Our new home: Living Room Tour

I can't believe it's been four months in our new home! This year has been crazy busy for me with all the changes happening at home. So much time each day is now allocated towards keeping the house clean, working on repairing certain aspects of our house (comes with buying an established home) and decorating our home to our liking. Our couch that we ordered in December finally came a couple of weeks ago so after its arrival, it was finally time to start the living room decorating project!

IKEA Australia's recent IKEA + you campaign shares easy DIY ways in turning real homes into spaces that really reflect the personality and lifestyle of the families living there & so I was excited to partner with the brand to share how a few simple steps could also really transform our space into one to call our own as well! Have a look below..BEFORE:

Our living space - a blank canvas, ready for some decorating.AFTER:

After a few additions, this area of our house finally feels much more homely and snuggly, ready for some late night Netflix and afternoon lounging. And all it took was a few simple steps, that I highly recommend for anyone looking to personalise their living space as well.

1. CREATE A GALLERY WALL

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Adding frames and creating a gallery wall is the single most easiest way to transform a living space with minimal effort and maximum impact. Our whole house is filled with frames from IKEA as they come in a wide range of options at reasonable prices. Pictured here is the white Virserum frame and four stained oak Mossebo frames which I used to frame up some of my favourite prints I've picked up along the way. The Mossebo frame is especially great as it allows you to frame prints in a number of different ways, including an option to frame slightly 3D things too! If you want to create your own gallery wall - choose a variety of different sizes and create a wall that flows cohesively - whether it be a similar colour scheme, or by using similar similar style frames. Add a little personality with little knick knacks which you can hang with the frames to add interest - for me, I added a dreamcatcher we picked up in Bali and a handmade moon phases ceramic piece I created in pottery class last year. I used angled nail-in hooks to hang on our wall as it is our property but if you're renting, then I highly recommend using the 3M velcro strips or stick-on hooks - I have some around the house on trial at the moment and so far, they've held up great - it's just that their preparation is more tedious so I tend to go with the nails instead. The best thing about creating a gallery wall is that you can easily change up the prints every now and then, making it a really great personalisation idea. One day, I can see myself adding even more to this wall including pictures of our travels, little inspiration quotes & wall hangings.Featured items: IKEA Virserum 61x91cm frame | IKEA Mossebo 40x50cm frames

2. ADD YOUR PERSONALITY THROUGH YOUR COFFEE TABLE

If you want to add a trend-driven piece or something with a bit of texture to your living space, I think a coffee table is a real simple way to go about it. I love the feel of natural fibres in the home - for me it's like plants. It gives the house an undone and earthy feel, which is something I just love as it makes the home feel really warm and inviting. I love the look of this IKEA Stockholm coffee table because of the rattan textures and versatile style. I can see it being the perfect coffee table but also moonlighting as a side table, a plant bench, bed bench.. its design really gives it endless opportunities but for now, it is definitely just our coffee table!Featured: IKEA Stockholm 2017 100x40cm coffee table

3. ACCESSORISE WITH INDOOR PLANTS & GREENERY

There's no doubt I love having plants around the house and the living area is the perfect place to add some greenery. If you look at the before and after, you can see how a few plants - you don't even need many!) can really transform the look of a space and IKEA has a huge range of indoor plants to choose from. Quite a few of the plants that you see on my @leafkeeper page actually came from IKEA but trust me, they fly off the shelves fast whenever they're in stock. IKEA also has a really nice selection of pots - especially larger sized ones at a good price - so do pick one up to house your plants in, I often find big pots hard to find elsewhere.When it comes to choosing plants for your living room, I'd recommend choosing a couple of large ones to put at the side of your couch with a small one on your coffee table. I love low maintenance plants so choices like the peace lily, philodendron selloum and little peperomia are great beginner picks. A Bird of Paradise plant also gives living spaces a really tropical, coastal vibe however I've a feeling this one is a little more needy in the maintenance department due to our weather - fingers crossed & I'll report back on how it goes. I just love how it looks!PS Hey Toro :-)Featured items: IKEA Peace Lily plant in Pekannot pot | Philodendron Selloum plant in Stenbar pot | Peperomia plant in Ingefara pot | Bird of Paradise plant in Fladis basket

IKEA + YOU

If you loved this post and want to find more inspiration on transforming your living space - do check out the before & after shots of one of the real homes in Adelaide that IKEA Australia assisted in transforming below. They used really easy personalisation tricks (similar to the ones I've shared above) including utilising wall space to display your personal knick knacks (& vinyl collection!), adding greenery to pull the space together & adding Boho Scandinavian inspired textures through pieces like the rattan arm chair and knitted pouffes. And how pretty is that tan leather couch!! [video width="1080" height="1080" mp4="https://connieandluna.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/House-9-Before-After-Room-Pan-Starts-Here-Square-Option-Edit-1.mp4"][/video]I hope you enjoyed this post and update on our home furnishing adventures. Do leave a comment below if you've used or are inspired to use any of these tricks to personalise and update your living room too!