Last year we bought our first house. The house is 104 years old and looks it! You can tell it was well built and well maintained… until about 20 years ago. It has high ceilings, ornate cornices and big rooms – and we love it!

The lounge is the third room we have renovated with our own hands; we wanted it to be multifunctional – a comfy place to read and watch TV or to entertain. We painted the ceiling green because we hoped that when reading on the daybed in the bay window it would feel like you are outside. In keeping with this theme, we used natural colours but were also brave with some reds and yellows and funky items. We ripped up the carpets, sanded and sealed the floors and repainted everything. We kept the cute old-school light fitting. This ceiling is slightly higher than the first two rooms we did, and it was a challenge to paint it! We worked on it in the evenings (after work) and on weekends. We did all of it ourselves and spent plenty of time on Facebook Marketplace and in second-hand stores.