Sorry peeps, i’ve been awol this week. But for good reason I promise! I’ve been working on a complete redesign of a client’s loft bedroom. And it’s going to be amazing once it’s done. I’m well excited. Eeeee!

Here are some before photos so you can get a feel for the space. And see some of the issues.

Estate agent photos.

It’s easy to see there is a serious lack of colour or much personality to the room. It’s a lovely big space, but over time storage became an issue and boxes of shoes and “stuff” accumulated.  Doesn’t that always happen?

The bed was rather overpowering for the space and didn’t reflect the client’s style any more. The Ikea Malm furniture purchased in later years to house some of the extra “stuff” wasn’t really floating her boat either. So what did we decide to do?

The tallboy was re-homed in the living room where there was nowhere to shove paperwork, mail, magazines or DVD’s. That’s all been put away now and has really cleared that room. My OCD and I immediately felt better and my client was chuffed with that solution too.

The bed and bedside drawers were sold on Gumtree (I love Gumtree!) and the money went towards the room redesign fund.

Making Spaces offers a specialist service whereby we sell the stuff you don’t want/need any more. I’m a HUGE believer that you don’t need to spend much to achieve good design. Sometimes you just need to move old things on to make space for the new improved.  Giving you a room with BOTH function and some serious form just takes a bit of time, decluttering and creative thinking.

So onto the design.

We’re going bold, eclectic, mid-century, vintage. Furniture has been sourced on Gumtree for less than we sold the old stuff for. Get in! A beautiful art deco wardrobe for £40 and a small chest of drawers for £20 that will function as a bedside table. The chest of drawers will be getting a little love from me once i’ve picked them up tomorrow. I can’t wait to get stuck into those. Will do a separate blog about all my day of fun with those later this week.

Farrow and Ball – Stiffkey Blue

Colour was going to be the cheapest and easiest way to of achieving a high end “designer” look. Go bold or go ‘ome I say! So we did. Inspired by my current obsession with Farrow & Ball “Hague Blue” and “Stiffkey Blue”, I trundled off to B&Q for a Valspar session so we could get something more affordable mixed up.

After squinting at colours under horrible strip lights, made even more difficult by Valspar shining yet another awful yellow light onto all the chips from above (why??), I selected a super dark midnight blue by Valspar called Deep Shadow. Which looks almost green in that photo above thanks to that helpful yellow light from above. I have to admit I was a little sceptical about using Valspar paint, as I haven’t worked with it before and I had read mixed reviews about it being hard to work with.

But I needn’t have been concerned. I bought a large pot of paint in a Matt finish for £35. And it went on like a dream and dried beautifully. This is after just one coat. See how I haven’t cut into the ceiling? Well that’s not because i’m a bit crap at painting (i’m flippin ‘mazin), it’s because the whole room is going dark blue. Walls, ceilings and woodwork. Everything! I love a brave client I do. She was totally up for giving her 5th wall some serious colour, something I wrote about a little while ago.

It’s so liberating not having to cut in and divide a room up. It was also a little scary first seeing the darkness spread across the ceiling, but the more that went on, the better and better it looked.

First coat dried.

Ready for coat number two!

Second coat drying.

How it looks so different in different lights. Blue, navy, grey, charcoal black at times. Beautiful.

The 5th wall coming along nicely.

Such a rich colour and despite being blue, it felt so warm and cosy. Perfect for a bedroom!

And a sneaky peak of the new bed frame which was purchased along with a new mattress from UK Bed Store. It cost £143 for the frame and delivery was bang on.

A few items i’ve got my eye on for this room so far are…

Habitat Lula Lamp in Yellow – £25!

Ikea PS 2014 – £35

Ikea LUDDE – £35

Made.com Joint Wall Hooks – £29

Bear in mind that we are doing this entire room on a budget and we pretty much need everything a bedroom needs. So we just can’t splash out on expensive bedding or accessories. Charity shop finds, end of season stuff and random shop bargains will be the key in getting this room looking switz s-woo.

So next week, I will be tackling the rest of the ceiling and most of the woodwork. And there’s still a bespoke mirror to be ordered and planted onto a wall, fitted shelves to be built and painted in, and flipping window coverings to sort which are always a bloomin nightmare. I am currently searching for a window blind company that can colour match paint. Busy busy.

And here’s our Graham with a quick reminder (you won’t get that if you’re a proper young ‘un).

Before

After

What do you think? My client loves it already, she texted me after her first night’s sleep in the blue room to say she’d not slept so well in ages. Perfect!

To be continued. Can’t wait.