Room Tour: Bella's Bedroom

I feel like I've written about Bella's bedroom many times. From her six year old's bedroom in our old house in Leeds, to her quickly decorated new bedroom here when she was eight ,which we then updated two years later, and then updated again last summer. It was always a challenge to squeeze all her things into the smallest room in the house, with her needs ever changing. I should say that I never mind this constantly evolving bedroom situation; it gives us a chance to update and refresh the children's bedrooms, and it's unrealistic to expect a child's bedroom to never change, as what they need at six is so different to what they need at eleven, and sixteen.

What we've done is move Bella, who is twelve and a half, into what was the spare room downstairs, just off the hall and opposite the kitchen. This room was only really used if we had guests, or if I was doing the ironing. Wasted space, to put it mildly, while Bella was crammed into a box room upstairs.  From the spare room, an archway leads to a smaller room which we used to call the office but no-one ever worked in there, it was basically storage. 

Here are a few before and after photos of the spare room:

and the office area:

(When the house was built this smaller room was a utility room, accessed from the garage and with a door to the garden, but previous owners had blocked up the garage entrance and knocked through an archway, making it accessible from the house instead. So we had two awkwardly shaped but linked downstairs rooms which added up to quite a good sized bedroom.)

Over half term, we removed the laminate flooring from the spare room and the carpet from the office and used the same flooring that we have in the hall and living room, largely because we had so much left over that we only needed to buy another couple of packs. Straight away, using the same flooring throughout made the space look like one room rather than two. We also boxed in the upvc window frame, moved a couple of light switches and redecorated. 

As much as possible we tried to reuse what we already had, buying new only when we absolutuely had to. Another IKEA Billy Bookcase (I could assemble these in my sleep now) was added to the one that was already there, so that Bella finally has enough space for all her books and those storage boxes which are ideal for storing small toys, craft supplies etc.

I updated Bella's six year old desk (the Micke desk from IKEA) by covering all the pink metalwork and trim with copper spray paint and turning it into a dressing table. It was no longer big enough for her to use as a desk, so it's nice that it has a new purpose.

An old IKEA Frosta stool was given a face-lift with new cover made from a load of leftover scraps of yarn.

In between the door and bookcases hangs a gallery wall. All the prints were ones we already had, we just updated a few frames cheaply from IKEA and Wilkos. 

Bella is now using what was the "spare bed", rather than her old wooden one, because it's a trundle style bed with a pull-out mattress underneath, so perfect for sleepovers.

Most of the bedding and cushions we already had, although Bella chose to spend some of her pocket money on a new cushion and a mustard throw.

I added a garland made from leftover scraps of cotton and acrylic DK yarn.

Moving into the old "office", this now holds Bella's wardrobe and desk. It's an awkward room due to the boxed in pipework that runs along one long wall, so we decided to devote this wall to hanging storage, for her school blazer, bag etc.

At one end is space for a wardrobe, a bigger one than before because Bella does not have a chest of drawers to hold clothes, so everything is hung or stored in boxes in the wardrobe.

At the other end, under the window, sits the desk that was there before with the addition of a little chest of drawers underneath and a couple of shelves above. This desk (which we've had for about six years maybe) is plenty big enough for Bella to study at, with space for folders, laptop etc. Although I bet she will continue to use the kitchen table as she always does...

She arranged and styled everything herself, and these two shelves hold some of her most favourite things, so I'm relieved to see a couple of old handmade toys up there.

We bought two new lampshades, but I didn't mind this as we'd never updated the lighting in this room since we moved in four years ago.

We were able to reuse so many things; the curtains, desk and chair, a slim Billy bookcase, dressing table and stool, bedside table, bed, plus smaller things like storage boxes, prints and shelves. I'll provide links for everything we bought at the bottom of the post.

So you might be wondering about what kind of spare room we have now, and what about poor neglected Angus? Well, Angus has moved into Bella's bedroom, taking with him a huge wall map, his clothes, and about two hundred books. His old bedroom is now going to become a multi-use room, and it is going to work extremely hard! It will be the spare room when it needs to be, although we need to buy a sofa bed before we do anything else, so that we can put people up when they come to stay (or let them have our bed while we sleep on the sofa bed). But the sofa bed is also so that this room can become a sort of second sitting room, with somewhere for Bella, Angus and friends to play on the Xbox or watch a DVD. It still holds all Angus's toys in the large cupboards in the eves, so this is essentially his play room for now, which he is delighted about. ("It's like I've got two bedrooms mum!") And finally it will be an office, the room where we keep all our files, paperwork and printer, with a desk and chair. If any of you use these kind of spare room/offices/play rooms I'd really appreciate any tips on how best to get the space to work. I'm guessing it's one thing mainly: storage!

I hope you are all well? We've had the loveliest weekend, visiting lavender fields, picking fruit and enjoying the weather among other things, just taking it a bit easier than usual. It was much needed after a tough week last week, during which I was unwell with a horrible virus, no doubt something to do with end of term tiredness. Anway, five more days to go...

Product links:

Wardrobe - IKEA Songesand

Bookcase - IKEA Billy

Chest of drawers - IKEA Alex

Mirror - IKEA Langesund
Rug - IKEA Rorkar

Lampshades - John Lewis Titus

Paint - B&Q Lars Contzen Colour Courage in Honolulu

Renovations

Well hello! Thank you for your comments on my last post, it's great to hear that so many of your are fans of the Camber dress pattern. I haven't even started it yet because I've been a bit busy. I didn't mean to leave it so long between posts, what with this being the summer holidays and all this free time I'm supposed to have, but we've been occupied with a little light renovation at home lately with two rooms being turned upside down.

We've embarked on a project in our hall; the removal of our cupboard under the stairs, and the wall between the porch/entryway and the hall, with the idea that this will make the whole space lighter and more spacious. Our hallway is dark and narrow, and the end nearest the kitchen and bathroom gets very gloomy (and when we ever get around to replacing the internal doors we will definitely put a glass door between the kitchen and hall, for the borrowed light) but removing the cupboard and wall has already made a huge difference. The cupboard isn't that necessary for the storage, as next to it is a large walk in cupboard where we keep all our shoes and coats, and opposite is the door to the internal garage, where I will from now on be keeping things like the vacuum. 

Anyway, here are some progress photos for you. They are not pretty, and only snapped on my phone, but I thought you might like to see what we've been up to.

This is the cupboard under the stairs, as it was.

 The door and plasterboard was removed...

...then the panelling...

...until we were able to remove the carpet from the stairs...

...and the stair risers to expose the original, sixties staircase.

Here's a before and after photo:

Now, a word or two about these stairs; yes, we are aware that open, wooden stairs have their risks and we would never consider doing such a project with young children in the house. As it is, ours are nine and eleven and no more likely to fall on/through the stairs than I am. At the moment the stairs are so caked in glue that no-one will be slipping any time soon, but when they've been sanded and treated we will be adding a discreet but safe anti-slip strip to each wooden stair. As for them being open, I love this feature. It's not to everyone's taste, and I know some people find open stairs disconcerting to walk up and down - I get that, spiral staircases freak me out - but I think it's a beautiful original feature and I'm so happy to be restoring those stairs. 

Safety announcement aside, I love the way the light falls through the wooden slats and we plan to put the shoe storage unit under here with the children's shoes in it.

Next, the removal of the porch window and door.

 Once the glass panels had been carefully removed the wooden surround came out. John and my Dad did the heavy lifting here, while I offered helpful suggestions.

There is obviously some repair work to be done to the walls, ceiling and floor around the old threshold, but already the sense of space is amazing. 

Here's another before and after:

 Since then, my Dad and John have been plastering around the old threshold.

While my mum and I have been removing the paint from the stairs and metalwork. I know this photo looks a lot like the one above but there are hours and hours of scraping and rubbing down in this photo.

We now need to:

• finish plastering/filling/sanding the walls
• decorate walls and ceiling
• sand and treat the stairs
• paint the metalwork under the stairs (colour in dispute at the moment!)
• remove the old laminate flooring
• lay a new floor - John is very excited about doing this himself.

So we will be living in a bit of a building site for the next month or so as we are doing all the work ourselves, but I will keep you updated.

The second project that has taken up so much of our time is Bella's bedroom. I think Bella's bedroom has undergone more changes and transformations than any other room in our house (the last one here), but that's because it's absolutely tiny and she keeps on growing, so I am constantly thinking about ways to maximise every last inch of space in that room and adapt it to her changing needs. This time, is was the sudden realisation that the child's wardrobe she'd had since she was two was no longer big enough to hold her clothes and that it was high time she got something more suitable.

This time there was no decorating, but a day spent in IKEA and another day spent removing furniture, assembling furniture, putting furniture back, and also having a major sort out of all clothes, books, toys etc and the inevitable trips to tip, charity shop etc that this entails. Her new wardrobe is perfect and her old one was donated to a charity shop locally that takes furniture. 

We had fun though. Bella chose a few new postcards in IKEA and arranged a little gallery wall to go above her desk. She laid it out on the floor, then I took a photo of it and banged all the nails into the wall as per her instructions. We are a good team, Bella and I, when we're doing stuff like this. She may not want to craft, but she is creative and has a good eye.

Everything else in her room was already there, but it's just been moved around. 

We both really like her bed under the window there, and she loves to arrange cushions along the length so it's like a sofa.

Ah, my little pre-teen girl, she's growing up.

Room Tour: Bella's Bedroom

Decorating this bedroom was a much more harmonious experience than I had anticipated. I was expecting it to be a battle of wills, but in the end it all came together really nicely and my opinionated ten and a half year old loves it.

Bella had her heart set on a cabin/loft style bed. Initially, we were open to this, mainly because her room is so small that any extra storage and floor space had to be a good thing. But they were either too young in style, or too tall (we don't have very high ceilings in the upstairs of our house due to the sixties chalet-style roof) or just too pricey, and I was worried she would outgrow it quite quickly. So I suggested we just keep her existing bed and, as we did with Angus's, paint it grey. I have to confess I was thinking about the half-tin of grey paint down in the garage and that it would be good to use it up. Surprisingly she agreed on the proviso that she could pick out the wallpaper that went behind her bed. 

This seemed fair and she went for gold stars on a slightly off-white background, which I absolutely love, and luckily one roll was enough. We hung a little shelf just to the side of her bed so that she could store her glass of water and book, and her bedside lamp clips on to the side of her bed. The grey faux-sheepskin rug adds warmth and texture to the white floor and the pink metal storage basket is from Ferm Living and one I've had for a few years. It used to live downstairs in the living room and held all my yarn, but as my yarn stash has dwindled so rapidly lately I didn't really need it any more, and thought it would look much better in her room, which it does, holding the many soft toys she absolutely cannot live without.

The prints and frames I already had. They hung in other parts of the house and simply changing the frames and moving them to a different location gave them a new lease of life and made me look at them afresh. Bella really likes them because they're pretty but not girly. I like that the colours are bright but not babyish, and they all share the same clean lines and stylised graphics. 

There is just space at the foot of the bed for a tall, thin bookcase. The curtains and blind are the same as before.

Turning the other way, towards the door and bed, there is just space for a little wardrobe and desk, all of which was here before. 

Bella and I had so much fun arranging her favourite objects and toys on the shelves.

The white painted floorboards are one of my favourite things about this room. I know people worry that they are cold but I don't think anything feels warmer than wood underfoot. I just love it. Also, we have central heating and the rooms upstairs are toasty in the winter, to the point that we have to turn down all our radiators, so I'm not too worried about the temperature issue. Also, we had nothing to lose but the cost of a tin of floor paint. The carpet was in such a bad state that we would have had to replace it anyway. If in a few years we decide that painting the floorboards was a disaster, well, we'll get a carpet.

You're probably wondering where all the toys are. There are four plastic storage boxes under her bed, holding barbies, Lego, bags, scarves, odds and ends. And downstairs, in the office, we have about eight huge plastic boxes which hold all the children's Playmobil and Sylvanian Families (we have collected a lot of those over the years) which help keep toys out of the bedrooms.

 I really love this room and there are lots of elements I would like to take into our room when I redecorate it this summer, like the floorboards and white walls. (Except I'll have about fifteen house plants crammed into our bedroom!)

We kept to the smallest of budgets, only buying white floor paint, wallpaper, shelf, rug, fairy lights and lampshade. I think we probably spent no more than £100 which isn't bad considering what we did. 

Useful links:

Floor paint is Ronseal Diamond Hard Floor Paint in white.
Wall paint is pure brilliant white, we used Valspar from B&Q
Bed paint is Grey Slate eggshell from B&Q
Fardrup rug, Lack shelf, Ramsta fairy lights and Jara lampshade all IKEA
The tulip print in the black frame is by Inaluxe and the other three are all by Clare Nicolson.

Wallpaper is Galerie Stars from John Lewis.