Showing posts with label childrens rooms. Show all posts
Showing posts with label childrens rooms. Show all posts

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

Friday, 13 April 2012

Adding colour and fun to a childrens bedroom

          Patchwork Curtains

Decorating dilemma ............How to add colour and fun to a child's bedroom.

Its really easy to add colour and fun to child's bedroom without breaking the bank. Painting the walls a lovely spring green and adding a wall sticker can really transform a room. I'm a real fan of wall stickers as they are easy to apply and are an inexpensive way to instantly add fun and interest. I love this owl wall sticker from next the colours of the owls can be picked out and used in complimentary accessories such as the patchwork curtains and gingham bedding.

I think when choosing children's furniture a white bedroom set is a great investment as it will last and grow with the child as it can be dressed with age appropriate accessories .It is far cheaper to replace curtains and bedding as the child outgrows it than replacing the furniture if they suddenly go off the car shaped bed or princess castle. If space is tight in the room consider something like a mid sleeper as this will maximise the rooms floor space which is essential for  playing!

Storage is really important in a child's room as the bigger they get the bigger the toys seem to get. There are lots of fun ways to store things in children's rooms from colourful boxes baskets and drawers.

Giant Mirrored Butterfly Stickers        Card Hat Boxes  4 Tub Storage


More colour and fun can added with useful finishing touches such as the little owl door stop to match the wall sticker. I think a doorstop in a child's room is a safety feature as well as being very very cute as it avoids little trapped fingers. Lighting is also really important a bedside lamp is essential for bed time stories and a little night light that can be left on gives a child reassurance.



   

I found the items at next to be very reasonably priced so a lovely child's room makeover can be achieved without breaking the bank.

I also spotted Next are running a competition to win £1500 home makeover

Looking forward to starting the blog hop next week called making it home and i can,t wait to see your home transformations. Everyone is welcome let me know if you would like to join in.

Always lovely to hear from you so don,t be shy say hi and leave a comment below xx