Room Tour: Angus's Bedroom

I am assuming that you're as nosey as me and that, therefore, you'd like to see some photos of our new house. I've been sharing corners and snippets of our home here, but there is still a lot to do in every single room and it's in no way finished. It will never be finished, I know that, but my list of outstanding jobs motivates me to get things done. Some tasks are large, like decorating the hall, stairs and landing (my heart is already sinking - all those doors to paint...) others are smaller like changing that bare hanging light bulb in the dining room for a proper light fitting. But even the small jobs require spare time and spare money, and those things are in short supply. 

But last week, I declared Angus's room Finished. I think it might be one of my favourite rooms in the house actually, which came as a surprise; it's an awkward shape and size, there is only one place to put the bed, the carpet is knackered...but it reflects him somehow and he just loves his room, and that's probably why I love it too. There is no matching scheme, nothing that organised. Just neutral walls and lots of colour, black and white. All we did in this room was paint everywhere, choosing an off-white for the walls and white for the ceiling and woodwork. While I love the look of pure white paint, I knew it would look very cold in this north-east facing room and this is much warmer. We will replace the carpet at some point (it's in a bad way) but for now hiring a carpet cleaner and buying a rug sufficed.

His bed is one half of the bunk beds he used to share with Bella, and which used I to share with my sister when I was little. The white unit beside his bed used to live in our bathroom, but I much prefer it here. It's perfect for storing the random bits and bobs which six year old boys collect. 

The poster is a sheet of wrapping paper, a fun and cheap way to decorate walls, and I used these to hang it. The fairy lights are from Cable and Cotton, and the duvet set and hanging toy storage are both from IKEA.

The window sill holds toys or clutter, depending on your interpretation, and a black out roller blind helps keep out the morning sun. The view is nice too, lots of trees and rooftops.

At the other end of the room are two sets of cupboards. I just love the coat rack* here, providing both colour and storage. It's one of my favourite things ever - we've had it for years, and I think it's looks brilliant in a child's bedroom, or anywhere for that matter.

The rug was an inexpensive find and I love the eye catching chevrons. 

Those cupboards are very deep and go right back into the eaves; the one on the right is the airing cupboard and the other is a wardrobe. We call this the Narnia wardrobe because, behind the hanging space and toy storage, is a little den, carpeted and with a light!

As you can imagine, both Bella and Angus love to go in here, shut the doors and play or read. Kids like small spaces, don't they?

The bookcase and picture ledge (both IKEA) provide not only storage but space for favourite toys and books, very important for little personalities to shine through.

The wall opposite the window and bed holds a large wall map. As Angus grows, we might put a desk on that wall, perhaps a drop-down one to save space for playing on the floor.

Something Angus loves to do is stand on that toy box and look at the map. His love of geography is almost as great as his love of badgers, and it has fired his imagination in a way I didn't think possible. At bedtime, after his story, John and he play this game where Angus stands on the toy box and, using his plastic sword like a pointer, finds the countries that John calls out to him. "Peru!" "Mongolia!" "Greenland!" The faster the better, and there are extra points if Angus can also name the capital. Please don't think we're those kind of "make everything a learning opportunity!" parents, trust me, we're really not, and this game often ends with Angus high as a kite and me moaning at John for getting Angus excited right before bedtime. 

It occurs to me now, as I write this, how much I really enjoyed helping the children decorate, furnish and arrange their rooms. I had to know my place on quite a few occasions, stepping back and letting them do things themselves, hard as I found that. Bella especially had very strong opinions on absolutely everything, and there was no way she was going to let me make the decisions for her. Angus was a little easier to persuade, but it's still very much his room and not mine.

Two last things: this is not a sponsored post, I've just provided links as I know people like to know where things come from, as do I when I read blog posts. And no, it's not always this tidy and yes I tidied it for the photos.

*

* I cannot believe how much these cost now!! We bought ours about ten years ago (in a bygone era of two incomes and no children) and seriously, it was about £100 less than this. I still love it though.