Those of you who follow my Instagram will know that we have just completed renovations of Isabella and Sophias bedroom. I knew I wanted to go bold and had seen Dalmatian print decor whilst browsing for inspo, but as always my fear of following current interior trends was playing on my mind. I am very conscious that I don’t want to come to the end of the renovations and hate the interior looks that we created in the early days. Once I knew I could create this look without wallpapering I was off! I have had some questions on how we created the overall look of the room so thought I would put this post together to answer any questions.
Before- Just like the rest of the house, the room was covered in woodchip wallpaper, so once again before I could even consider what to do with the room, we spent hours stripping the walls, sanding down the most yellow woodwork I had ever seen and getting to work on prepping the floor. We had the room plastered and have done with all of the rooms, this is because we want to know that the walls are not only in perfect condition but that they will also stand the test of time. Expensive yes… worth it 100%.
Decorating – Then of course it was time for painting. I had seen the colour Oval Room Blue by Farrow and Ball and knew it would be the perfect colour to clash with a pop of pink and the monochrome of the spotty walls. I had this mixed by The Decorating Centre Online and was very impressed with the quality. This was my first experience of using them but I will be back. The Dalmatian print wall was created using this stencil from Ideal Stencils. We used our standard Leyland trade white paint that we have used for all ceilings, as the base and then purchased a small pot of B&Q Matt black paint for the spots. We used a small, foam roller for the black and found this covered much better than a brush. The stencil was easy to use and as long as you are careful to lift it into place each time and not slide it across it should be smudge free, we did wipe a bit of excess paint off the back of the stencil a few times. Once we had covered both the shelving and fireplace walls we stepped back and decided the spots looked slightly too uniform and repetitive, at that point we decided to cut the stencil up and place random stencil spots in-between any gaps that looked to uniform. This worked really well and we could not be more thrilled with the end result. We painted the fireplace and wardrobe in Valspar wood and metal paint, in a colour match to Sulking room pink. The gold wardrobe handles are from Amazon and a pack of 5 was less than £10.
The Floor- I have had so many questions about the floor! We had never painted a floor, we had used varnish in our bedroom but getting advice on painting floorboards was near on impossible. We scoured the internet looking for what prep the boards would need, what paint we would need to use and how to apply it and found no consistent answers. As we wanted a rustic and imperfect look, we decided we had nothing to loose, we removed or hammered in any visible nails, lightly sanded any raised drips of paint that we had caused while decorating and gave all of the boards a thorough hoover and mop. We decided on Dulux Pure Brilliant white Diamond Eggshell paint for Wood and Metal. We painted half of the room at a time as the girls bunk bed was too large and heavy to remove from the room. This has given the room a really light and airy feel and I am considering painting floor boards in other areas of the house.
Finishing Touches- A big factor on my mind when choosing accessories for the girls room, was that I wanted it to still feel and look like a child’s room. It is easy to get carried away with the idea of the ‘perfect home’ but ultimately they are still very much children and I wanted the room to represent a fun and happy place for them. We ordered the fabric reading nook from Amazon, this is filled with some baskets of books and cushions so they can kick back and read in peace. The floor mat in the reading nook is from H&M, and is actually circular but we folded it into a semi circle for a better fit. I sourced the beautiful prints from Make My Day Stationary and put them in IKEA gold frames, these worked out at around £10 per framed print and I was really impressed with the fun styles that Make My Day Stationary had to choose from. The rug was a total bargain from George at Asda, this was the largest of the sizes available and using a discount code, I paid less than £40 for it! I feel like the rug ties the room together really well and at that price it is one of my best buys. The shelving and storage unit are from IKEA, the shelving is their LACK range and the storage is Kallax with wicker baskets. The light fitting is from Matalan, I love Matalan homewares as they provide designer style at a fraction of the price. I had been looking at similar fittings for over £150 before finding this light fitting. The cushions and bunting are also H&M in the sale and the mini cactus plants, timer and gold pots are IKEA. Finally the pink and gold baskets on the shelves are from Homesense.
So will the girls bedroom décor stand the test of time? Who knows? Maybe not? but stepping out of my décor comfort zone and creating something so vibrant and fun has been a blast! The Dalmatian wall may go out of style in a few years but the great news is, it’s only paint and for now we all love it. The girls are enjoying spending time in their new room and it feels great to have another room finished and feeling like home. I hope I have answered all of the questions I have received but if I have missed anything please do comment below or send an email.
Chynna xxx
If blush decor is your thing, check out our panelling tutorial.
