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

Nautical boat bedroom on a budget recycling and upcyling

It is possible to create a gorgeous nautical boys boat bedroom without breaking the bank with some savvy shopping recycling and upcycling.

I have always loved the timeless charm of the nautical theme especially for a Little boys bedroom as it can easily be added to and updated and be made more grown up over time.

So when the time finally came to say bye bye to the nursery in favour of a toddler friendly boys room i set to work to create a nautical boat bedroom on a tight budget.

The key things to consider for a child's bedroom are storage and lots of it !! A wipe able floor that leaves enough space for play. A blackout blind for those summer nights where it still looks like day time at 9 o'clock at night.  I know summer nights seem along time ago at the moment but you will thank me when your enjoying a glass of wine instead of arguing with a child that it really is night time.

The first thing we did was remove a very useless built in cupboard that was large but did not really provide accessible storage. We also removed the green carpet that we inherited from the previous owners. Carpets are not a great choice for a child's bedroom as any spills or toddler explosions!! cant be wiped up and don't get me started on the smell that forever stays in a carpet long after a tot has mastered the potty. Last but not least carpets  don't really provide a great surface for toy cars etc.

                                                  

The new alcove that was created by losing the built in cupboard increased the rooms floor space and gave us a handy alcove space for a wardrobe and drawers.

I mentioned we were working to a tight budget so the flooring we decided on was a vinyl that had the appearance of driftwood. Vinyl for a child's bedroom is perfect as its wipe able and has the advantage over laminate that it is cheaper and also quieter underfoot which is good when kids are running around and also if you need to creep in when they are sleeping.

The next challenge was to find some inexpensive furniture and accessories etc i generally have expensive taste i therefore find i get better brands and more for my money if i search second hand or upcycle or recycle items i already have.

Children grow out of thing so quick that you can pick up little used pieces of furniture on eBay and as usually the item is restricted to pick up only therefore your only bidding against a few people in your local area. Other useful resources for buying are net mums nearly new and gumtree where you can look in your area for bargains.

So with a few selective searches on eBay, net mums and gumtree i managed to pick up a John Lewis gorgeous blue and white wardrobe bed and drawers set, white company bedding and a Laura Ashley blind and rug. I then re purposed a white unit from another room into a toy box/ reading seat by making  a seat pad out of a pillow and making some cushions out of fabric remnants. I used the blind as reference for colour when choosing paint for the wall and used a diy stores own brand paint which i found cheaper and just as good as the expensive big brands.

Finally the finishing touches, i really wanted to turn the bed into a boat with a sail so i scoured the charity shops and picked up two shower curtains which were the perfect fabric for a sail. I used the eyelets on the shower curtains as nautical detail down the middle and the natural slope of the ceiling to get the sail shape. I then used curtain tape to add more detail and sewed it in place to cover the raw edges of the shower curtain. I finished off by adding a boat style number plate with my little boys initials and date of birth using gingham fabric remnants. Using more fabric remnants and curtain tape from my sewing box i made bunting to hang across the bedroom beam. I then just finished off with further finds from charity shops such as metal buckets, little boats etc to add the finishing touches. Boat pictures using fabric remnants to tie the room together and finish off.

Im really pleased the room was created on a budget as the result is a balance of the old and new and items that you cant buy in the shops.

Thought of the day........................  Upcycling is very uplifting