The summerhouse transformation - the living room

By Katla HreiðarsdóttirMarch 21, 2016

Tóta and I spent the weekend at the summerhouse with our dear friends and I realized I hadn't finished telling you about the transformation!

Our friends were all seeing the house for the first time and they loved it. The weekend consisted on laughing, eating, drinking, chilling and having a good old blast!

I would like to tell you all a bit more about the transformation so here is the living room... before and after!

The corner window was the main focus of the living room with it's amazing view over the valley so we wanted to emphasize that, as well as the dreamlike fireplace! Seriously, as soon as you start using a beauty like that you become addicted!

The sofa didn't exactly fit the space so we decided to exchange it for a new one, which turned out to be a little tougher task than we anticipated. We ended up making our own which I will tell you about a little later..

The main change besides the living room getting painted was removing the curtains. We felt they were a bit heavy for the space but we are oh so grateful to the previous owners for the screen rolls that hid under the fabric. Those are absolutely fantastic!

Here is the view from the living room to the opposed wall and the hall and kitchen. Check out the big cabinet, it came with the house and it is stunning! A little paint and this one became the dining room buffet, a real treat!

This is the view from the kitchen and if you check out the open and light windows on the image below, what a change right!?

This is the living room today!

The space became much larger with the paint and the open windows! The cornices, door frames and window frames in white contrast the greyish walls beautifully and we absolutely love the new look!

We painted the ceiling white with two layers of base coat, but the old pine can sometimes bleed into the paint so be sure to give it time to dry out. The wooden beams got stained a bit darker so the contrast became greater making them look more "expensive".

Tota looking really happy about the window sills be removed! The previous owners had real green fingers and the sills were loaded with greenery.. we are not so great with that and find the garden to be a challenge enough so we removed them.

Fun story about the tapestry..

We found this lovely tapestry for sale on line and I fell in love with it. It was supposed to hang above the dining room table, really framing that space against the new buffet. It however turned out to be way to long so what to do, what to do?

I contacted the seller and asked if she wanted it back whereas if she didn't we would cut it down.. (I felt it was right to at least check before I hacked her work of art).. no no, she didn't care and hacked away we did...

Firstly we removed the piece from the frame..

Then I made a couple of cushion patterns to utilize the image the best.

In the end we had made 8 large cushions, having the back and frames made of black velour and what a beauty they were!

We contrasted them with couple of yellow beauties from IKEA!

Using what was nearest to see how the sofa space would look like.. :)

To make the sofa it self, we bought a single bed from IKEA and covered it with a cover sheet and sew our own foe leather cover, stabled to the bottom.

Check it out! An absolute stunner, plus the little box works as a storage unit as well for extra bedding!

Here we are welding our own sofa table. This was being done by my little nephew who really is a wonder with the welding machine! He made all the welded furnitures and they really are a beauty!

The metal was powder coated in black and finally Börkur built the tabletop and the bottom shelf which we stained.

This wonderful little pink pig I found at a second hand store and we spray painted it in black.. from frog to a prince really!

The long bench/table Máni, my nephew also made.. love this!

Check out how the corner is much lighter now and the fire place really comes into it's own!

Finally it is all about reorganizing and styling back and forth to get the great look. This can take a while but hey, that's the real fun part!

I always find it good to be open to "weird stuff" because even though it can look like trash in one surrounding, it can become a real treasure in another!

Second hand and thrift stores can become your best friend and please take care not to overload with IKEA, it is perfect for some things but don't forget the personal and vintage mix, that is what makes it a home, not a styled IKEA setting :)

I also find books to be one of the best ways to style interiors, they add interest and height to a flat surface and I absolutely love them!

Matching tones can also create a soft and calming effect, and quite an expensive look really. Check out the gold in the wood bucket and the gold clock, these two really drag out the golden writing on the books also, giving the smallest details some real weight!