Monday 14 May 2012

Making it home.... Boys space bedroom on a budget

We have lift off !!!


Welcome to the next instalment of making it home a little link to share ideas and all things interiors that help to make a house home. Every Monday i put up a post on the progress of our house renovations or share inspiration and ideas or must haves for the home.

I love to save money and time where i can as there is only so much of both when your a mum so you can be reassured whatever i share will be aimed at making life easier cheaper and more beautiful.

I hope you will join in by writing similar posts or linking up old posts that provide inspiration for making your house home. If this is your first visit and you want to find out more about making it home or see the progress so far on the bedroom or kitchen or bathroom just click on the links.

Anyway without further ado here is my latest update.............






Moving and renovating can be quite unsettling for small children so the first project we tackled when
 we moved in was little E's bedroom to get him settled and feeling safe in the new home. The bedroom he has now is half the size of the nautical bedroom he left behind so some creativity was definitely going to be called for to give him a space he loves excuse the pun !!

To help settle him and make the room seem comfortable and familiar i started by painting the walls a similar colour to his previous room using satin paint as it reflects light better and is wipe able a real must in a child's room. The next thing we needed to do was raise the money to buy him some new furniture as his bed was now too small and wardrobe and changer no longer needed.

We listed his old furniture on EBay and the money raised was the budget to spend on the new bedroom. Selling his old outgrown items we raised £275 so my challenge was to create a boys bedroom for £275 or less but technically its created for free as recycled money i guess!!

I wanted to get a bed that was good quality and going to last him for a good few years so i opted for an oak single as this would  last and adapt to fit most schemes.






I shopped around and found this bed as an ex display item in a  local bed shop who were changing round to make room for new stock. It is always worth looking at ex display items as they have not been used and you don't need to wait for them as in stock. This bed and mattress cost £159 a real bargain for what would of been  £359 if i had of ordered it.

This left me £116 to finish the room so i had to search and spend wisely my first bargain was found when doing my weekly food shop at Sainsbury's i picked up this very lovely star duvet cover and pillow case  for £7.50. It's a really good match for the wall colour and also picks up on the old blind we brought with us from the old house.

The stars then got me thinking along the lines of space and from there the room started to evolve and take shape. Next i looked at storage the room had a really large double size wardrobe too big for little E's small clothes and then a small cupboard next to it which did not really give enough room to store toys.


The most cost effective way to get the storage we really needed was to remove the hanging rail from the wardrobe and cut it into two making smaller rails to fit into the small cupboard making perfect double hanging for E's small clothes.




We then just brought some wood and batons from a builders merchant for £25 (cheaper than going to diy store) and made the large wardrobe into a shelved toy cupboard and painted the shelves white to match the room.

The inside of a cupboard or wardrobe is the perfect place to display childrens artwork and little bits and pieces sort of like an open up gallery.  A few handy hooks on the inside off the other door are great for bags and all the other bits that don't have a home to hang.


Excuse the mess, at least i can just shut the door on it at night.


Left with £83.50 i searched for an in expensive way to inject some fun into the room by way off a wall sticker. I found it quite hard to find something fun and tasteful as a lot of children's stickers can be a bit tacky on the front as well as the back ha ha!

Eventually Ebay came to the rescue and i picked up this lovely space theme for £20 and they were even kind enough to send contrasting colour stars free of charge. Wall stickers are really easy to apply and are a great inexpensive way to add fun to a room.

Easy to apply and little E loved to help create his space!

Ebay also came to the rescue with the lovely space throw at the end of the bed complete with cushion and pillow case £9.50 including postage. I will tell you a bit more about this in another post as they will be changing slightly into more!!

My final £54 this went mainly to Argos where i purchased the lovely cube storage units with star and stripe boxes one as a bed side table and one at the end of the bed for £30 the next £10 went to next the little cubes on the wall and the last bit to the charity shop lamp and light shade.





There you have it a little space from recycled money and bargain finds. I will also be linking up this post on Monday magpie and Thrifty Thursday.

I hope you have been inspired to get renovating its always lovely to hear from you please feel free to leave a comment.

Now its over to you to link up how you are making it home with your ideas inspiration renovations and pinterest anything goes ........... ready steady link xx

Thought of the day.................   In every home there is space if you look for it xx

26 comments:

  1. Wow recycling money is the best isn't it?

    What a great idea to sell your old stuff on ebay and use the profits to buy 'new' stuff on ebay and other frugal shopping. It's like modern day bartering :0)

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  2. Its good to get rid of some old bits and bobs as well un needed stuff causes clutter and clutter and mess is stress!! May as well de stress and buy what you really want. x

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  3. I love the fact that you used the money from selling the old items to refurbish the bedroom. Fab. The toy cupboard looks a great idea. Nothing like shutting the door on all the mess!

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    1. I think for younger children the toys are bigger than the clothes so the toy cupboard makes sence, love that i can just shut the door on it at the end of the day too. Selling the old items feels really good it encourages you to list items on ebay when you have an incentive to do it and something to show for it.

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  4. What a great room. I love the theme. I've got a lot of old clothes that are now too big for me to sell on eBay so I really need to get around to listing them all, because then I can justify spending some money on some new ones!

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    1. You lucky thing to have clothes too big definately list them and raise money to re invest in ones that fit. Im glad you like the theme it just sort of evolved round what i found. Thankyou for linking up im off to check your post out now xx

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  5. You are a STAR in the true sense of the word. You have done a fab job on the little ones bedroon and it was sooo lovely to meet you on Saturday. Only sorry we didn't have more time to chat properly.

    Must re-do the post on the twins bedroom as the pictures were not very good at the time. Will link it up here if you want though xxx

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    1. Thankyou thats really sweet of you im blushing now,I would love you to link up again as i really love your style.It was lovely to meet you too be great to have a proper catch up soon xx

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  6. What a fab, proper boy's room. I'll have to bookmark this for when Thrifty Baby is a bit older. I love the rocket sticker x

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    1. The stickers are really effective for a low cost and easy to remove when the children change their interests idea for thrifty babys room xx

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  7. What a marvellous looking room and some great finds you had there.

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  8. Thankyou, lovely to meet you, i shall pop over to your blog now and say hi x

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  9. That room looks fantastic, I am loving this link up. We are renovating our house and I am getting so many fab ideas on how to do the boys room, brilliant advice on how to do it on a budget. I bet Little E loves his room, I would!

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    1. Im so pleased your getting inspired by the link ups and the trifty tips. I can't wait for you to join in with your renovations once you get started xx

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  10. You are very artistic you certainly have an eye for interior design x

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    1. Thankyou,i used to work in retail visual merchandising, its great now to be able to put my skills to use on home projects.
      Thankyou for linking up your great post on teen rooms xx

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  11. OMG! Gorgeous...really thrifty and excellent use of space and creativity! I'm totally impressed! Well done you. I'm desperate for some wall stickers for my son Sam's nursery so I'll check out eBay now. Thanks for the tips!
    :) Karin @ Cafe Bebe

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    1. I hope you manage to find some wall stickers on Ebay they are a great for a thrifty update. You will definately have to link up sams room when its finished xx

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  12. Wow, it looks great! Now when can I borrow you to do the same in my room?!

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    1. Bless you of course you can, this is what i am hoping to start doing freelance very soon. Give me a shout if i can help at all xx

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  13. Nice work what a room to be proud of. I'm still half way through getting the girls room done but there's al;ways tomorrow right?

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    1. There is always tomorrow and the next day and the next day there are never enough hours in the day, be lovely if you link up how your getting on x

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  14. That's fantastic, lucky boy. You forgot to say that you are really creative too

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    1. He loves it lucky boy x I used to do retail visual merchandising as my job once apon a time. Hope in the future i can do something again useful to help people with my creative mind xx Im working on it brains trying to think ahead when little E starts school what i can do xx

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  15. True, kids will always find it tough to move to a new house. Sometimes they might feel unsettled and unsecured. Renovating their room can help make them feel at home. It’s a good thing you found some stickers that can match the sheet. Having something that they are fond of on the wall can make them feel more comfortable with their room.



    @Louie Cunningham

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  16. Decorating a bedroom can be a lot of fun, especially when you're doing it for your loved one. Little boys most likely either want a superhero or an outer space theme for their bedrooms; the galaxy wall mural and rocket ship décor were fantastic! Does he want to be an astronaut someday? :)

    Gabrielle Jeromy @ Majestic Renovations

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