Guest Bedroom Renovation

Whilst the whole house was my baby (my husband was fully aware that this was my baby rather than ours!); the second bedroom was my room.  (The third bedroom was to be my husband’s room so I’m not a complete monster!).

Whilst this was technically going to be the Guest Bedroom for when we have guests, it was also destined to be my dressing room.

It had a long way to come though, as it started out as a teenage boys bedroom… including graffiti, spider man stickers, and holes in the wall from a terrible darts player!  It did have some great built in wardrobes though, albeit melamine, but they were an asset I was keen to put to good use.

The colour scheme was going to be a contemporary grey (I can be trendy if I try!).

The following paints were used:
• Dulux Warm Pewter
• Dulux Engraved Locket
• Little Greene Traditional Oil Eggshell in Grey Teal for the wardrobes.

The wardrobes required the Spiderman stickers to be striped off, and the melamine to be repaired in places with some filler (turns out that spiderman stickers had been very strategically placed!). I used a melamine/tile primer (bought from The Range as that was the cheapest place I could find it, but also freely available in the likes of B&Q etc.).  I then did two coats of the Little Greene paint with a gloss mini roller.

The damaged melamine cupboard doors

Primer

On goes the grey

For the handles I settled on some glass cut looking handles from eBay – about £10 for 8 I think and they look smashing.

The finished product - looking a tad better than they started!

Apart from filling in the dart holes, and using a stain remover on the delightful graffiti, the wall decoration was quite straightforward.  There were two tones of grey - one lighter used on 3 walls, and then a darker shade which closely matched the wardrobes on the facing wall to the wardrobes.

Once again we had the light fitting moved to the middle of the room as well, and lots more sockets fitted.
The floor was white painted floorboards – they looked pretty tired but we have left them as they are for now.  I think we will eventually put carpet down, but for now it suits the décor as it is.

For the furniture, I always knew my Singer sewing machine (see post here) would be my dressing table, and the mirror that I made for my husband out of one of his old carbon race wheel would be my dressing table.

We already had a double mattress for this room, but no bed, as our last rented property had come with a bed but no mattress!

I had seen a lovely bed in Ikea but was a bit shocked at the price as I knew that wasn’t something our budget could stretch to.  Until I found a used one in great condition on Gumtree that was a snap at £35 and just a few miles away.  Marvellous.

The bedding was from Wilkinson’s.  Great value at £19.50 in the sale for a 400TC cotton double duvet cover.  It is so smooth and soft I kind of wish it was my bedding, and not the guest bedrooms!  As the walls were a bit dark with all the grey I wanted to keep the rest of the room light with lots of white.

The accent colour in this room was yellow to keep it nice and bright.  The curtains were a steal from eBay.  Brand new Ikea curtains RRP £25, and I picked them up for £7 (very local so no postage costs). I bought some dye from Wilkos (two packs for £10) and the job was a good’un. I even managed to get two cushion covers from the leftover curtain fabric as they were so long, and I dyed those with the curtains too.

The rooms not quite finished yet.  I’d still like to sort out some bedside tables, but I’m really pleased with how it has turned out so far.