August 01, 2021
For those who don't know, my family and I are currently in the process of a rather messy renovation project (you can come and see more of the chaos at ThreeBoysAndaPinkBath). We moved into our sad and very much unloved Victorian coach house in Nov 2020. Our boys (Teddy aged 5 and Reggie aged 3) had nowhere nice to play or sleep :-( so we decided to focus all our energy on transforming just one room in the house, creating a space for our boys that would need to work extra hard as both a playroom and a twin-bedroom our boys could share.
* A rather kind estate agent picture of the before!
When you are not blessed with tall ceilings, good old-fashioned white paint is always going to be your friend, it will open up any space, creating the illusion of height. It's also great if like us, you are trying to patch old and dirty walls as a temporary fix.
We painted over the wallpaper in this room which was quick and easy (eventually the whole space will need to be re-plastered once the ceiling has been removed). By painting the walls and woodwork white, the room instantly looked fresh, clean and brand spanking new, we hope you agree?
Once the white paint had done it's thing, it was time to inject ALL the colour, personality and fun into this twin boys bedroom. There are so many ways to add colour without covering your walls in it!
Here's our top tips for adding colour to a white space:
1) Consider block colour flooring.
This flooring works perfectly in a kids bedroom, it adds all the fun factor and a massive injection of colour but without closing in the space like painted walls would have done. It's also so much more practical than carpets too! It's from Online Carpets and this is their Honey Yellow shade!
2) Upcycle your old furniture by using a lick of paint (or get searching on eBay like we did).
This wardrobe was an eBay bargain, it was pitch-pine orange, and cost us a grand total of £15, we picked it up from a few miles away and transformed it in an afternoon with just a lick of paint. This beautiful soft sage green works perfectly with the mustard shades in the room and we are now the proud owners of wardrobe that is truly unique to us, winner winner!
3) Use multiple shades of your colour scheme throughout the space.
We focused on adding several different shades of mustard yellow and sagey greens into the space. Using multiple tones like this (and not being too matchy-matchy) really adds extra interest, depth and style in that 'oh this old thing...we just chucked it all together' effortless vibe.
* Bedding La Redoute
* Floor cushions Vertbaudet
As well as us wanting to inject colour and fun, we needed to try and zone the space effectively, with each of our boys feeling like they had a part of their room that was JUST theirs. To achieve this we needed to distinguish between sleep and play, a tall order, but this is how we tackled it ...
1) Use a play mat or rug to create a clear 'play zone'.
We LOVE our friends Totter and Tumble play mats, they are such great quality, reversible and come in many stylish patterns and shades. This one is their captain play mat which has a rusty orange and a leopard side, both look amazing on top of our mustard flooring. The play mat creates the perfect 'play-zone' for out Little Hoppa.
* Our Little Hoppa Baby Bouncer in the 'play-zone' looking right at home.
2) Use curtains, drapes or canopies to create privacy in sleep areas.
We placed the boys beds on opposite sides of the room and purposely made each of their corners feel quite different and uniquely theirs . We used a large canopy to be able to zone off the sleep zone and remind the younger Reggie, that this corner is just for sleep and not for play!
And there you have it, in one long weekend, with a little paint and a lot of love, we transformed what was a sad and dusty bedroom, into a multi-functional kids space that our boys just LOVE. It works so well as a dual bedroom and play-room space, and to be honest, we will be VERY sad when the bulldozers arrive and we have to say goodbye to the mini-makeover twin-bedroom that turned out so much better than we ever could have dreamed.
Here's a few more details and tips for you:
* If you have vaulted ceilings like us, peg hooks will allow you to add details to walls where you can't put up art.
* Painted MDF boards in our green and mustard colour scheme break up the white walls further and look great just resting on drawers or on the floor (no need for nails either).
* This hanging chair is the boys favourite thing in the bedroom, they literally spend hours spinning and swinging in it, not only is it beautiful but it's also sooooo much fun!
* Layering flooring, rugs, play mats and blankets creates super comfy reading and relaxing zones. Our Mono Mountains play mat is always a firm favourite for stories and chill.
* Plants maketh a room! And if you aren't green fingered, go faux fabulous like we have ;-)
We hope you enjoyed the tour? and can't wait to share more of our kids interior room-tours over the coming months. Please drop us a reply if there's anything you'd like to ask or like to see next time.
Love Sofie
x
September 25, 2023