Beige Will Kill You - Adding Teal Appeal

Technically our lounge was never beige, it was painted Aged White, the colour of antique wedding dresses and heirloom bedlinen and a few years ago was considered worthy of a feature in an interiors magazine. While we'd lived with white walls for over a decade, Jon had longed for a teal room for years and, as he was the one doing the painting, I finally let him have his way.

For some reason the magazine said we that we lived in Cheltenham - I bloody wish!! They also described the house as a four bedroom 1820s cottage as opposed to a two-bedroom house built in 1750.

Beige will kill you were the words used by the fabulous Sue Krietzman in the TV advert for Valspar and by luck, they had the exact shade of teal Jon wanted in their vast range of over two thousand paint colours.




I'm not being paid to promote them but the quality of their V500 matt blend is incredible and a 5 litre tin was enough to cover the walls (and radiator) with enough left over to decorate a doll's house wall or two!

Finally a chair that keeps my hips and knees in perfect alignment - an essential for us creaky old arthritics. I did a general internet search for an armchair that matched my exacting specifications (velvet, a cool colour, button backed, elegant, dark wooden legs and, most essentially, the correct seat pitch) and found this beauty on a trendy furniture website. Making a note of the model name I searched eBay and, as luck would have it, I found one which been used for a photoshoot and available to Buy-it-Now for a third of the retail price. That was the opposite case with the floor lamp with the decadent crushed velvet shade, I'd found one on eBay but, on searching the internet, found the same one for £20 less on an interiors website and then got a further 10% discount for being a new customer. It pays to shop around! I found the 1960s cushion covers, made from Scandanavian fabric, in the 3 for £1 bin in a charity shop.

I bought this large (200cm x 270cm) Turkish kilim from eBay. Here's a tip for you - if you search specific categories (Antique Rugs, for example) and use the proper names (ie., kilim, tribal or Oriental carpet) you'll no doubt find what you're after but, because the seller is using all the right buzz words, everyone else will find it, too and you'll more than likely end up in a bidding war. Instead I searched using the word rug, selected All Categories, sorted by nearest first and in the Condition option I selected used. Yes, you'll have to trawl through some absolute dross but, with a little patience, you'll eventually get lucky - this was listed as a kililim so searching for a kilim wouldn't have brought it up in the listings - and, by searching nearest first, it was local so we could pick it up and avoid paying hefty postage costs. We're the third owners of our kilim, the chap we bought it from had also found it on eBay but got his measurements mixed up and it was far too big for his needs.

You may recognise the framed print behind me. It's Caroline by the British artist Michael Johnson and used to hang above the bed in the spare room. We bought it at a car boot sale from the original owner who'd received it as a wedding present in 1966 (good year, that) and had always hated it so she let us take it away for £2!

 When we were trading at Moseley Vintage & Retro Fair last weekend we both spotted these amazing 1970s ceramic modernist Facette lamps by Cari Zalloni and thought they'd fit in a treat with our teal lounge. As luck would have it they were unsold at closing time and, as we'd had a very successful fair,  we used some of the day's profits to treat ourselves. We found this vintage Indian hardwood sideboard online and immediately fell in love. The company are a small family business specialising in imported vintage Indian furniture & artifacts and although they're based in Hove, at the other end of the country, their delivery costs were very reasonable. Be warned though, you might be tempted to part with all your money when you browse their website (HERE). You may recognise the 19th Century Persian runner, I rescued it from my parental home when we emptied it.

The fire surround used to be white but Jon decided to paint it with blackboard paint and then apply a layer of cast iron effect paint over the top. We were use some green Victorian washstand tiles we'd bought from a car boot sale years ago around the fire surround but were disappointed to discover that we didn't have enough. After a frenzied search of the internet we found a British company who, after 150 years in business, were still making the same apple green tiles by hand and so our fireplace dreams became a reality.

Initially I was worried than anything other than white walls would overwhelm my vintage things but, in reality, teal seems to make them stand out all the more. The green genie bottle was originally Mum's, a 21st birthday present in 1963. The Mid-century oxidised bronze Athena ornament was a souvenir my Dad bought back from Athens in the 1950s and the Bitossi cat was a souvenir my parents brought back from their honeymoon in Elba in 1966 (my parents really did have great taste!) Everything else you see are decades of car boot & charity shop finds.

 This Bohemian gypsy chandelier was one of my fortieth birthday presents.

The Trechikoff era plaster heads are charity shop finds.

As was this starburst clock, snaffled for the princely sum of £1.25 - at 99p the batteries almost cost as much!

Luckily for me I've loved Trechikoff for a lot longer than the hipsters have, so I've never had to spend more than £20 on one of his prints. The Debbie Harry lookalike above the fireplace is an original oil painting, signed MG Walters '79 and came from a car boot sale.

When your curtains (and your upholstery) contain every colour of the rainbow there's no need to change them when you redecorate.

The room isn't quite finished as we're on the hunt for a two seater sofa. I suppose we could go to a furniture shop and buy one but where's the pleasure in that? I'd rather search eBay on a daily basis until the perfect used one comes along. 

Secondhand doesn't mean second best.

Joining Patti & the gang for Visible Monday.