Mediterreanean living/dining mini-makeover
I recently embarked on a mini-reno of my living/dining room - making purely cosmetic changes to make it feel cosy with Mediterranean vibes. Here’s how I did it…
Let’s start at the beginning – I was not a fan of that painted mural on the wall or those wall lights so I have to say it was with absolute joy that both of those things got an update! I’m also not a fan of the faux terracotta floor tiles however the budget simply didn’t allow for new flooring at this stage, so using large rugs to cover up the floor was the way to go! The ceiling fan was a bit pointless due to this space having an air-conditioner, plus the light on it wasn’t generating much light anyways, so we decided to replace that as well.
That being said, there are some positives to the space - the exposed beams and the fireplace are my favourite features in here.
BEFORE
PAINT
I was super mindful for this renovation that I didn’t want to go overboard (nor did the budget allow for it), so we only made cosmetic updates. One of the major things we did to the space was give it a fresh coat of paint (which made a massive difference, especially when it came to that mural wall)! The beams were dirty, the walls had marks and dents which needed to be patched and one wall was only partly painted with the rest of it being the original colour - it really was a hot mess.
We painted the ceiling, skirting and majority of walls in Dulux ‘Beige Royal’ quarter strength. It’s a very soft beige (looks almost like a soft creamy white in bright light). When we painted this colour on the mural wall we decided it needed to be painted in a slightly darker tone as it was looking lighter than all of the other walls due to it being next to a window, and we wanted a bit more depth to the colour on that particular ‘hero’ wall, so ended up re-painting it in Dulux ‘Buff It’ and I absolutely love it. In fact we might use that same colour in our own bedroom for the next makeover! It’s a lovely warm beige which cocoons a room.
Another thing we painted is the living room window – we spray painted the existing cream window with Dulux ‘Satin Black’. What a difference! It’s a great cost-effective way to change up your windows without having to buy and install new ones.
‘Tendi’ armchair and ‘Cairo’ square cushion from Kulala Living
LIGHTING
The other major improvement we made to the space was replace all of the lighting. Prior to our makeover, the existing lights didn’t give a lot of light at night, we found this room dark and dismal. I had the wall lights replaced with these stunning ‘Fjord’ up/down wall lights from Beacon, and also moved them down so they weren’t sitting up so high. These are a creamy stone colour, made from concrete with a slightly dimpled texture. They work so well with our wall colour, I just love the amount of light they produce too, it’s no longer dark and dingy at night. I also replaced the ceiling fan with this stunning ‘Tamarind’ natural pendant light from Beacon - it has a lovely warm glow at night, and I love the proportion of it with the space too - it just feels like it’s meant to be in here.
BEFORE
LIVING ROOM FURNITURE
As you can see from above, we didn’t have any furniture in the space (we lived like that for the first 7 months, so as you can imagine, I was dying to get this space feeling more like home and less like an abandoned house! Having furniture in the space has obviously completely changed the feeling of the room, it feels so much cosier! I decided to lean in with the Mediterranean vibes in keeping with the existing terracotta floor tiles and thick chunky beams on the ceiling.
I wanted a relaxed looking sofa – I love this ‘Como’ slipcover sofa from James Lane. I actually owned this particular style in our Pearl St home and loved it then, and still love it now. Cleaning is a breeze when you can simply remove the slipcover and pop it in the washing machine. I’ve broken up all the white on the sofa with the ‘Freya’ cushion from Kulala Living (and another one used without the insert that works like a throw), to bring in that natural feeling.
The ‘Shore’ coffee table is also from James Lane, I’ve deliberately mixed and matched different tones of timber in this space to create interest - I didn’t want it to feel matchy matchy. The table has a really lovely grain to it, and looks right at home with everything else in here. The side table is also from James Lane however it is now discontinued.
The bench I’ve used on the TV wall was a lucky Marketplace find! I had this vision of seeing baskets and stacked firewood under a floating bench and I feel like this was the perfect piece to bring this vision to life. It has a raw edge and I feel so thrilled to have found it.
The final piece I added was this stunning ‘Tendi’ timber chair from Kulala Living - even though it’s an outdoor chair, I just love the rope detail on the arms and think it works just as well indoors. It’s super comfy and the perfect spot to sit with a coffee or read a magazine. I can’t wait for the weather to cool down so I can cosy up in it next to the fireplace.
‘Tamarind’ natural pendant light from Beacon
DINING FURNITURE
Our dining space is actually quite large (it’s the biggest dining space we’ve ever had in our past 3 homes) – so we needed a table that was quite substantial in size. I’ve chosen the ‘Magnolia’ dining table from Life Interiors in the 1.5m diameter size. Oh my goodness, this table is absolutely stunning, it features a solid timber top and three cylinder legs clad in woven rattan. This table is heavy, and you can just feel the quality. I’m obsessed with this table. And then I’ve paired it with the ‘Noris’ paper cord chairs. I’m loving the neutral vibes, there’s enough texture in each piece to keep it feeling interesting.
For now we have simply painted the VJ wall behind the dining space (behind this space is our pantry). The kitchen adjacent to it is super pokey and dated, I’m planning to remove that wall one day to make way for a much larger open kitchen and island.
To ground the dining table I chose the ‘Sayulita’ round jute rug from Miss Amara – this is the 2.4m diameter size – it’s just right for having the chairs sit comfortably on it (plus it helps to hide those tiles which I don’t love)!
WINDOW COVERINGS
The only window covering we had in this room was an old venetian blind which I absolutely hate as they’re near impossible to clean plus I’ve also found venetians super hard to raise up and down (is it just me?)! So we replaced with a much more stylish electric roman blind from Tuiss Blinds Online which can easily be operated with a remote control. I chose Wilton Natural Weave for the fabric and the colour works perfectly with our walls. It looks so much more elegant, and is better at blocking the western sun in the late afternoon. I chose a blockout backing for these to help cut the heat out.
In the dining space, we have an old set of sliding doors in a mission brown colour. Because budget didn’t allow for us to replace these just yet, I decided the more economic decision would be to hide them with beautiful ‘Madagascar’ sheer neutral curtains (also from Tuiss Blinds Online). If we ever do a big reno on this space, we can just take these down and re-hang them at a later date. But for the meantime, they add so much dreamy texture to the room and do wonders at hiding that ugly old sliding door. Once we hung them, it was like they instantly transformed the entire space.
‘Madagascar’ sheer neutral curtains from Tuiss Blinds Online
BEFORE (PROGRESS SHOT)
The above is more of a progress shot of the dining space, but I wanted to include it to show the existing pendant light in this room. You can see the scale of it is all wrong for the room, it was too small and I didn’t love the shape of it for the dining room. We needed something much larger in size to match our big dining table, plus I wanted something natural looking to tie in with our timber dining table and chairs, so I chose the ‘Kasa’ wide pendant light from Beacon. It’s so beautiful, I’m in love with this light and the texture it brings to the space now.
