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Welcome to the most maximalist room in our house!
It took us 4 years of trial and error to get this room to where it is now; a moody home library that we absolutely love 💚
This room is filled with books and lots of animals, including a black panther, peacocks, a zebra, a mosquito, a waving cat and many many more.
Built-In Bookcase
Before we built the shelf, we had an awkward, narrow empty opening that was difficult to decorate with anything off the rack.
Martin built the bookcase himself (our side business 6PM Interiors offers cabinetmaking and interior design services).
We’d already painted the walls in Taubmans Racing Green and soon decided to build a bookcase in the same colour (and eventually the ceiling too).
Flooring
We have a vibrant colourful rug from Sydney Rugs Online that takes up most of the room.
It adds lots of pink, navy and mustard in to the room, which complements the chesterfield sofa well.
Unfortunately though, we have terribly matched flooring between the library room and the living room.
The big rug covers most of the floor, but not where the two rooms meet.
The living room has beautiful jarrah floors while the library has jarrah-look laminate… a terrible design decision that created an eyesore of an intersection.
To hide the poorly matched flooring between the library and living area, we layered the Flowing Illusion rug from Maia Homes.
This quick fix has made the space so much more interesting!
The irregular shape makes it perfect for layering on top of a regular rectangular rug, and the wavy lines draw your eye into the room.
📢 Use our code MISMATCHEDHOME for 10% off at Maia Homes.
Painted Ceiling
Before we colour drenched, the overhead lighting was criminal; it was just a large downlight, with a neighbouring air-con vent. It was u-g-l-y and it was all I noticed in the mirror reflection.
So we decided to paint the ceiling to fully colour drench the room and I am soooo glad we did!
Martin relocated the air-con vent so it wasn’t smack bang in the middle of the room anymore.
🎬 WATCH: Colour drenched library
To add a bit of modern Victorian meets mid-century modern realness, we sourced a ceiling rose from a local plasterer and bought this smoky black sputnik-style chandelier from Facebook Marketplace.
Furniture & Accessories
Before we moved in, we already had a deposit on a mustard chesterfield sofa from Harvey Norman, and had a trio of Canadian Rockies posters from Marketplace in storage.
The posters are the perfect memento of our time living in Canada 🍁
I bought the navy and hot pink cushions from my local Spotlight, who I highly recommend for cushions and soft furnishings.
We also bought the big ornate mirror from Scurrs Mirrors in Perth, at one of their closing down sales.
From memory, they stayed open a few more years after that sale, but now they are, in fact, closed. Anyway, it was a good deal at $700!
Initially, the mirror was hung portrait, with nothing else on the wall. At that time I wasn’t loving the room and I was sure it was because of that wall, so we decided to flip it and source something to put below it.
So we went on the hunt for something low and as wide as the mirror.
Ideally, something wider than the mirror would’ve been better, but we were restricted with space because of how deep the chesterfield is.
The lowline entertainment unit we went with is from Empire Home here in Perth, but we actually scored it for a quarter of the price via, you guessed it, Facebook Marketplace.
Once the mirror wall was feeling correct, everything else started coming into place.
We bought the Jazz armchair from Fantastic Furniture for $399, which was made to order in olive fabric and oak legs.
This took 8 weeks to arrive but hey, the colour, shape and price were right so I was happy to wait.
The drum side table is from Freedom, but again, we scored it for a bargain at $50 via Marketplace.
💡 It’s always worth doomscrolling Marketplace, especially if you’re planning on spending money at big brand stores. Someone is probably selling what you’re after for a portion of the cost on Marketplace!
Speaking of Marketplace… Our panther coffee table is by far the biggest star of the room!
I saw him on Marketplace for $200, listed as ‘unique coffee table’ and I acted FAST. I had to have him!
Before we got our hands on him, he had a silver coat and a dodgy glass top stuck on with glue.
We painted him black cos duh, replaced his glass top (which cost more than he did) and secured it down with black fasteners 🐈⬛
Positioned right below the smoky black chandelier and ceiling rose, they are the perfect focal point and I vow to never part with him.
🎬 WATCH: Panther coffee table upcycle
A more recent addition to our home library is the $99 Ikea Vittsjo shelf in this previously vacant corner.
It just needed something, and that something was a narrow, minimalist shelf with pretty decor!
The royal blue cardcrete candleholder is by local Perth artist Eclette and it’s so unique!
To add to the growing collection of animals, we added a token lucky cat from Amazon to the shelf, found a zebra vase at a local salvage store (Perth people; we highly recommend E-Furniture Repurposing in Embleton if you’re on the hunt for secondhand furniture & decor) and a brass-look peacock from Early Settler.
Almost all the other decor in here is thrifted.
Window Furnishings
The blue curtains from Blinds Online add an unexpected pop of colour and peacock pattern! We had plain curtains here before and these are just so much better 🦚
They’re light filtering curtains, so they keep the room feeling cosy and private while still letting a bit of sunlight into this otherwise dark room.
We also have some white venetian blinds that we’ve been meaning to install, so we will definitely do that soon!
Our home library is definitely my favourite room in the house.
I love the cosiness that the colour drenched green gives the room, as well as all the other pops of colour.
It has an epic view of our obnoxiously large gallery wall from both sides of the mirror so there’s always something to look at.
You might be fooled into thinking we are maximalists through and through, when really it is just these two rooms. Most of our other spaces are rather pared back in comparison.
Along with our open-plan living/dining/kitchen area, this is where we do our living, laughing and loving, so we want them to be full of our personalities 💚
👉 Follow @mismatchedhome on Insta for more from our home.
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