Friday 30 October 2015

Bert's Big Boy Room

I'm a project person. I always like to have a range of mini projects on the go: from writing my blog, to crocheting a large granny square blanket, sewing clothes for myself to home improvements - I always have a long list of things on the go to keep me amused in any (rare!) moments of free time and to keep my creative juices regularly flowing. 

My latest project has been updating our large spare room, turning it from just a guest room in to a multi-functional room: Bert's super-grown up 'Big Boy' bedroom-come guest room. 

We've been discussing moving Bert down the hallway to the bigger bedroom for a while now - he's certainly getting a little bit too big for his cot, and is growing in confidence and independence daily, we think the move to a bed and a more grown up room will be a positive change for him and will mean we can then free up the nursery for when we expand our little family. 

We are lucky that our second spare room is really large - there is plenty of room to fit both a double guest bed and a single bed for Bert, along with chest of drawers, side tables and toy storage when we get around to it. We need the room to still function as a space for guests - with my family living 100 miles away down in Surrey we have regular house guests and need to be able to sleep them comfortably. Bert will love having 'sleepovers' with his auntie and nanny staying in his grown up room with him. 

In order to update the room from a guest room to a space fit for a dinosaur/dragon obsessed 2.5 year old we got a suitable wooden framed single bed, bed guard, and stair gate to make the room comfortable and secure for him and re-arranged the furniture to make the space work for its new duel-purpose.

Next we moved onto finding accessories to dress the space. We knew we wanted Bert's boy space to have a dinosaur/dragon theme as they are his favourite things - over the last few months we had collected a few bits a pieces to begin the room transformation, then we were set a challenge by Ocean Finance to update a room in our home using a £50 Dunelm voucher...we knew straight away we'd use the voucher for Bert's room and headed straight to Dunelm to see what we could find. 

What We Bought:

- single quilt 
- set of two pillows
- dinosaur lampshade
- dinosaur bunting
- triceratops soft cushion/toy 
- dinosaur canvas

Our shopping basket came to £52 - what a bargain!! 

Long-term we have plans to wallpaper a feature wall in this room using this amazing paper from Paperboy: 'Ere Be Dragons. But, at £60 per roll (I have SUCH expensive taste in wallpaper!) I fear we need to save a few pennies before we embark on that section of the room renovation. For now, it's all about simple accessories. 


'Ere Be Dragons wallpaper in green/grey


So, phase one of Bert's room makeover is now complete and I'm super excited to share a few before and after snaps of our room update and the cutest reveal video which sees Bert explore his new space for the first time...enjoy! 

BEFORE PICS...


Bert's new bed - all ready for its dinosaur makeover...

Nothing better than starting with a plain white room...

Boring white space well in need of some fun and colour...

Our £50 shop from Dunelm all ready to dress Bert's new space...


AFTER PICS...

T'ah D'ah! A much more inviting grown up space for my gorgeous little man...

Bert's big boy room ... rawr! 

I'm taking this photo standing next to the double guest bed, which is situated with its headboard in the centre of the wall opposite the window, with two bedside units positioned each side and ample room to move around the bed. Our duel-purpose room is now well and truly ready to function. 

Cute little Triceratops cushion on his black and white dinosaur bedding - which his Nanny Seaside bought for him (from Asda I think). 

Existing chest of drawers for storing all of Bert's clothes with the dinosaur canvas from Dunelm, his 'BERT' fabric covered letters and a super-fun bouncy dinosaur suspended from the ceiling - which was a Christmas gift from friends of ours for Bert a few years ago for his first Christmas. 

Dinosaur lampshade - I just had to have it...dinosaurs and Breton stripes!! Yes!!

Some of Bert's other favourite characters: The Incredible Hulk ("Hulk Smash" as Bert calls him) and Bing Bunny, of course! Plus a gorgeous wooden baby dragon mobile hung from the beam. I commissioned my best friend Carmi to create the Hulk artwork - she is so talented.  

Fun details to make the room a happy place for my boy! 

The sweetest dino-bunting!

Dinosaur bunting across the beam...

Some of Bert's collection of dinosaur and dragon themed toys adorning his new bed. 

Behind Bert's bed we've hung a lovely 'Alphabet of Dinosaurs' print by the super-talented Becka Griffin, which was given to Bert by his Auntie Liz for his first birthday. 

Awesome dinosaur fairy lights from Tesco which a friend gave Bert for his second birthday. 

Stage 1 of Bert's room makeover: DONE! 

We finished this first stage of the room last night and we couldn't wait to show Bert - I filmed his reaction to share with you...

What a cutie...I think he likes his room then! 

Have you done any room makeovers or mini projects in your home recently? Do you use accessories to update spaces in your home, or do you prefer to do huge-scale redecorations? 

Mrs B

xxx

To find out more from Ocean Finance about creating your dream home on a budget head to this blog post. Thanks to Ocean for supplying the voucher in return for this post.