A cool blue velvet sitting room design? Yes please. I love turning an up-cycling project into a staging exercise. Here is a sitting room design I staged – in my kitchen! – around a sofa which I had re-upholstered.

Blue velvet sofa Blue velvet sofa

I came across this sofa on eBay. It was being sold for 99p and I had to save it. It came with the original paperwork from 1994 when it was custom made by Braziers of Oxford. It was in pretty poor condition but the poor condition was purely cosmetic and nothing an upholsterer couldn’t solve. I picked very on trend navy blue velvet, found an amazing local upholsterer and I think the result is beautiful. It will now last another 20 years!

Sofa details Before and after Blue velvet sofaFor the palette of the room, I went for a masculine feel to contrast against the soft velvet. Black, blues and grey.

Palette

A vintage Persian rug, a black Chinese tray table, electric blue pendant lights fixed with black IKEA EKBY VALTER brackets and a black and white photo by my dad Antony Parks. All of which I already had. I love them against the grey wall in my kitchen (which is Dulux Night Jewels 5).*

Yes my husband is a very patient man who helps me dismantle the house on a regular basis to stage photoshoots like this!

Pendant lights EKBY VALTER brackets Blue velvet sofa Ikea EKBY VALTER

I hope you’re inspired!