UPDATE - Redecorating My Den into A Whisky Snug
ASAP - As Sustainably As Possible, definitely not soon 😆
I am currently in the process of turning our den into a “whisky snug”. This is proving to be a slow process as I’m trying to do everything as sustainably as possible, using natural materials and sourcing specific preloved or ethically made items as much as possible.
This is Part 2 of 3 - the in-between.
As there are a lot of photos, this newsletter will likely be too long for email, so please open it on the Substack app if you have it, or your internet browser, otherwise.
I hope you enjoy the update!
Six months ago, I published a newsletter about redecorating our front room that has already lived a number of different lives over the years, but it’s current iteration is that of den/library.
The following pictures show how the room looked when I wrote that post, and how it remained until about a month ago.
We had painted our entire main floor in Sherwin Williams (SW) Alabaster back in 2020, and while I really love the warm white, and plan to keep it in all the main spaces, I’ve been wanting to add more color (and coziness) to the smaller rooms.
The Original Plan
I decided to go with a warm-toned paint to balance the naturally cool tones of this room that has a mostly northern exposure.
I really loved the idea of color drenching the room and decided that I would paint the walls, trim, door and built-in bookshelf/window seat some shade of warm green. I wasn’t sure if I was brave enough to go all in by painting the ceiling.
The plan was to add a thin walnut panel around the window seat and to purchase a window seat cushion in a light grey, as I wasn’t sure that my sewing skills were up to the task of making one myself. However, I was confident that I could sew a curtain for the window and I chose a tan fabric with a nature print on it.
For the rug, I wanted something with a plaid or check pattern and I wanted a low profile light.
At the end of my initial newsletter, I’d narrowed the design down to 2 options:
I asked you to help me choose the paint color and 73% of the votes were in favor of the darker color, (SW Inverness), which I was also a fan of.
What I’ve Done So Far
✔️ Paint
✔️ Rug
✔️ Curtain Material
✔️ Light
✔️ Furnishings - Coffee Table
Between the time that I published my initial newsletter and when I finally started the decorating process, some of my plans changed, and while I think the end result is shaping up to have a similar vibe as I had originally planned, I’ve chosen all different finishes.
I once watched a Youtube video from Kinging It where they talked about turning one of the rooms in their Scottish cottage into a whisky snug, and being a fan of both whisky and snuggliness, I knew that’s what I wanted to. So I did an online search for some inspiration and I came across the following image that I immediately fell in love with:
I already had a chocolate brown leather tufted loveseat on my wishlist ever since seeing a beautifully aged one in a local hotel earlier this spring and I loved how it looked against the paint. This led me to change course slightly and find a match for this color.
1. Paint
The closet matches that I could find to the inspiration photo were SW Westhaven and SW Hunt Club. I did a little mockup using a rug that I found online and some pictures that I already owned to give it a similar vibe:
With my current inspiration, I headed to the paint shop. I also picked up a sample of the Inverness shade to see how it would look:
We applied the paint samples later that evening and it was quickly decided that Westhaven was much too dark for this room, looking almost black at night. My daughter said that Inverness reminded her of a plate of peas (and I couldn’t unsee it 😆). So we were left with Hunt Club, which was reading too blue for my liking.
Where I went wrong - in my desire to recreate the inspiration photo, I disregarded the fact that this is a north facing room that doesn’t receive a lot of light and that a cool-toned paint (which Westhaven and Hunt Club both are) would make the room feel cooler, and not cozy, which was my goal. This is a good reminder, both for home interiors and fashion, that what we see online may not actually work for our situations.
Knowing that I wanted a darker, warm-toned paint, I headed back to the paint shop, where I found SW Courtyard (bottom swatch below) and it was perfect! Every swatch that I did all around the room had me swooning.
2. Rug
I went down a rabbit-hole of trying to source a similar rug to the one that’s in the inspo photo, but I couldn’t shake the desire to have a checkered/checked rug. I also realized that copying a photo as closely as possible wasn’t really beneficial to creating a room that reflected what my family and I liked.
With this realization, I went back to my original idea of a checked rug. I decided not to go with the one that I had found back in February as the floors in this room are already a light wood so I wanted something with more contrast and a darker rug would be better at hiding Odin’s dark fur, which was a real problem with the lighter grey rug that’s been in here for the past few years! I also wanted the rug to be made from wool, a natural material.
I did consider quite a few rugs in this process but I ultimately decided on a chocolate brown wool rug with a white check pattern. I was also looking for a tufted rug as we had a hooked rug in this room previously and our cats destroyed it.
When I ordered it, I got an original delivery date of September 20 as it was backordered and I figured that I’d waited this long, I could wait another 6-8 weeks to get exactly what I wanted. But, I actually received it a few days after I ordered it and it was better than I could have dreamed!
3. Curtain Materials
For the curtains, I kept with my original idea of sewing them myself. I decided to visit a woman-owned local fabric shop to source the material. I also looked for material to make the seat cushion (a duck canvas in a light neutral solid color, but I didn’t have any luck (they’re waiting on some shipments so hopefully they’ll get some soon but I’m content to wait).
I did find a mustard yellow/white stripe linen/cotton fabric that I liked, as well as a floral cotton one, so I got a small sample of each.
I really liked the mustard stripe fabric and I decided to go back and get 2 yards of the material to make cafe length curtains. While I like the look of the floral fabric, I don’t feel like it goes well with the items that I’ve decided on for this room.
The following image is similar to what I’ve been thinking of making for the curtains:
I currently have a white tension rod that I will continue to use but I hope to eventually come across an aged brass one. The only problem is that the window is 69” long so it might be a challenge to find one that long, especially in the secondhand market.
4. Light
I’d originally planned to purchase a semi mount light for this room, but I didn’t have much luck finding one secondhand that I liked over the past 6 months. Last week, as I looked around my favorite antique shop, I just so happened to look up, and I found the coolest light that I had a really good feeling about.
I texted a photo of it to my husband and he told me that he had seen that one before and really liked it. And now it’s ours.
We haven’t mounted it yet as we are waiting for a brass ceiling canopy to match the chain metal (it came with a beautiful wooden arm that could be mounted to a wall, which would also be lovely and we’ve kept the wooden arm in the event that we ever want to do that).
5. Furnishings
There are 3 main pieces of furniture that I’d like to find for this room, a coffee table, a leather tufted loveseat and a round front corner cabinet. So far, I’ve only been successful with one:
Coffee Table
Once I had decided to order a brown rug, I decided that my color scheme for the room would be green/brown/pink, entirely inspired by a recent outfit color combination that I’ve been obsessed with (outfit 5)!
A few days after making this decision, I came across the most beautiful granite topped round coffee table - it honestly felt like fate! Can you believe that it was only $125?!?
It had an inlay lightly carved into the medium brown wooden base and I figured that I would end up wanting to stain it darker, and I did:
We went with a darker stain and I love how it turned out. It really brings the inlay into focus:
What’s Left to Do
🔲 Window Seat Wood Surround
🔲 Window Seat Material + Sewing
🔲 Place Books + Add Decor
🔲 Source Remaining Furniture - Leather Loveseat + Round Front Corner Cabinet
🔲 Refinish Temporary Bar
1. Window Seat Wood Surround
We have yet to purchase the walnut surround (this is something that my husband is taking the lead on as he is more familiar with wood types and woodworking in general). I expect we’ll do this in the next month.
We’ll likely go with a walnut plywood, like this:
2. Window Seat Material + Sewing
I would like to purchase the material to make the window seat cushion from the local fabric shop as I mentioned above. Depending on when/what materials the owner gets in, I’ll make a final decision on the color at a later date, but as I previously mentioned, I expect it to be a lighter neutral.
3. Place books and add decor
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve painted the built-in but I’ve avoided putting anything on the shelves yet as I want to let the paint cure and harden so that the books don’t stick on. I think I’ll probably do this in the next week or two.
I plan to decorate the shelves with books and decor that I already own, but I did buy 2 glass bookends that I found at the antique store ($35), as well as a marble parrot bookend ($12) that has seen better days (nose and tail feathers broken off) and who is now the library mascot.
4. Source Remaining Furniture
Tufted leather loveseat
This is proving to be very difficult to source secondhand. I’ve even loosened my criteria a bit and have been searching Facebook marketplace for just a “leather loveseat” but I haven’t found anything that I’ve liked to go back in the nook at the back of the room.
I’ve found a new one that I like and the company seems really good (sofas are made to order and they invest back into their community). I have a couple of inquiries that I want to make before ordering, which probably won’t happen for a few months, and it will then take a while to get it so I anticipate that this will be the final puzzle piece.
Round front corner cabinet
There’s an area behind one of the doors that would be the perfect place for a little whisky bar. We used to have some open shelving that my husband had originally built for a wall unit in the living room, which got moved to my closet before being disassembled and used in other areas of the home. I had thought about putting that shelving back in the same place but it was honestly a little too big for the space and I want the door to be able to open more widely and to not bring up in a piece of furniture.
I think a round front corner cabinet would work perfectly. I’d love something like the following, which I found on Etsy. Sadly (for me), it’s located in the UK and they don’t ship to the US, so if you’re in the UK and have been looking for something like this, I’m jealous!
5. Refinish Temporary Bar
Until I find the perfect round corner cabinet, I’ve decided to use a piece of furniture that we bought a few years ago. I saw it and really liked it so I bought it without a plan, except to refinish it.
I left it in the garage for a few days and my daughter decided that she wanted it for her record player stand (and she didn’t want it refinished) and that’s what it was until a few months ago. It was just sitting randomly on the stair landing and I got to thinking that it would be a good placeholder until I find the perfect item for the corner behind the door.
My plan is to sand and re-stain it with a similar stain color, add an antique platter on top to protect the wood and add some glasses and bottles of scotch on the shelves.
The “Whisky Snug” Today
Already this room feels so much more cozy than it used to. Everyone loves how it is turning out and I can’t wait until it’s complete and we can all enjoy it together.
It’s definitely proving to be a slow process, due to sourcing the perfect items as well as budget. While that feels frustrating at times, I’m also content to take my time and find the things that I really want for this room. I know that I’ll be really happy I did it this way when it’s complete.
This little nook at the back of the room (compliments of a coat closet that juts into the space is where we intend to place the loveseat. The width is 81” so a traditional sofa is too long but a loveseat will be perfect. We will also place a single larger picture over the sofa, or will create a gallery wall with pictures that we already have. This chair and lamp are temporary (the lamp base is broken and likes to tip over so I had to use books to weigh it down).
I really love this coffee table and I feel so lucky to have found it. When the shelves are ready for all of the books and decor, we’ll move the chessboard onto one of the shelves. I plan to move a flower painting that we have in our entryway to the wall above the table to mirror flowers on the table.
The final view is of the space behind the door. This will become the temporary bar cart and may get turned to the other wall. We will also be adding some art on the wall above.
We have added a few books and decorations on the bookshelf to determine if they are fully cured and not sticky anymore.
Thank you so much for reading this very long newsletter! I hope that you’ve enjoyed seeing the progress so far and I’d love to hear what you think of what we’ve done and our future plans.
Do you think this is all going to come together to create a warm and cozy whisky snug?
I’ve really loved working on this room, and it’s peaked my interest in interior design, so much that I’m considering taking an introductory class at the local college at some point. If you’re an interior designer, I’d love to hear what you path in the profession has been.
The space is coming together beautifully. I think the slow approach is the perfect way to go about creating a space as you get a chance to sit with your changes and develop your ideas in the process. It really helps you to put your personality and preferences into the project. Your paint colour experience is a good reminder to use photos as inspiration not to make a perfect copy. Look forward to seeing the completed room in the future.
Wow, I love your new cosy, 'hygge'-like space - perfect for long winter evenings, Gilian :) also, I'm curious - have you at any point used AI to to convert your 'old' room according to your moodboard?