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Room Makeovers

From Grey Box to Gallery: Our Living Room Makeover

28 September 2026 · 1 min read

A floor-to-ceiling gallery wall of colourful portraits and prints above a navy velvet sofa with patterned cushions, a small dog on a teal throw, pink tulips and a brass coffee table
Photo by Steph Wilson on Unsplash

Before: grey walls, a grey sofa, a grey rug and a TV that was the most colourful thing in the room. After: 34 pieces of art, a navy velvet sofa and a room people actually want to sit in. Here’s how we got there.

Start with one hero piece

A gallery wall falls apart when everything shouts at the same volume. Pick one big, bold piece — ours is the neon-haired portrait — and hang it slightly off-centre at eye level. Everything else orbits around it.

Lay it out on the floor first

Trace every frame onto kraft paper, cut the shapes out and tape them to the wall. Live with the paper version for two days. You’ll move at least five of them, and it’s much nicer to move paper than to fill nail holes.

  • Keep gaps between frames roughly the same (5–8 cm works).
  • Mix frame colours: black, white, gold and no frame at all.
  • Go floor-to-ceiling. Half-height gallery walls look unfinished.

Let the sofa ground it

With that much going on above, the sofa needed to be one strong, deep colour. Navy velvet does the job: it makes the brights pop and hides dog hair (mostly). We piled on mismatched cushions and a teal throw so the colour carries down from the wall.

What it cost

The art came from flea markets, prints from small artists and a few things we painted ourselves. Frames were the biggest expense — buy them second-hand and spray-paint them.

Would we do it again?

In a heartbeat. The room finally feels like us. Next up: the hallway. 👀

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