THE PLAN
My bedroom at my parents house is my living space whenever I visit from University, it looks empty and unloved and definitely wasn't my favourite place to relax and unwind. The plan is to create a really chill place where I can write and feel calm. I want to use this room renovation as a chance to learn how to do things for myself, I want to learn how to wallpaper, use tools and anything else that I can from my dad so when I need to decorate later in life I can have confidence in myself to do it rather than relying on someone else - plus I'm a very picky person so it's normally better if I do it myself.
I bought a BEAUTIFUL wallpaper, a light link metallic background with the most beautiful green leaves growing up from the bottom of the paper, by bringing in a lot of green I hope to create a garden/jungle haven in which I can be peaceful. I colour matched the green of the leaves to some paint at my local paint shop and then I was ready to start.
PAINTING
After taping off my skirting board and all the other places I didn't want to get paint on I started painting one wall using the rest of the paint left in my sample pot. When I then opened the new paint and started painting the rest of the walls I noticed there was a slight colour difference between the sample paint and the bigger tin. So after bringing several people over to make sure I wasn't going crazy I headed back to the paint shop and two days later I finally finished all the walls in the right colour.
DECORATORS CAULKING
I'm just throwing this one in here because I learnt to do this and am very proud of how good it looks. I used decorator caulk to seal the skirting boards where they had stared to pull away from the wall, this created a seamless edge and made it look very professional if I do say so myself.
FIREPLACE
Before I wallpapered I wanted to re-paint my fireplace to make the black stand out even more against the light wallpaper. Even though it is a small touch I think it looks so much neater and clean.
WALLPAPERING
My dad showed me how to properly hang wallpaper and helped me a bunch while I was wallpapering my room, he even stayed up until 2.30 in the morning just to help me get it finished. I made it especially difficult for the both of us as I wanted to wallpaper a wall with two alcoves and a fireplace so matching the pattern and getting the wallpaper to curve around the alcoves was particularly tedious. Even though some of it may not be absolutely perfect I am so incredibly happy with the end result because not only does it look amazing, I did it and learnt something new all whilst having a fun time with my dad.
UP-CYCLING FURNITURE
I love up-cycling, seeing something go from 'kind of alright' to being the coolest thing makes me feel very satisfied. The smallest project was adding new knobs to my desk drawers which was really easy but makes the desk look so much prettier. I then painted my desk chair a beautiful pink colour to bring out the pink tone in the wallpaper, again it was a small project that made the chair more interesting and me. I then painted an old bookcase I had in the same pink BUT here's the best part - I found paint glitter which is an extremely fine silver glitter that you can mix in with any type of paint and create a beautiful glittery finish. I used this glitter on the edges of the shelves, the sides of the bookcase and across the top shelf. I am in love with how this looks now, some may think its a bit pre-teen like but I think it embodies my personality perfectly.
SHOPPING
As I said before I only stay at home when I'm not at University and because I have a flat rather than staying in student accommodation I leave the majority of my belongings there. This means my room is pretty empty and I needed some little decorative peices to give a more lived in look. I found bedding that matched my wallpaper creepily well and tried to find artificial plants that didn't look too fake, all the artificial plants looked awful but I can't use real plants in this room as I'm not here to nurture them. I then bought a some candles and some beautiful decorative items from The Old Bakehouse Antiques Centre which just finish the room off perfectly.
THE END RESULT
I couldn't be happier with my new bedroom, it's so relaxing I never want to leave. The whole room has been re-decorated for no more than £150 and that includes 2 litres of paint, 3 rolls of wallpaper, furniture paint, bedding and all the little decor pieces. I still need to find a rug and some artwork to hang up but I have been struggling to find anything I like that is in my price range, if you have any suggestions on where I can find some please let me know! If you're un-inspired by your surroundings it's amazing what a coat of paint and a re-arranging of furniture can do to get you out of your rut!
No comments
Post a Comment