighting. I love the antiqued glass and the vintage look of it:
The carpet is from CarpetVista… I love the pattern!
The red bookshelf is from Grange. They let me choose the colors and finishes, so it matched perfectly with the look I was going for. Inside are decorative tins from my favorite tea brand, remote-controlled electric candles (since real ones are a hazard when you have cats), and I found the horse sculpture in the gift shop of the lesser-known castle that inspired Versailles.
The dining table is from French Heritage. It’s the only piece of furniture we brought with us when we left NYC for our year in France (we donated everything else!) I picked it up at ABC Home in NYC and I absolutely love it. It’s made from reclaimed wood. The green chairs are from Flamant and the brown ones are vintage — I picked them up on LeBonCoin for €8 each, then painted the ribbon detail on them gold.
Mike inherited this sculptural wall art from his grandmother, and the rest we bought on eBay or used for about €15 to €40 each:
I painted the gold on the stag head, and although it was quick to do, it really made the sculpture pop:
The monkey lamp is by Zara Home (I painted it, and I plan on re-doing the shade with tartan fabric), and can you believe I found this horse statue thrown out with the trash on the street??
This was an old (dark brown) and empty grandfather clock that someone was throwing out, so I nabbed it. With Manon’s help, we painted it red, then used black wax on the edges to give it an antiqued finish. The back panel has paper (featuring vintage European travel ads) decoupaged onto it. Decoupage (which is basically using a special glue to affix decorative paper onto a surface and make it water-resistant) is a great way to quickly change the look of furniture for very little effort or cost. To turn the empty clock into a lamp, I bought these rope lights and some Edison-style (but eco-friendly) bulbs for the inside.
We distressed, sanded, re-stained and added dark wax accents to the coffee table so that it would match the dining table, and then I stocked the bottom shelf with board games. We bought the table (for –yup, you guessed it– €20) from a woman who had the most beautiful cat I’d ever seen — a rescue. Mike and I carried it across the city to get it home, but it was worth it, because it turned out beautifully:
The woman who sold us this vintage brass bar cart (for €15) delivered it to us and we had a nice chat about the best villages in France. I love buying used because it’s eco-friendly, because a penny saved is a penny donated when we die (since we’re not having kids, 100% of what we die with is going to charities like Mercy for Animals), but also because I get to meet so many nice people!
In the end, I got close to the look I was going for, but not exactly… Since my dining room has a white ceiling, white doors, and white wainscoting, so I’m hesitant to paint the walls dark, since the contrast might look too intense, and the room still too light. But I’m very happy with how it turned out, and if you have any suggestions about things to change, or any DIY tips, please let me know below, in the comments discussion.
One of the simplest, most cost-effective improvements of all is paint! Freshly painted rooms look clean and updated and that spells value. When selecting paint colors, keep in mind that neutrals appeal to the greatest number of people, therefore making your home more desirable. On average, a gallon of paint costs around $25, leaving you plenty of money to buy rollers, painter’s tape, drop cloths and brushes.
It works not only on walls but also for furniture!
I never thought LeBonCoin has a lot of cheap finds. I’ve always thought of it as an expensive online store.
Hanging multiple framed pictures so that they look orderly can be a challenge. The secret is to divide and conquer: Mark a horizontal midline on the wall, and hang all pictures above or below it. Your treasured photographs can be transformed into decorative objects that are as modern and arresting as anything you would find in a design store. I did find a couple of frames that are already grouped in such a way and you have to purchase it as a whole, but it’s nice and probably cheaper to do the DIY.
I’ve seen this in craft stores too.
Your curtains are very nice! Tartan is such a classic.
I think you can do a little more for the Grange cabinet.
I remember my first home DIY. My boyfriend and I literally did everything ourselves. But you learn quickly when you have to. Every time something doesn’t quite go according to plan, you make sure it goes more smoothly the next time. Make sure you always have a Plan B if the first plan goes disastrously. DIY is more of a trial and error kind of thing. Remember to budget everything too. You’ll end up going overboard if you become overconfident with your budget and you get too excited about purchasing the materials. If possible, list down what you need and restrict yourself with only 2-3 materials in addition to your list (if you’re an impulsive buyer and anything shimmery catches your eye).
Thank you for the tips. I agree with you that it can get overwhelming and if you get too excited, you’ll end up spending a fortune.
My heart sinks when we get people who put their properties on the market where there are some clear DIY errors, like trying to cover over cracks with woodchip wallpaper and paint. My advice would be to leave the bigger jobs to professionals. And do everything in the right order. For example, make sure your wiring and plumbing are sound before spending hours decorating. DIY isn’t like painting on a canvass wherein you can just cover and erase mistakes.
Anything you’re doing at home, don’t just go and get the tools and start drilling and hammering and banging. I know a lot of people who want to take the wall out between their kitchen and dining room and then they’re wondering why their bed is in their lounge. It’s not as easy as the pros make it look…
I recently saw this on Pinterest and I think it would be great to add lighting fixtures on your wall of photos. Since you already have a couple of animal heads to add to the mix, you might as well add candle-holders or something. It looks nice and adds a little more texture and details too! Even Martha Steward approved that DIY design.
Another thing that you can DIY is your decorations. I can see that you like displaying photographs. Have you tried photo blocks? It’s when you transfer the photos to wooden blocks using a special glue and preserve it with a resin. Those are a very nice way to keep the memories good as new no matter how old they are. It also creates a vintage look.