I think it goes without saying; the living room is my favourite room; reflective in the number of times I post this on my Instagram feed. It was one room where Mat gave up the battle; leaving me to do what I wanted. Although that said, I let him pick the log burner and the hearth; I know; I’m all give haha!
We (I) always knew I wanted to get fitted cabinets in the living room, replace the gas fire with a log burner and then it soon became apparent this room would need plastering. Not to mention it would need the bay window wall rebuilding; which was a consequence of me deciding to replace the window sills. It turns out these were part of the wall haha! With all this in mind and considering costs, we did have a break between doing the kitchen and bathroom. Also, I wanted to have a room we could go to, which wasn’t carnage. I would say to relax, but between weddings, hen do’s and stag do’s, Mat and I didn’t get much time to relax at all haha.
Alcove Bespoke Fitted Cabinets
As I get asked about these so much I wanted to give all the details for those wanting to take on the same project. These were made and built by a carpenter after I provided a combination of images and sketches of what I wanted; from magazines and Pinterest.
Time: this will vary on the size of your room. Ours took 6 working days; this included making and fitting.
Cost: I would always recommend getting an accurate cost; some carpenters will charge by the day (like ours) others for the job itself. This cost us 6 working days (you’ll need to confirm this via a quote) and on top of labour is the cost of the materials (which were approx. £600).
Material: we used MDF opposed to wood, as this makes it a lot cheaper and in my opinion, once painted I don’t think you would notice either.
Painting: I believe some companies can spray these for you; to save money I painted these myself. MDF is like a sponge, therefore, I gave these cabinets two coats of wood primer and three coats of Farrow & Ball ‘All White’
Considerations: to ensure you get what you want, I would recommend providing the carpenter with as much detail as you know. For example, I wanted our cupboards quite high, as these would be the only place for storage in the room.
- How tall would you like the cabinets/cupboards?
- How many shelves do you want?
- If you want a TV/Lamp, I would measure this and make sure you leave enough shelf space.
Fireplace
Hearth: this was sorted via the company who fitted our log burner and it is Yorkshire stone.
Fireplace Surround: this is made from wood, with the inside of the surround being metal. I often get asked how we used wood with regulations, but this can be done as long as there is a certain gap. I would seek further advice on this from a specialist; which I am not haha.
Brick slips: as mentioned above, we made the fireplace gap wider, therefore, the way bricks were knocked out made these weren’t flat, therefore, we brick slips inside the fireplace. We could have just boarded and painted, but I wanted the bricks, to keep this looking like a traditional restored feature.
Log burner
We always knew we wanted to replace the gas fire this with a log burner. Mat actually picked and arranged for the company to sort the log burner and they were great; sorting everything included from start to finish.
Time: Approx. 3 days. This was to have our original fireplace disconnected and removed, the gap made wider, lining added, they fit the brick slips (I bought these online) the hearth laid and log burner installed.
Bricks: I wanted to make the gap wider, therefore, the bricks were smashed and we had to get brick slips. For those who have asked you can get stuff to clean the bricks. I purchased the brick slips online, from brick slips direct.
Cost: This always depends on the job and what you’re doing, therefore, I would always recommend getting a quote. As mentioned the company sorted everything for us, which may have cost more to do it that way, but I know eBay is good for buying log burners.
No Chimney? I often get asked, can you get a log burner if you have no chimney? We do have a chimney, therefore, I haven’t gone through this process, but in short, yes you can. There are a lot of images on Pinterest on how you can build a stud wall and also look at electric burners.
What Paint have we used in the Living Room?
I’ve used various paints in this room which I have listed below. To know more about all the paint I have used in our home click here. Yes, I have used that much paint, I wrote an entire blog post on it haha!
Fireplace Wall – Farrow & Ball ‘Cornforth White’ Matt Emulsion
Back and Side Walls – Little Greene ‘Slaked Lime Pale’ Matt Emulsion
Fireplace Surround – Farrow & Ball ‘All White’ Eggshell
Built-in Alcove Cabinets – Farrow & Ball ‘All White’ Eggshell
Walls above the picture rail – Dulux ‘White’
Mirror – Rust-Oleum ‘Chalk White’
Skirting and Picture Rail – Johnstone’s with a shot of Farrow & Ball ‘All White’ Eggshell
Doors – Johnstone’s with a shot of Farrow & Ball ‘All White’ Eggshell
Ceiling – Dulux White Emulsion
Flooring
I did want to keep the wooden floorboards, but due to plumbing, electrics and the gaps between giving such a breeze; that and I really wanted parquet, so any excuse really. If you would like to read more about the flooring, I did a blog post on the flooring here – wood parquet flooring
Before and After Photos
Thank you for reading, hopefully, you found it useful. Failing that, who doesn’t like a before and after photo haha.
If you want to find out more about anything I bought and used in the living room click here.
Jess xx
This is so helpful and, as always, am amusing read! Thank you for sharing xx
Thank you Dionne, so nice to get feedback hearing it was helpful, and amusing. Bonus haha xx
I love your sitting room it’s beautiful. What colour are your walls?
Thanks Lucy! Paint colours are all in this blog post x
Looks gorgeous! What colour were your brick slips? xx
Thank you Karen. I just went for Victorian bricks. xx
Beautiful transformation xxx
Thank you so much Sophie! xx
Fabulous! Thank you Jess x
Thank you Helen, and for taking the time to read it xx
Absolutely beautiful! Not sure if this is a silly question or not, but – how did you go from gaps either side of your alcoves, to what looks like no gaps at all? We’ve recently been quoted £1300 for 1 alcove made from kitchen units which would take 3 days..seems a lot to me?
This is so so helpful, thank you! We’re getting a carpenter to design fitted wardrobes in the bedroom and I’ve finally managed to convince the other half to go with MDF (we’re painting them) having seen your cabinets!
Absolutely love this post Jess. It just shows how much time, thought and love goes into creating a room from scratch. It looks gorgeous too x
Beautiful Beautiful Beutiful !
What a fabulous post Jess! So helpful and gives a great stage by stage look at how you got to your amazing finished room.
Fab xxx
Thank you so much Jane! xx
Wow, this looks amazing! What specific Johnstones paint did you use for the skirting, picture rails and doors? Thanks!
Hi I would just like to say” thank you” what a useful detailed story … we’d love the alcove storage in our lounge .. but didn’t know where to start… I’m new to Instagram and my daughter showed me your page(She follows your other half too and thinks he’s hilarious) I’m so glad she did, your stories are amazing , you have a beautiful home which im sure you’re very proud of, thank you for sharing all your details I look forward to reading lots more in the future and hopefully will achieve some good results in my own little home too .. Jane
Hi Jane, thank you so much! Oh does she haha! Oh that’s really kind of you. Thank you xx
This is beautiful! Also your rabbits are too cute! What sort are they?
Hello. Love the photos absolutely fantastic.Could I ask where you purchased your sofas from?
Hi Francesca, thank you, it’s all on my shop my style page x
Hi, it was a very nice read about a living room transformation! We are thinking about integrated shelves for this room too, but have so much going on in other rooms that it will need to wait! Thanks for the tips and beautiful neutral colours.
Thank you so much Marlene, glad you found it useful x
I love what you did with your fireplace! Which company did you use to make the wooden surround? I would like to get one made just like it.
Thank you, I designed it and had it made bespoke by our carpenter. Thanks, Jess xx
Fantastic blog post. We are moving into a cottage this summer and have fallen in love with alcove fitted cabinets around the wood burner. Thank you for sharing how you went about organising this x
Gorgeous post! Did you and Matt build the fireplace surround? Where did you source the curved pine for the fire surround to fix on top of the mdf? It looks lovely, much nicer than a ready made fire place surround!!!
Looking forward to hearing how it was made as we would love to do something similar with our log burner as can’t find any pre-made surrounds that we really love!
xx
Thank you so much. Sorry I thought I’d put that in there. I designed the fireplace surround and had it made by the carpenter we use. Thank you, Jess xx
Love your room? Love Your sofa ? Where did you get it and what is the colour. Thanks Denise
So helpful ! We are about to do something very similar in a 1930’s semi so thank you .
What age is your house ? Also do you have separate lounge and sitting room ( or dining room) ..or have you opened it all up ?
Hi Jess, fantastic post! Could you possibly show more photos of your beautiful sofas? I am very keen to purchase these but without having seen them in person in store would be great to see more pics 🙂
They look very comfortable! Xx
Hi
This is lovely can you tell me what the distance is between the sides and top of your Woodburner and your wooden fire surround please? I’ve been told I can’t have a wooden surround as it’s too close.
Thank you
I have this exact same question – it looks quite close here. I know that the Stovax Stockton 5 (which this looks to be) has a distance to combustibles of 300mm each side. I’m quite heart broken about this as I desperately want to keep our original wooden fire surround but think it may have to go in order to comply with my house insurace. How have you got around this?
Thanks!
Impressive makeover, what a great transformation! I enjoyed watching the after photos.The mantelpiece looks well-designed.
I love the brick slips, I wonder if you can remember the particular ones that you used?
Thanks
Hiya! Love the room! Just wondering, how did you wire up the tv with the fitted alcove cupboard? It’s such a lovely way of not making the centre of the room about the tv! Also like everyone else, where are the sofas from please?