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For a lot of clients I have worked with, their bedrooms are often the last place in their homes they decorate (if at all!), even though they spend a lot of their life in that space. I maybe be a designer, but I am also a tired mum of 2 very young and energetic kids, decorating our home slooooowwwwwwly, very much on a budget, so just like a lot of my clients… I am going to hold my hands up to admitting… I have totally neglected my own bedroom. In fact…. Since having kids, the last 5 years has seen our bedroom turning into the dumping ground of the house.
After a hectic day, my heart would totally sink walking into my very uninspiring, sad and chaotic space. I just really wanted somewhere I could retreat to. Somewhere calm and (relatively) clutter free. A safe, warm inviting space grown up space that reflected who WE were, as people.. not just someones mum and dad/afterthought… It was never a priority though and to be honest/I never made it a priority and I often felt what was the point in spending money and time on a space no-one else sees or uses, aside from my husband and me. eeeeeekkkk….
Whoaaahhhh!!!! Things needed to change asap! It was time to practice what I preach. You know when people say, you should speak to yourself how you would speak to a friend….. well… yeah.. just that! If you are reading this and are relating to any of the above, firstly….. 1. You/I am/We are TOTALLY worth it. 2. We should decorate our homes for US, not as a show for other people because it’s your space, so should reflect who you are.
When @scion_living * challenged me to makeover a room in my home to celebrate the launch of their new website, firstly… I felt very blessed, may have cried some happy tears (cringe…) and knew this was a sign I needed to do something about the dumping ground, aka…. our bedroom.
INSPIRATION
As this project was very much on a budget I did allllll the decorating and DIY bits myself over a very long time (verrrrrrrrrrryyyy long) as I only had the evenings really to chip away at little bits of the project while the kids were sleeping. Not going to lie….. It was tough, but I really enjoyed picking up new skills here, but might give ceiling painting a break for a while!!
As my own client, I set myself the brief of claiming back our space from the kids/ dumping ground and create a calming, inspiring, quirky grown-up space we could retreat to at night that was our very own. A space that really reflected who we are and all the things we love.
MOODBOARD - original mood board for the scheme.
SAMPLES BOARD - Showing materials used in the final design.
The inspiration? The beach! My happy place! I am most at peace on a beach... any beach, and we live so close to the sea here, it was an obvious inspo choice for me. There are nods to the seaside everywhere in this space, but I didn’t want to fall into creating a beachside cliche, if you know what I mean. I decided to hang the wallpaper horizontally rather than vertically so it looked like waves. This was a little bit tricky as the wall is really long, but the quality of this paper is amazing and it helps sooo much that it is paste the wall WOOHOO!
The coral and pink tones represent the sunset. Painting the ceiling was the best decision ever (although… I may have had a wee wobble about it at the time and seriously questioned this decision Ha!). It unifies the whole scheme and actually makes the room feel bigger, calmer and just comforting. Walking into this space now feels like being hugged by a sunset.
I wanted to create a look nook cosy area at the window, with a chair I could just sit and chill out in. Ok, so there probably won't be a lot of chilling out.... but maybe if I am lucky, my kids my let me sit and stare at the wall for a few seconds. Anyway, I painted out this nook in the coral so it zoned this wee nook space out from the rest of the room and I bloomin love it!
It’s so important to me to have things in our home that bring us joy and remind us of happy times. It is also important to me as a designer to reuse items where I can rather than always buying new. This chair belonged to my husband's granny and was her nursing chair, which then became his mum's nursing chair and then mine! When @scion_living challenged me to transform a room in my home using products from their wonderful new website I just knew I wanted to create a real feature of this chair using a fabric that just sparked so much joy! I chose their “Beton Fabric” in Kiwi as it reminded me of palm trees and had the chair reupholstered locally.
A big transformation has been painting out all the woodwork in the room, including upcycling all the furniture I already had by painting in the same paint colour as the woodwork. It was a big job as there is A LOT of wood in this space, but it has been so worth it and I would absolutely do this all again.
Quite often we focus on the view when we walk into a room, for instance, feature walls, but we forget about the whole experience of BEING in the room. The result of this can often be neglected areas that cause a disjointed feel. It was therefore really important for me to create areas of interest in all around the room, thinking of how the room would be used as a whole.
I created a vertical paneling section with a round mirror I had leftover from another project. I absolutely LOVE this view when I am sitting in bed. This is a great little area now for doing hair and makeup, as well as looking cool! Functional and fabulous! hehe.
I painted out all my old Ikea Malm chest of drawers in the same colour as the woodwork. Yes, you can paint Ikea furniture! The key is to clean and prep well. Clean, prime, paint with a foam roller. Done!
I totally love our new space and it has made such a difference to how I feel when I am in the room. It was totally worth all the work. What do you guys think? Let me know in the comments below.
*Scion products have been gifted as part of a paid collaboration.
