'I'm so glad I took a risk on a bold wallpaper'

Hannah Hooper stepped away from safe neutrals in her living room, choosing a statement wallpaper in blue and gold as the starting point for her scheme

- Jane Crittenden

Hannah Hooper was drawn to this 1970s house because of its size and large garden. 'We'd been living in a townhouse with a small section of outside decking, so there wasn't space for the girls to have a trampoline or a swing set,' she explains. 'I planned to convert the garage into my home beauty salon and modernise the rest of the house - including turning the living room into a grown-up space for having drinks with friends or watching TV in the evenings.'

THE PROJECT

The living room was at the front of the house and one of the last spaces to be updated. 'It was used for storage during the renovations,' says Hannah. 'It was a good size at 12 sq m, with a huge window and lots of light, and I was pleased the gas fire had been fitted into a chimney so I could install a wood burner."

Hannah had turned the dining room on the other side of the chimney wall into a playroom. I'm not a fan of open-plan spaces, but I loved the idea of incorporating a doublesided stove, so the rooms weren't completely shut off from one another,' Hannah continues.

'I could have my posh living room on one side and the girls could have their own play space."