Our Bedroom Transformation

Here we are, a year after moving back in and I’m finally ready to share my bedroom transformation with you. Ey up, not in that way of course. I’ve a terrible headache and I made the bed especially for the photos so can’t risk messing them up! I do however want to share its transformation.

Bedroom Transformation – The Before

I am pretty sure that in it’s day, this bedroom would have been incredibly stylish. Much like the rest of the house, time, love and thought had been put into its design, it’s just all that love was put in 30 years ago. Ankle shy curtains and peach ceilings with matching carpets just aren’t my bag and with a door in every corner, change was needed.

The Transformation – Where to start?

I began where I always do with any major design decisions, I of course consulted Mr Peach. I listened patiently whilst he gave his opinions on colours and furniture. I hung on his every thought as to where said furniture should be placed and then immediately ignored every last idea. You see, his experience of design decisions is choosing between the Trainspotting and Take Me To Your Dealer poster at the freshers fair.

If it was up to him we would be snuggled up under a star wars duvet cover whilst watching the 55-inch wall mounted flat screen. Er………no! So with Mr Peach fully believing that I was acting on his golden design nuggets, I promptly arranged a clandestine meeting with my interior ‘lover’ Monsieur Pinterest. Always on hand to get my juices (of creative sort) flowing and forever ready to be my cheating partner, I set about falling down a bedroom rabbit hole.

But first to solve the layout issues…

Just revisiting these plans gives me the willies. For any of you that have played the renovation game, you’ll know just how much you become obsessed with these drawings. Endless hours, countless cups of tea and a biscuit mountain spent wondering if you’ve made the right choice. Will our lives be better if we move that wall 5cm to the right? Any choice that gives us more space than the bin lids is a good one though right? Choices made, random doors to adjacent rooms were blocked up, the coffin sized ensuite knocked out and greedily we stole the family bathroom and a bedroom to create way more room than is strictly necessary. Boom. Now for the fun bit.

Bedroom Transformation – The Design

Panelling

Since stepping through the doors of the Peach Palace full of anticipation, excitement and full of an actual baby, I’ve become obsessed with panelling. Having once thought it was only for Hogwarts I have now embraced it head on. In full Verruca Salt style, I knew that I had to have it. Thankfully, we know a man who can do almost anything with MDF and he set about making it happen. The whole wall cost us less than £400.

Then came the search for the perfect grey, simples yes? Think again. With thousands of shades of grey available we went temporarily grey blind and then opted for Lead Grey from the Dulux Heritage range. We chose this for no other reason other than the thumb screws were on to pick a colour by the next morning. We took a punt, it paid off. I am endlessly answering insta questions about this paint shade.

Wallpaper

I’ve spoken of my love of House of Hackney before, a cool as f**k East London brand that pushes all of my interior buttons. In another life I’m a hipster wafting around Shoreditch, sniffing out Vegan cafes and shopping at HoH for stylish accessories. The closest I get to Hipster these days is a growing collection of hairs on my chin. Good job I can shop online! I chose Tulipa in Pewter which although is not available on their site, I’m pretty sure you can order it. Now as much as I love HoH, its safe to say they are a little skinny on the rolls. It took 3 to cover one wall and I was less than pleased to discover that despite spending hours of tessellating and jiggling, there remained an A4 sized void where no pattern matched. ‘Just order another roll’ said the decorator. At a bazillion pounds a roll this isn’t what you want to hear and thus the void remains as a tribute to the fact that I just can’t afford it…

Lighting

I’d had my eye on a Vita Copenhagen Eos for yonks so snapped one up for a steal in the Graham & Green sale. It. Is. Beautiful. It also fails to give off any light. It is entirely pointless but quite frankly I can live with that because it makes my heart sing every time I see it. Being unaware of its pathetic luminous offering meant we didn’t have the forethought to plan for wall lights. No pressure then lamps…………We needn’t have worried though as a bespoke creation from my friend Lisa Lampshades and a cheeky little schoolhouse electric gift to myself for my husband’s 40th (yes you heard that right) work a treat. We also have a couple of old Hubsch Interior lamps in there for when we are really desperate but to be honest, these days I look far better in low lighting. Consequently, they rarely get used.

Furniture

I’ve never had a dressing table before. Maybe that’s because my make-up applying skills are both questionable and sporadic. It did however feel like a pretty grown up thing to have and at pushing 40 I’m a grown up right? Not one to shy away from a bargain I searched Ebay and found this saucy little number for a mere £30! I coupled it with a brass tub chair and I now have zero excuses to not look a million dollars at every waking moment.

And now to my favourite corner in the entire house. This is the view form my bed, its what I wake up to every morning. Granted, insta-reality means that it’s mostly covered in last night’s clothes but its a cracking view none-the-less. These garments also tend be be scattered on the what Mr Peach refers to as the ‘floordrobe’. What can I say, a tidy house is the sign of a wasted life.

Talking of beds, mine is a brand spanking new one and I adore it. As you may know we have a lot of children. Some might say too many and sometimes I would agree with them. One of those times is when I wake up and the bed contains a double figure number of appendages. Our record is a grand total of 24 arms and legs and trust me it’s a sweaty squeeze. I’d been looking at upgrading our king bed into a super king for a while but just couldn’t justify it. Then as if by instamagic, Darlings of Chelsea got in contact and asked me if I would like a bed! Having been a dentist for all of my adult life, the closest I get to a freebie is a mini tube of Colgate and a pack of floss so this felt incredible!

I chose the Northcote, a plush velvet frame with a padded headrest that props these old bones up a treat whilst reading the morning newspaper (we all know there are no newspapers just GMTV and titting about on Instagram right?). I was also insanely lucky enough to receive a Simba mattress to trial. Not just any Simba, the Luxe mattress, the one that seems to be made entirely of hugs! Anyway they are a match made in actual heaven and I am terribly grateful.

Soft Furnishings

During the planning of our bedroom transformation, for a long time I’d been looking for a giant rug, something to anchor the bed. Modern Rugs came up trumps with the Fading World rug by Louis de Poortere. Its one of the fanciest and softest rugs that I’ve ever owned, a proper treat for the trotters!

I’m not allowed to talk about cushions, they are Mr Peach’ nemesis. All you need to know is there’s lots of them and they cause a ritual huffing and puffing of the wrong sort in the bedroom every evening. The Christy Jaipur throw and Mizzknits chunky knit are totally worth a mention though.

Art

Thankfully we side stepped the 1996 poster trap and have a few gorgeous pieces in our bedroom transformation. The pink trays above the bed are Ibride design and the gold laced art is from Sifabricate. The gorgeous wall hanging is from Whisker Row. (Interested in art? You might like this post too).

The reveal

There you go, a little overdue but hopefully worth the wait – our bedroom transformation, before and after, in all its glory! I hope you enjoyed the little tour, you’ll see a peek at our ensuite in the video. If you missed the bathroom transformation you can read about it here. And if you have enjoyed reading, I would really appreciate you taking a minute to vote for me in the Northern Blog Awards. I’m pretty chuffed to have been nominated. Vote here (category 7, you can skip through the other categories). Any other questions, please feel free to comment below, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Shop the look:

In the interest of being completely transparent I would like to share a few things with you. The bed, mattress and rug were gifted to me. I am under no obligation to write and recommend these pieces in this post, I have not been paid and no prior approval of content was required. Thank you please.