Decorating Again

I'm really ready for our half term break. It seems like everyone but Hampshire is already on holiday and I'm in need of a rest. Of course when I say rest, I mean decorate Angus's bedroom, which I'm actually quite looking forward to doing. I like nothing more than tinkering and pottering with things in the house, much to John's sincere joy. 

Now, I am aware that Angus's bedroom was only decorated two years ago and so arguably doesn't need doing that badly. In fact we decorated almost all the rooms in our house in the time between us buying and moving in in spring 2015. The good thing about this was that we were able to paint all the rooms quickly at the same time and without tripping over furniture. The downside to this kind of decorating is that we hadn't lived in the house and didn't really know how the rooms were going to feel, or whether or not a certain idea was going to work. We guessed where most furniture might go but things like paint colours, feature walls and furniture arrangement all need adjusting. 

Upstairs we painted walls, ceilings and woodwork, but left the floor coverings in place and hired a carpet cleaner to clean them up a little. But the carpets really are in a terrible state and I will be overjoyed to rip up Angus's bedroom carpet on Saturday and take it to the tip where it belongs. Everything was quick fix and make do, from the rugs positioned to hide stains to the sheets of gift wrap hung as a cheap and easy print on the wall. There's nothing wrong with any of this, of course, but I think it's time for something a little more thought out. 

Some of his bedding he's had since he was a toddler, and the brightly coloured wooden toys dotted around the room are more there for my benefit than his, since he will be eight this summer.

While all our upstairs bedrooms have large windows and a good amount of natural light, they are all tricky shapes and sizes. Angus's room has a reasonable amount of floor space and a lot of storage, in the shape of cupboards built into the sloped roof. It also has a very odd layout and there is only really one place the bed can go, which is under the window. But I think that the bookcase, desk and chest of drawers - which are all fairly similar sizes - could be better arranged to suit the way Angus reads and plays in his bedroom.

We're still doing all this on a budget though. We have been given a second hand carpet (from my parent's bedroom - good quality wool and in fantastic condition) but need to pay a fitter to lay it. I think a carpet is needed in this room as Angus spends a large amount of time sitting or lying on the floor to read or play with his toys. I want him to feel cosy, much as I would like to paint the floorboards white. We'll also need to buy paint and I have treated Angus (ok, myself) to a couple of prints for the walls. I hate the orange pine bed with a passion but we can't afford a new one so I'm going to paint it. I would love to buy him this bed linen but again, the budget doesn't allow so I've got plain a white duvet cover, a fir tree rubber stamp and some black fabric paint.... 

Badgers will feature too. Nothing too themed, but a fairly monochrome palate with lots of textures and natural touches here and there. 

I will keep you all posted! Also, sorry these photos are so grainy - it was a very gloomy day indeed but the only one where I had time to take any photos.