22 Mar 2013

planning bedroom decor

As you may know by now, we moved house in February. The 'new' house needs quite a bit of renovating and redecorating - mostly minor things though - and we are trying to do it gradually. I'm quite lucky in that I received an offer to my first choice medical school - which happens to be a short bus ride away - and so my parents have allowed me to live at home.

They've also been really kind and said that my room and my sister's room are to be the first ones to be redecorated and done up, and they even let me have the biggest room for all of my stationery and other stuff! I sound really spoilt but I really do know how lucky I am to have this opportunity. Hopefully, I won't fail any exams at medschool and then, in four years' time, I will have started earning and paying for the bills and the upkeep of this house, along with paying for my parents expenses so that they can live a comfortable retirement.

Anyway, back to the topic in hand - redecoration. Before we moved, I started planning my workspace (this was in the hope that I would receive an offer, which luckily, I did) and this was what I came up with. All of the furniture is from IKEA but I am looking at other alternative sources as they have served as more of an inspiration than anything.


And so, three weeks' ago, we started the tearing down the old built-in wardrobes (they were really quite ugly and were pretty much on their way out) and this was how my room looked.

From top left, clockwise: 1) view from the doorway, 2) view from the top right corner, 3) ridiculous amount of clutter under my bed, 4) a closer look at the top wall.
Having ripped out the previous wardrobes, I have had to re-plan my bedroom. And I still need to get some storage stuff, like a bookshelf. I am on the lookout for one that will look good, but also be able to stand the weight of heavy textbooks that I will inevitably borrow from the library, or buy from somewhere or other.

This is the new room layout I came up with, and a drawing of the interior of the wardrobes I am desiring:


At the moment, I am leaning towards some sliding door wardrobes from IKEA as they are cheap and cheerful. Moreover, although the quality won't be brilliant, I love how the insides can be chopped and changed as I fancy. They come with a ten-year guarantee (though I don't read too much into this) but for the price that they are, that does make them seem more worth it than opting for wardrobes that would cost £5,000 in total (yes, we actually got a quote of £5,000 for my room!). The IKEA ones are only about £500 in total! 

So, my room is currently a work in progress. Wardrobes chosen and once everything is sorted and set up, there will be another post to show it off. The final touches will be the painting of the walls and buying of new curtains and a new curtain rail but that is a minor thing compared to the installation of wardrobes.

Don't you just love doing something up, completely to your liking? I'm quite excited to start on the other rooms now!

12 comments

  1. if you are going for pax wardrobes they are brilliant quality, i wouldnt buy another wardrobe having had pax ones in both my house and my parents' house! My parents also bought one for my brother and are looking at having mine in their room because they love it so much!! theyre sturdy, mine have never been tied back and are still standing strong, the shelves are good quality and the doors move VERY smoothly!

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    1. Oh that is very reassuring :-) At the price they are, quality is a little bit of a concern but I do know that you get what you pay for. This sounds very promising though. Thanks! x

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    2. We took our pay wardrobes apart when we moved house, and we've had no problem since they've been moved and re-assembled :-)

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    3. If I could like your comment, I would!! I think you've just helped me confirm that my decision to go for IKEA drobes is the right one :-) x

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  2. I cant wait to see the finished room!!! I have just started to re do my room!!!! How amazing was this post to come now! I have only just decided on the colours but I do need to decide on the rest of the room! I am thinking of getting a new bed frame as mine is dark brown leather and I wanted something like yours but a little different. I want a more happier room! More Alice in Wonderland, less CAVE hehe

    xxxx

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    1. Hehe, it might be a few weeks before another post will come of the finished room. Might even be two months or so! I love my bedframe; it's kind of girly and cute? And the light colour of the frame makes my room brighter too x

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  3. Almost everything in our house is from IKEA (mainly because when we moved over here we didn´t have any idea where else to get furntiture from, and certainly none available elsewhere that we could afford). Some of the stuff we bought 4 years ago as temporary furniture until we could replace it, and it´s still all with us. :-)

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    1. Haha, it's looking likely that most of my room will be IKEA! My desk is currently IKEA, wardrobes will most likely be and I will probably get the Expedit bookshelf from there too...! Oh, and my desk lamp too... It helps that my nearest one is only a 5-10 minute drive away too. It's good to hear that they stand the test of time though - for the price they are, four years is plenty and probably exceeds expectations! X

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  4. Likewise, we live in a house of Ikea... I'm a fluent Ikea speaker you know too!

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    1. Oh dear, does that mean you're like a walking, talking IKEA catalogue? ;) x

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  5. I'm just working out some plans for our house myself. We moved into this wreck of a Victorian pile four years ago and have struggled with getting it all sorted. Many rooms, dry rot, problems with gutters and drains, crumbling chimneys... Most things are sorted now so I'm working on doing the decorating now. Good luck with your new room!

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    1. Wow it sounds like you've already done a lot of work with your house! A Victorian house sounds amazing - unfortunately, houses from that era were a bit out of our price range so we've settled for a house built in the 1930s. We still have high ceilings and two lovely fireplaces still in place (the rest have been ripped out by the previous owners) but it's not the same!

      Luckily, the majority of what needs doing is just a good old redecoration. Nothing too major needs to be done but the house is still big enough to give me a headache with regards to paint colours, carpets and whatnot. Good luck with yours too! x

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