AD – This room was styled with items kindly provided by Wayfair UK, however I chose all the products myself and all opinions are my own. I have also refurbished an old chest of drawers for the room, see more ideas at #wayfairDIY .
I am really pleased to have finally finished my eldest son’s bedroom! My son is 11, and went through some fairly gruelling tests last year to get into the secondary school of his choice. Any of you with older children will appreciate the huge transition from primary school to secondary school, and we have been really proud of how he has dealt with the change and has grown so much in confidence (mashallah). We thought updating his room would be a good way of rewarding his hard work.
After moving in to our house in 2016, we painted and wallpapered the walls, had floorboards sanded and painted..and that was it! He had a bed, desk, shelving unit and an old pine chest of drawers, and I added the world map which had hung in his old bedroom.
He needed some more storage in here, mostly for clothes but also for books, so we chose this wardrobe which has shelves and hanging space inside. It was also the exact dimensions we needed and fits perfectly in the alcove, which I’m really happy with, and the industrial style finish with concrete look frame and wooden doors suits the room well.
For the chest of drawers, I used his existing pine unit which we have had for years but revamped it with two coats of Annie Sloan chalk paint. I have been using this chalk paint for a few years and find it very quick and easy to use. The rich red provides a nice pop of colour against the dark blue walls.
I had to ask for some help from my Instagram followers as the chest of drawers was covered in old stickers! After trying white spirit and mayonnaise, I found the most effective way was to remove the stickers was using the iron to steam them and then scraping them off. A word of warning, this did ruin the varnish finish so I would only do this for an item I would repaint!
The black bronze cabinet handles were purchased from Grace and Glory for the bargain price of £3 for six! I bought two boxes and used the extras to replace the ones on his Ikea bed drawers. They are called Spaceship knobs and I think they add a lot of character to the piece.
The bright red locker bedside unit brings in the same colour on the opposite wall. This has been really useful for storing books, souvenirs and providing a place to charge his phone.
The gorgeous textured rug was chosen as it adds some warmth and softness to the room and also ties in with the wooden elements in the room. It is a pure wool, taupe rug and I was impressed with the quality. I chose the 80x150cm size which is just right for his room which is fairly small. We also often turn the bed into a double if he has a friend staying so we didn’t want anything which would be difficult to move around. The ampersand sign is also a favourite of mine, its a beautiful colour and has a slightly rustic industrial finish. The basket is one of a set of two, which we are using as a laundry basket. The smaller one will be great toy storage (possibly to house some of the Lego he has amassed in the past few years!).
I have been seeing lots of scaffold board shelves recently on Instagram and thought this could be a good look for above his desk. These ones were from Plane and Sanded, a local family run company who make beautiful industrial style shelves. I chose some that fit the dimensions of the alcove and received them within 2 weeks of order. The shelves display some favourite books and Lego creations.
The lamp which you can see on the desk has a marble base and a vintage style LED bulb. My son really liked the effect of this bulb and it provides a nice bright light for working.
Apart from the redecorating, we did have to do a lot of decluttering and clearing but now the room is a bright, pleasant and relaxing room suitable for an older child. Let’s hope he can keep it this way!
Thanks again to Wayfair UK for kindly providing me with these items to update the room. This post contains gifted items.
