The original brief was “a sitting room we actually use” — which, as briefs go, is the one I most enjoy. The clients had a beautiful but slightly unloved formal living room left over from the previous owners. North-facing, original parquet, a window seat that hadn’t been sat on in living memory. We didn’t add much. We took a lot away.
Subtraction first.
Out: a too-big sectional, three side tables, two prints that didn’t earn their wall, a console no-one had touched in two years. In: nothing. Just space. We left the room mostly empty for two weeks while the family worked out what they actually wanted to do in there. (Read in afternoons, listen to records, occasionally have a glass of wine before dinner. Not a place for the TV. Not a place for the kids’ toys.)
Then a small list of additions.
Two armchairs (one new, one re-upholstered from the family). A custom-built bookshelf in the alcove, oak ply with a single visible joinery detail at the top. The window seat got a linen-covered cushion in a colour matched to the existing curtain. A reading lamp. A side table for cups. That’s the room.
Bookshelf by The Joinery Co. Upholstery by Sunshine Coast Re-cover.