What My Colourful Living Room Looks Like

"Hi, I'm Liyana. Welcome to my crib."
Only instead of a celebrity showing off a swanky high-tech house "crib" with jaw-dropping features, it's just wee ol' me, sharing pics of my colourful living room in my humble house here in Johor.

These two things were in my plan from the get-go:

1. All-white walls
2. A multicoloured theme for the decor

The Colour Theme

I reined myself in in the colours department by settling on three main colours to create a theme: blue, yellow, and pink, then centering everything else around them. It took me a while to settle on a theme because I love all the colours ahhh but all my Pinterest-scrolling kept nudging me towards those three colours.

With so many colours strewn around the space, I wanted to keep all the walls white, although I wouldn't say no to a bold statement wall someday! Shah wanted to add texture instead of leaving it bare white so we turned the wall behind the TV into a feature white brick wall that's not completely faux, but created from thin layers of actual white bricks.

White brick wall is purchased from Suzuka

The Sofas and Chairs

Since I chose blue as my "anchor" colour, the chesterfield sofa being the biggest piece of furniture was upholstered in a midnight blue shade. With yellow being my choice of second colour-in-command, I brought in two bright yellow single chairs to accompany the sofa and finished off with a sweet pink single chair at the other corner.

After they all arrived without me being in Johor, Shah sent me a photo of them and I legitimately panicked momentarily at seeing all the colours in one iPhone pic. But after arranging them all in place, I was so glad they worked out and made my vision come to life.

Yellow and pink chairs are from Dsignhaus. Sorry I can't remember the name of the shop the chesterfield sofa came from, the receipt is back in my old house!

The Shaggy Rug

I wanted a shaggy-ish rug for the space but couldn't choose between a neutral black-and-white or a multicoloured one, so I decided to let the options speak for me. I was banking on one rug store near my parents' place for convenience which paid off, as they carry quite a varied nice selection. 

Two of their shaggy rugs caught my eyes: one black-and-white (or more like cream or beige) and a gorgeous multicoloured one — so of course I predictably still couldn't choose. The only reason I ended up with the neutral one is the multicoloured rug was not big enough for my living room, but I still had to get it and put it in a different space in the house. 

Also, the neutral actually didn't come in a size big enough, so the shop stitch two identical carpets together to create one in the right size!

Rug is from the only rug shop at LDP Furniture Mall, PJ (can't remember the name of this shop too, sorry guys)

The Cofee Table, Side Tables, and Stools

I never had a marble anything in my old house so having a marble coffee table and a marble side table felt very grownup to me somehow. The white marble top of the tables act like the perfect canvas; I'm always switching out my coffee-table books and changing up my flower arrangements on the coffee table to freshen up the look of my living room. But then I also love the little round side table with the gold hairpin legs and blue-green top that provides that extra bit punch of colour. 

The sunflower yellow cardboard stool between the yellow chairs was one of a bunch of good stuff I bought online from the Van Gogh Museum, all the way in Amsterdam! I also have the stool in blue with almond blossom print which currently resides beside the TV cabinet.

Marble coffee table and side table are from Ruma; Blue gold round side table is from SSF; Blue velvet stool is from Enoma, LDP Furniture Mall

The TV Cabinet

Shah may have let me took the reign with the decor but since we're both occasional couch potatoes, he was adamant about one thing: our TV has to be huuuge. (Believe it or not, he wanted one in a size bigger than what you see here, but I managed to negotiate this matter successfully!) I considered having a TV cabinet in a bright, non-neutral colour too but alas, couldn't find one I like enough. 

I thought of a white one but was worried it would blend into the wall and made our big black TV stand out more than it already does. Then I found a shop on Instagram that sell this gorgeous TV cabinet with the chevron print, and I think the black would match our TV and the black legs of our marble table perfectly.

TV cabinet is from Hause; TV is LG

The Cushions

If you follow my Instagram, you might remember me sharing how I've entered an odd adulting phase of collecting cushion covers. Can't help it though; arranging cushion covers in an array of rainbow colours on my sofa just gives me such satisfaction! I switch them out every so often to change up the decor without having to do too much.

Cushion covers are mostly from Lazada and Shopee.

The Lightings

I never had table lamps or floor lamps at my old house so if given the choice, I would put them in every corner of this house! The two black lamps were one of the last additions made and honestly, if budget wasn't a factor, I would've splurged on better ones. For now, however, I am happy just to have these two complementing my furniture.

Black tripod table lamp and black floor lamp both from Lazada

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This decor was actually done with the idea that the living situation would be temporary! Some background on that: we bought the house thinking Shah would work in Johor for at least five more years and ten max. But a few weeks before our tentative early-2020 moving-in date, Shah received news that he might have to go back to KL sooner than expected. Like, end-of-2020 sooner. 

Which would mean we bought a house only to stay in it for less than a year. I shouldn't have been as shocked, seeing how Shah's work schedule had been unpredictable in the past; he used to come home from work and announced things like "We're going to Tokyo for my work this weekend." (God, I miss those times.)
Except, this time around, it involves us purchasing an entire freakin' house, not a return ticket to a foreign country.

Nevertheless, I hated being separated from Shah so I thought even with a relatively short 7-9 months period, the house deserved to be made into a comfortable home for us. 

Like I said earlier, however, Shah's work schedule is apparently never set; we're steadily into the new year and turns out he still has to continue working in Johor for now, so...how much longer will we live here? My guess is as good as yours!

Check out how I created my colourful gallery wall in the entryway

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Hope you enjoyed this little tour around my living room, until my next post ❤