Step Into My Parlour - The Middle Room Makeover

Back in February I shared a few photos of our middle room HERE, which over the years had become a general dumping ground or, not to put too fine a point on it, a shit tip. Here's what it looks like now.

I can't take any credit for it - Jon set his heart on black walls and a metallic ceiling and did it all himself, I just delivered the odd cup of tea and kept out of the way.

He papered the walls & ceiling with textured wallpaper, painting the walls, picture rails, skirting boards and the wood panels in the bay window black and the ceiling a metallic copper. He removed the glass cups and swags from the old chandelier, spray painted it matt black and swapped the candle light bulbs to some much cooler looking Edison bulbs. The fire surround has been painted to give the illusion of cast iron ( and I think it works!)

Aparts from the funky light bulbs and a couple of charity shopped picture frames everything else in the room is things we've owned for years.

The copper pull-up, pull-down pendant light over my PC belonged to my parents, they bought it from Habitat when they got married in 1966. 

The 1930s Bentwood chair was £1 from a jumble sale over a decade ago, we reupholstered it with a groovy vintage curtain bought from a charity shop - the print is Marrakech by Jonelle and was screen printed in 1966 (the year Jon & I were born!)

The brass Arts & Crafts coal bucket came from the parental home.

As we eat at the kitchen table the main purpose of the room is for playing music and its beyond exciting to finally be able to get to the record player which had been hidden away in the back of a cupboard for far too long.

I made these curtains in May, 2010 - a welcome distraction after my Mum died.

A couple of my ancestors on my maternal grandpa's side.

This cloth Fear and Loathing poster was 99p from a charity shop at the beginning of the year, we both love the book and the film.

This mahogany framed Victorian lithograph, Labour of Love, used to be in the bathroom. It was £2 from the clearance charity shop. The Art Deco walnut lamp was under my Dad's bed when I emptied the house.

A Sex Pistols tour poster.... 

And a hand drawn map of the Glastonbury Festival (thanks Stuart, Kim & Lily, our soon-to-be-reunited festival crew). There's our shop opposite the Bandstand!

Some of my huge collection of vintage postcards - these are 1950s Greek ones.

My electric Jesus shrine - a birthday pressie from Jon a couple of years ago.

This 1920s German articulated monkey was my Mum's when she was little.

The boss! The Victorian rosewood bench came from my Grandpa's childhood home. I reupholstered it with the other Marrakech curtain. 

The CDs, tapes and vinyl are stashed in the wooden cabinet which was the bottom of the glazed Victorian bookcase from my Grandpa's offices in West Bromwich which used to dominate the room. The top part is now on the landing - it nearly killed Jon, Tony & I to get it up the stairs!

Checking over this morning's charity shop vinyl finds, She Sells Sanctuary by The Cult, Trapped by Colonel Abrahams, Rock Me Amadeus by Falco (which my gorgeous Austrian friend Love T will approve of!) and Move Closer by Phyllis Nelson. 

I love the finished room, it feels like a Victorian backstreet boozer, one of our favourite kind of places to hang out in. 

If you want to see more of our house, HERE's our kitchen inspired by a Victorian mortuary, HERE's our bathroom with an elegantly dilapidated gentleman's club vibe and HERE's our Teal Appeal anti-beige lounge.