I love it when my style ideas work!

This is our new sofa. It’s from British manufacturer G Plan and looks very like the sofa I grew up with in the 1960s (amazing how everything comes around again). Even the label reflects the vintage look. I like it!!

It is a three seater, so my husband can stretch out completely, when he wishes, to watch our new TV - which is absolutely nothing like the one I grew up with!

This is our new TV. It is a “ Frame” TV, the idea being that when turned off it can display a piece of art so it looks like a painting instead of just being an unattractive, solid rectangle of black.

The tech is in a small, separate box that’s hidden in a cupboard, so the TV can be super slim and sit flat against the wall. We can choose from a wide selection of art to display in/on the “Frame” although I admit I hadn’t quite realised we had to take out a subscription to do this. Annoying.

The choice of free art is small, so for the moment, we have this abstract image on display. When I have more time I shall search harder for something more suitable. But, truly, it is a remarkable piece of kit and I am very pleased with it as an addition to our newly decorated sitting room.

I am also very, very pleased with our new mantlepiece. I stole the idea from my friend Jo (there is a piece about her in my archive and the fact that she is the queen of thrift and style. See “Everyone Loves a Bargain”)

The mantlepiece is made from an old length of wood that is beautifully battered and worn. I was with Jo when we found it at Ardingly Antiques Fair in West Sussex. There were several lengths of wood around the back of a stall, lying in a pile on the grass. We sifted through them and chose this one as it was exactly the right length: the rounded ends are so lovely, it was important not to have to trim them off.

I could be wrong, but I reckon it comes from an old sawhorse or donkey, the trestle structures used in wood working to support a board or plank when sawing. That’s why it has all the cut marks and gashes in it that really give it character.

Even though there isn’t going to be much weight on it - at the moment, just a few pinecones, pebbles and ceramic pots, it still needed to be securely fixed in place. Jo’s husband Kenny helped us do this, flattening off the back of the beam and drilling it with four very long, threaded metal rods (see below).

Four corresponding holes were drilled into the wall and the rods pushed into place. The plan was to use a quick drying cement to hold them firmly, but when Kenny warned us it is so strong that if we ever tried to remove the mantelpiece, it would pull the whole chimney breast out, we decided against that bit!!

Back to where we started - with the sofa. Once in place along the sitting room wall, it looked great, but I knew something was missing. Cushions. It needed extra cushions in addition to the bolsters at each end, partly for aesthetic reasons but mostly for comfort: the whole reason we have been changing this room around is to use it as an “entertainment room” with the TV, a turntable for our vinyl and our newly acquired jukebox (more of that another time). We needed cushions to prop behind our heads when we have our feet up on the matching footstool to watch TV .

I resolved to keep an eye out for some cushions that might work, at the same time thinking that it was unlikely I would find anything in both the right colour and style to suit the sofa.

A few weeks later I went to our nearest branch of Dunelm (do you know it? Really good style at very reasonable prices). I was collecting a couple of Christmas presents I had ordered. Our local Dunelm is only a small branch so has a limited stock, but I walked in and there, staring straight at me were these cushions! They could not be better if I’d had them custom-made. Little pleases me more than when my ideas for interiors come together. There are still a few bits needed to finish off the new sitting room but I am feeling very happy with how it is shaping up so far.

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FOOTNOTE

You’re reading Home Truths, from me, Susy Smith. I write here on an eclectic mix of subjects about home and lifestyle. I am many things: a parent of grown-up kids, a dog owner, a gardener and a compulsive mover of vases (I worked for years as a stylist). I am also a writer/editor and former Editor-in-Chief of British Country Living Magazine.