Decorating and buying new settee etc ?

It's no good picking what you like, you have to choose what the designers and manufacturers deem is fashionable at the moment! ie beiges with lilac, mauve, duck egg blue and lots of pink and red of all shades (which I am getting rid of, always out of step with fashion me).

Just look on the John Lewis website. Where else? (Carpet and sofa) Go in shop to actually look and buy
It doesn't always work though - not a single pair of curtains which match the new suite and it's too late to change that. Only made to measure at about £1,400!
M&S don't stock ready-mades in the shops any more (had to make room for the bank!).

The carpets looked good in JL though.

I'm with jings!

loopylou we are doing the same! Have ordered the settees and a chair but now cannot find curtains to tone in (and a limited range of carpet colours)!
As we are doing hall, stairs and landing as well, it has to be done in a logical order, but what is logical?
We have got rid of a coloured suite and are going more neutral, perhaps a darker carpet instead of the pale beige. (stains keep coming back however much i shampoo). And what furniture and junk to keep?
The plasterer is here so I am off to JL in a minute.

Love N&G's idea of starting with neutrals and brightening them up with colorful accessories! That way, you can change your color scheme, if you want, as she says, and even go seasonal, as I love to do, or dress it up for holidays (orange and yellow accessories for autumn, for example, or red and green around Christmastime).

It's up to you, of course. Have a ball!

My decor was cream/beige for years and years, practical and easy to freshen up. Last summer we did a big turnaround and went for greens.
Walls are a very pale sea spray colour (sort of duck egg blue) with one wall in a deeper tone.
Flooring is beech wood.
Sofa and chairs are brown leather - too good to replace.
Using a beech blanket box as a coffee table, it holds all sorts, great storage.

In a factory shop I bought a plaid fabric that had duck egg blue/a little touch of wheat colour (to go with the leather suite and the existing curtains that are vast and couldn't afford to replace) and a dressmaker made me 6 cushions of varying shapes, squares/oblongs. There was masses of fabric left which she finished off to make a large oblong tablecloth and a throw. Dressmaker charged £40 to include threads, piping the cushions and zips.

Also lift out ornaments etc and only put back what works in your new style/colour scheme. And less is sometimes more

I'd start with the sofa and chairs. They have to fit the room, be comfy, you have to love them. Then it's the flooring.

Curtains - you have to love them and I think it's easier to choose fabric and have a dressmaker make them up to the exact length, width, the type of heading that you really want.

B & Q Paint Department can use a computer to match and mix a colour from your curtains if you wish, as well as having hundreds of test colours.
Wall colours can easily be chosen after living with a few walls painted from tester pots.

And a biggie... made a great difference...... was getting away from silk finish emulsion paint and using the matt emulsion. Much more modern looking.

Thank you everyone ?
We've lived with others' cast offs for 39 years, there's nothing wrong with that of course but I've never been able to have just what I like, hence the dithering ?
Very exciting but rather daunting!

What a gift to be starting from scratch with everything new! I'm going to have a new bathroom and en suite shower room and I'm going to visit some new houses and see what their designers are putting in those. Is that an idea?

I paid £4.25 for a magazine which said kitchens and bathrooms and there's very little about bathrooms, so that was a waste of money. Get some free catalogues from M&S, Multiyork, J.Lewis, Next Home etc and cut out what you like. Create an ideas bank of colours, fabrics, furniture, light fittings etc to give you an idea. You don't have to buy them from those stores, you're just information gathering. I'd love to be doing it!

Good luck!

Definitely look at Pinterest and paint company websites for living room ideas. Are there any styles you like? I designed my room around some retro curtains which I loved. It's now got a definite midcentury / contemporary look. Y

I'd make everything permanent in neutral colours like carpets and sofas and put my colour in in accessories, curtains, blinds etc that way if you get fed up its easy to change and cheaper .

Your colour scheme idea sounds lovely, I really like duck egg blue .

Pictures at the end please :-)

Just look on the John Lewis website. Where else? (Carpet and sofa) Go in shop to actually look and buy.

And get Dulux colour cards for paint schemes.

i suggest you define which style suits you, the house and the room. Modern, Classic, Scandi etc. buy some home mags or look online for inspiration (Houzz, Pinterest) cut out or save some ideas you like before buying anything. You may find some colours/styles jump out at you then you have your theme. If you can, make a mood board of ideas with pics and samples - paint, wallpaper, carpet, cushions etc. to see how it all hangs together. Adapt or paint furniture if you wish but get rid of anything that does not fit with your scheme. Sounds exciting - good luck.

Start with the walls, duck egg blue sounds good, then the carpet, what is practical colour, shades of brown or wood or laminate flooring.Then the sofas, in whatever shades you like and what would go with those colours, cream, grey, a paler duck egg, a deeper duckegg, and lastly soft furnishings curtains, cushions, bits and bobs.?

I need an adviser!
Mostly beige at present, DD says it's a mundane and boring magnolia .....
Have seen a sofa upholstered in very dark purple with a fine check on line - but it's in Birmingham and I'm not!
Oh dear, this could well take some time. I tried doing a pin board and have far too many 'pins'!

No good asking me no matter how hard I try, everything ends up beige! I would love a good sense of colour matching but the only thing I seem able to do makes everything drab. Good luck with your choices loopy. Hope you like what you end up with

I'd start with sofa etc. Then go for a neutral but not too pale carpet, then walls and accent colour for soft furnishings. That's the way I'd do it anyway