Before & After: Amelia’s Victorian Terrace Colourful & Maximalist Living Room

12 Jul 2019

We all love a before and after, right?  Well now it’s my turn with my Victorian terrace colourful and maximalist living room.  If you are a lover of calm, neutral schemes, this might not be your thing, but I make no apologies, because this is my room and I absolutely love it!

We’ll start with the ‘after’ photo of my colourful and maximalist living room, as it’s much more exciting. [*This post contains some gifted items]

Paint colour, Serpentine by Zoffany* | Princess Leopold Canvas | Dog Leopard Print Cushion | Love Coral Cushion | Flamingo Table Lamp | Queen of Diamonds Print

This is my first house (well mine and the boyfriends), so it’s been amazing to finally decorate it exactly as I like. I should point out, when I say ‘I’ and ‘me’, what I really mean is ‘we’, but since all he actually cares about is the size of the TV, I have free reign with the decorating.  Which is just as well!

Here’s what it looked like before – bland but serviceable – is the only way I can describe it.  The house had been rented out for several years prior to our purchase, so although in a good state of repair, it was somewhat lacking in personality.

It’s a two bed Victorian terrace, so small, or should I say compact – a much nicer word.  But small rooms have their challenges, in particular trying to fit in all the many things I love! So, I started with a mood board of ideas to get the creative juices flowing, which I shared in the teal living room scheme reveal, so you can see where I’m coming from with my scheme.

Princess Leopold Canvas | Pink Faux Monstera | Brass Planter with Stand | Pink Neon Heart Light | Crocodile Candle Holders

As soon as I painted a swatch of ‘Serpentine’, by Zoffany*, I absolutely loved it, so that was my starting point for the walls, and dare I say it, the ceiling as well.  I think a dark ceiling is a love or hate thing, but also a matter of braving it.  In a small room it gives continuity to the colour scheme.  I also painted the cupboard, mantelpiece and pine fire surround in Serpentine to keep a unified look. The eagle eyed among you may notice that ‘Louie’ our ceramic leopard has a hole in his nose.  This is owing to an unfortunate incident involving my boyfriend napping on the sofa and accidentally kicking Louie in his sleep. We repaired him as best we could, but alas, he still bears the scars from that sad day.

Gold Sunburst Pendant Light | Brass Plant Stand | Flamingo Table Lamp | Zebra Wall Vase | Orange Zebra Plate | Snake Print | Queen of Diamonds Print

After several disasters with sofa’s I took the plunge and had one made to order by a local company in the most amazing mustard velvet, and wow, I love it.  I daren’t eat or drink anything on it though, which my sister, Hollie found out when she was on the receiving end of some very severe looks when she dared to even attempt eating a chocolate brownie on it!

Cheetah Fabric by Mathew Williamson for Osborne & Little* | Gold Sunburst Pendant Light | Teal Cocktail Sofa | Pink Faux Monstera | Brass Planter with Stand | Pink Neon Heart Light |

Those were the two biggest decisions of the room.  Next up was lighting, but as I had already fallen in love with the gold sunburst pendant ceiling light, I knew this was coming home with me! And the great thing about a Victorian terrace is the high ceilings, so this was an easy decision – however, it was one hell of a lot of light bulbs to purchase in one go, but definitely worth it.

Cheetah Fabric by Mathew Williamson for Osborne & Little* | Teal Cocktail Sofa | Mustard Sheepskin (coming soon to Audenza)

I had a feeling that I fancied an animal print fabric for my blinds, so whilst researching, we posted our fave 10 on the blog (you can read them here: 10 animal print fabrics).  I fell in love with ‘Cheetah’ by Matthew Williamson for Osborne & Little*, and in particular, the cerise colourway, which is just so amazing, and wow, and everything else I can think of, that I chose it for Roman blinds for my bay window, and I also made the leftovers into a couple of cushions.

Faunacation Velvet Fabric by Divine Savages** | Feather Mirror | Gold Beetles | Coral Lamp (coming soon to Audenza) | Giraffe Table

The chaise longue was my eBay mistake – I neglected to check the measurements and assumed it was full size. Turns out, it’s definitely not. As it happens, it was a fortuitous mistake, given that I bought it before the house, so it fits perfectly in my small Victorian terrace.  It’s now affectionately known as our ‘chaise short’.  A talented local upholsterer recovered it in this amazing fabric, ‘Faunacation’ a beautifully soft velvet by Divine Savages**.  Isn’t it stunning?

Dog Leopard Print Cushion | Princess Leopold Canvas | Queen of Diamonds Print | Zebra Vase

The room scheme is very much about being colourful and quirky, so for the accessories I wanted to be bold.  I chose some bold, bright prints and worked from them, introducing hot pink to tie in with the blinds.  The monochrome rug calms things down a bit and balances the rest of the room.  Throw in lashings of faux plants for that essential bit of greenery and warmth that makes it feel like home, and there you have it – done!

As this is my first home I didn’t have much furniture and only a few pieces of vintage accessories I had collected or been given by family, so it really is an Audenza home.  Most of the accessories are Audenza past and present goodies that just had to come home with me!  Over time some of them will become my vintage pieces that I can’t part with, whatever my style at the time.

Zebra Vase | Orange Zebra Plate | Gold Rock On Hand | Striped vase | Sunburst Dish | Ginkgo Leaf Ornament

The completion of my first room scheme in my Victorian terrace home has been an exciting experience and it’s so lovely to be able to relax in a room that really feels like me (and the boyfriend, of course).  And no disasters (apart from the first 2 sofa’s, but they went straight back), so I’m really happy with it.  What do you think to my Victorian terrace colourful and maximalist living room?  Love it or hate it, it certainly creates interest, if the amount of people peering in the window as they walk past is anything to go by!

I’ll be onto the bedroom next, but as you may have guessed from us, we don’t like to keep things too samey, so I’m going for a completely different look there! Watch this space…

Amelia x

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*Gifted – the Cheetah print fabric by Osborne & Little and the Serpentine paint by Zoffany have very kindly been gifted for this project.

**Part-gifted – the Faunacation Velvet Fabric by Divine Savages has very kindly been part-gifted for this project (we received the item at a discount).

Before & After: Victorian Terrace Colourful & Maximalist Living Room by Amelia Brooks