Good morning!
This week I am absolutely buzzing to bring you the grand reveal of the 3rd bedroom - which happens to be my favourite transformation so far.
And I bring you a genius wallpapering hack that I cooked up out of necessity for two reasons - 1. to clearly zone an area 2. because papering around windows and behind radiators is way above our current pay grade. Maybe one day, but we are new to this wallpapering lark. If you fancy a go at wallpapering and are nervous of it too - read on!
The bedroom in question was horrible. I won’t be upsetting the previous owner by saying that, because he rented it out over many years, to many different tenants so it was a business not a home, to him. I bet a few tenants would have loved to remodel it. I know I would have been itching to.
It’s ‘the 3rd bedroom’ but I didn’t want it to be 3rd choice. You know? All the effort on the ‘best 2 bedrooms’ and less foot on the gas for the last one. It happens. I really wanted to want to sleep in here, and for it to feel as good as a master bedroom.
This bedroom is on the ground floor, faces East, has 2 sash windows and a view of our tiny garden. On the same floor is the utility room and the bathroom, so it’s basically a suite. Ha
It is an awkward shape, nothing is straight because the terrace we live in is curved, and it’s long and thin. It also has a reduced height sloping part where the stairs on the other side of the wall are positioned.
It measures 16’8 x11’6 (5.08m x 3.51m)
It was - as with all the other rooms in this house, clean, but utterly soulless bringing zero joy. White everywhere, with a dark green feature wall, a clip cloppy laminate floor and rusty radiators.
2 very blurry pics of how we started.
We cleared the room, removed an awkward cupboard from under the stairs and added panelling on the back wall. We hoped that the placement of the (very long) pendant light, would be in the right place to go over the centre of the bed. It always surprises me that lighting decisions need to be made so early. It shouldn’t really still surprise me, but it does.
It helps to work backwards when your electrician stands in an empty room and asks ‘where are we placing the sockets, lights and what else will you need?’
Where will the bed go and what lighting will you need there? Do you need to be able to switch a light on from one switch and off from another? A two - way switch is easy to overlook. (YUP. Guilty as charged) Don’t make my mistake. I am currently investigating remote control bulbs…will report.
And don’t forget to add (if you can/ if you need it) a socket were you’ll plug the hoover in. And think about where you might need a plug for any other appliances - in this room we needed laptops and chargers, a hairdryer, the hoover, and lamps.
We have zip link beds that come apart to go from a king sized bed to two singles so it was important to have a socket in the middle of the wall where a small bed side table with a lamp will go when the beds split.
Now, here is a photo of a little side table (to go in between the beds when they split) I found at STUDIO HAM. It comes in a few colours and I LOVED it…until I saw the price. It can be mine (or yours) for £575. I’m sorry what? She pretty but FIVE HUNDRED and 75 pounds?
ANYWAY. I found one on EBay and it is arriving next week. A little sand and wax and it’ll be perfect. At a FRACTION of the price of the fancy one. Hundreds saved. This was £80 (which I still thought was a bit steep but I was reeling from the other one so it seems a bargain if you think about it. Girl math)
The 3 double wall sockets should work well. (and don’t worry you aren’t going mad - there are 4 in the photo above - the one on the left is now within the cupboard where the printer will go)
We blanketed the whole room in my go- to neutral - Stir About by Farrow and Ball. At this point I had absolutely zero idea of how the room would look but we just needed to get some paint on the walls and make a start. Ceiling and all.
Then we (ahem Gav) panelled the back wall and painted it in Lulworth Blue by F&B in water based eggshell. He also made a bank of fitted wardrobes and panelled them with a moulding - I honestly think there is nothing he can’t do.
He is a magician. Once again - we stayed in lane, I played my part and ordered the handles.
Follow your nose here for the handles and backplates from PLANK
We knew exactly what carpet we’d use. This is not my first rodeo. Carpets can be really hard to choose, but I go back to my favourite each time. It goes with everything, looks exactly like sisal and unlike sisal, it’s soft underfoot and is almost bullet proof. You can even use it as a rug outside, rain or shine. It’s BRILLIANT. Especially if you have kids or pets or anyone who is likely to spill anything.
Have real sisal by all means but don’t let any one walk on it. Don’t let the people in. And don’t go near it with anything wet. Ever. It is a gremlin
Carpet linked here from Fibre Flooring. My favourite carpet ever.
Buckle in.
Last year I was approached by the team at Laura Ashley who asked if we had anywhere we could feature their wallpaper- and it was an immediate yes!
I didn’t want to wallpaper the whole room and I definitely didn’t want a feature wall. I didn’t want to go down the obvious route of papering behind the bed. I really really liked the idea of creating something else. They were 100% on board and loved that their wallpaper would zone a multi tasking area. And I was excited to share my idea and see it come to life!
I KNEW from the get go that I wanted to wrap wallpaper around a corner and stop, mid wall. Could it be done? And how would I prevent it from looking like we just couldn’t be bothered to wallpaper the rest of the wall.
I cooked up a plan and BELIEVED it would work. If it didn’t I’d be up sh*t creek without a paddle. Not only because, you know, it’s a room in our house, but because Laura Ashley had placed faith in me to produce what I promised- a zoned wallpapered area that works hard and is multi use. A home office area for us and a pretty dressing table area for guests. No pressure Sal HA. Here’s the space we are talking about. A dumping ground where old white goods went to die. We needed a bit of vision.
And here it is now…
A stop to the wallpaper that looks purposeful and finished. I am tickled PINK! Here’s a close up …
You can stick the glued tape to the back of the trim or the wall. I chose to stick it to the wall first and then stick the trim on top.
I have seen people using this flexible trim on wardrobe doors and along architrave but I had never seen anyone use it as a wallpaper stop. I am delighted with how it looks, but some people on the internet had their own opinions which they felt compelled to share. ‘Looks awful’ ‘ It doesn’t look brilliant, why not just finish it’ ‘‘this is a terrible idea *laughing face’ ‘looks so bad’
Of course we are all allowed our own thoughts and we don’t all have to agree and like the same things - and the internet can be an echo chamber, I take no offence from these comments, they amuse me greatly. ‘Ohhhhhh you hate it? I have clearly made a terrible mistake, I will remove it all IMMEDIATELY’
I think it’s a great idea which solved a problem we had and looks fab. If you don’t, you don’t have to do it HA
Anyway! The beauty of it is, it’s really just an idea and it can be used in SO many ways
It’s bendy and flexible, paintable, you can cut it with scissors and the best bit - it attaches via super strong double sided glued tape. Easy! And even better - it’s under £10 for 3 metres. Knock me down with an actual feather, there must be a catch. Reader, there is no catch.
I initially thought I’d use an MDF trim - which could also have worked, but this was SO easy and I am all for making life easier.
FLEXIBLE BEADED TRIM LINKED HERE £9.99 for 3 metres. I feel like I struck oil!!
AD. The Wallpaper is CHALK BLUE PENNYWELL it’s SO pretty and this was the start of the whole room scheme.
The desk is also from Laura Ashley and is linked HERE
It is a solid piece, and not flat pack - it comes in 3 parts - the 2 sets of drawers and the top. The bottom drawers fit files, but rather annoyingly they don’t have file runners to hang the files on. We have loaded it up with files anyway and it works because we have so many they hold each other upright.
This desk really is a hero piece. Furniture like this is handed down over generations because it is built to last the distance. Tomorrow’s true antique. It is a BEAUTIFUL piece of furniture. If the dark wood isn’t for you, it also comes in honey gold tone, and there’s a more compact version LINKED which is really cool because it’s like a vintage bureau with a hinged desk part.
Find the blue scalloped cushion here
Wicker rechargeable table lamp
Large Table lamp - also comes in blue
We already had the floor lamp, so I upgraded the lampshade
find my Instagram post about it all linked here
I love how the colours just go.
NOW, if you read my post about, amongst other things, vintage art HERE , you will know how I was haunted by an old framed piece of art that I deeply regretted not buying. I did a google image search to see if I could find out about the art and discovered it was actually wrapping paper (!) - & as a result I am now OBSESSED by framing wrapping paper so I used it twice more above the desk. LINK TO PAPER AND FRAMES
The one on the left is very similar to a Laura Ashley wallpaper so if you fancy a whole wall or room of it FIND IT HERE
The desk chair was a vintage find at Victoria Antique Centre here in Cornwall - a glorious rabbit hole of a place that smells like your grandad’s shed and has layers of dust on layers of ‘things’ over 2 or 3 floors, and an owner who knows every single item and the history behind each piece. A gem of a place.
I love mixing old and new, I love to create a ‘collected over years’ kind of look, rather than just ‘go shopping’ - and I love the thrill of the chase in a charity shop hunt. The old letter rack was the result of an EBay search.
I scoured our local charity shops for accessories and found this blue pressed glass, divided serving dish. It makes and excellent tea and biscuit receptacle. Side note - it was £8.99. I am certain it should have been nearer £3.50, but ok. It’s for charity and I liked it. But still. Charity shops are getting pricey aren’t they?
Now, let me spin you round to the other end of the room. It is not quite finished but finished enough to show you!
You may notice that the pendant is not cut to length yet - one more job for Gav (pray for Gav) as you can imagine he is delighted :-/
I purposely ordered a smaller sized shade from Pooky - find it here - because that wall is already quite busy and I am still going to add a tall upholstered bed head (which will split) so we really just need a nice bright light and not a massive shade. I love that it is a pattern that ‘goes but doesn’t match’ everything else in the room so far.
I have also ordered bedside lights that aren’t here yet. We wait. The bed will have a long bolster cushion - once again - we wait. Until then that little scalloped cushion will do.
This is the makeshift bedside table - a vintage suitcase (£10) and an old metal trunk (£15) I’d love to know who Mrs Iris P Davenport was and what she kept inside it.
It is ALWAYS worth braving Facebook Market Place for preloved furniture and other accessories. Same as Vinted and EBay. I very much enjoy a trawl on MarketPlace these days. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure after all, and for the large pieces such as old desks, tables and chairs they are usually exceptional value if you are lucky enough to snag one nearby. I know there is a certain joy to be had from an Ikea hack, but for me, a deeper joy is to be had when hunting for something old and preloved.
31 years of treasure hunting at antiques fairs and flea markets has stood me in good stead. A considered mix of old and new.
This popped up on my ‘for you’ suggestions on FBMP - it needs a bit of help but isn’t it lovely
£200 at time of writing It’s called a Captain’s Table or Captain’s Desk
RIGHT! That’s enough from me for now - I am off to decide on a piping colour for the new headboard, and a heading tape depth for the curtains. I cannot WAIT to show you the fabric I found- It blends so beautifully with the wallpaper and will anchor the whole room.
Any questions just shout - I might be a bit slow to reply because this weekend we have Sam - the middle one - and his girlfriend Charlotte, who I ADORE, here for the weekend for Sam’s birthday. He will be 27. Which is IMPOSSIBLE because I am sure I am only 35. It’s also our 31st wedding anniversary which definitely doesn’t add up either. HA
I can’t wait to spend time with them. I am a very lucky boy mum because I adore all 3 of their girlfriends. As a boy mum I was led to believe I’d lose my boys but instead I have found the exact opposite. I have 6 kids now and I LOVE it. They are our favourite people. We are very very lucky indeed.
I have booked SWIM AND BREAKFAST PACKAGE at Watergate Bay for Charlotte and me. It’s excellent value at £30 each - you get there at 7 am - use all the facilities and then go for a slap up breakfast - all I’ll say is WAFFLES. If you know you know -and if you don’t, google it! And for Sam’s birthday we have booked The Nici - the old Victoria Hotel here in Newquay that has just had a massive refurb and reopened last week - the restaurant is called ‘Amalfis’ and we are really looking forward to trying it!
And here I will love you and leave you
Have a lovely Sunday and a peaceful week
Love
Sally x
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