Cox and Kings Blogging Challenge

I have blogged a couple of times lately about the Cox & Kings blogger challenge I was invited to take part in. With a budget of two hundred and fifty pounds I had to decorate a room in an Indian theme.

As I said in an earlier post I opted for our living room as we still hadn’t put our own stamp on it since moving in eighteen months ago. This is a room which will stay like this so I wanted to spend the money wisely.

I didn’t put the room together until I bought everything so I did have a few days of wondering whether I had gone too far with all the bright colours. I can be quite adventurous with décor at times and I’m not afraid of being a bit different but I was hoping that I wasn’t going to end up with a room which required sunglasses upon entering. Luckily I think I managed to get everything just right.

Buying cushions was the obvious place to start and all mine were bought from the One World Shop, the Fair Trade retailer. They have a fabulous selection and I opted for different cushions – a mixture of sequinned covers and a couple more plain ones.

The One World shop was a fantastic discovery and most of what I bought came from there. The photo frame is made of Indian mango wood as is the mirror. I love the way the wood, rather than the glass, is the feature.

Lamps and lampshades don’t appear to play a big part in traditional Indian rooms but when they do they tend to have that wow factor. So I chose carefully with this natural leaf tower lamp from The One World Shop and the Maidstone Clear Pendent from Harry Corry. I love both of them.

The mosaic bowl is, again, from the One World Shop. It feels very well made, and solid enough that even if it gets dropped it should survive intact. It makes a great centerpiece for the coffee table.

Think of Indian décor and wall hangings come to mind. There really are some stunning ones on the market. I bought this one from New Age Living and I am really happy with it. It doesn’t domineer the room and the detail in it is beautiful. I love it.

My little black pod chair in the corner received a make-over thanks to Pilgrimms Bazaar with this colourful Indian throw.

I also picked up a few bargains along the way. This decorative vase was £5 in TK Maxx, and the three tealight holders came to £9.99, bought from Argos.

After weeks of planning and shopping I think everything came together nicely. With so many reds, oranges and pinks it could be easy to get it wrong but I do think most accessories are designed to enable you to blend the different colours. It’s not often you would see so many similar colours together.

I am happy with how the room looks now. It is much more homely. And we have certainly been spending more time in the living room since the transformation.

If you like the room transformation please ‘like’ my entry at Cox & Kings Facebook page. Voting runs from March 12 to March 25 with the winner announced on March 26.

By Jackie Cosh on March 9, 2012.