Just like many younger couples, we've hopped on the bandwagon and are transforming our second bedroom into the dressing room that younger me could only dream of.
In our dressing room series, I'll spill the tea on all the DIY projects we've done in this room, but for now let's catch you up on our progress...
Our dressing room was originally plastered in woodchip wallpaper. If you haven't had the luxury of coming across that yet... I envy you.
When we first moved in, we did ourselves a huge favour by stripping the walls of the woodchip (that was sealed on with magnolia paint), revealing a bright blue walls.. not much better!
You might also notice from the photo's that we had this unusual window leading into the stairwell. That was our first 'to go' job.
The window did add light into the stairwell. Even so, what in the name of 'old fashioned' was it's purpose and what could we do with it? And our followers on Instagram agreed. There was no amount of styling that could make a ceiling height window look good.
The removal was the easiest part. We just ripped off the window trims until the glass - more or less - fell out. It was the patching up that wasn't ideal.
That's where we gave plastering the first proper attempt. When I see 'we', I mean Ewan... but I did help where I could!
Obviously it needed to be paintable and therefore a really good standard, so of course it was daunting. But as you may or may not already know, it was a success. Look out for our 'Tips on How to Plaster' blog for a DIY'ers guide to plastering.
With the plastering being a success, we were able to start painting the ceiling and walls. This, by far, made the biggest difference to the room! As tedious as painting can be, we actually got excited to have our first bedroom complete.
We went for an affordable beige wall using GoodHome paints in shade Tijuana. We've had so many questions about this wall colour so I've made sure to link this (none affiliate).
Our original plan was to swap out the 'norm' and go with black skirting-boards to match the black accents used through-out our decor. The problem with this was:
Scuffing - the paint can more obviously be chipped and scuffed needing regular touch-ups
Flow - the skirting-boards flow through-out the house, including the door frames. There was no easy way of transitioning the black into white, so the whole house would need black skirting-boards (not my plan!)
So, as you can guess, we ended up with the classic white edges, and it matches the coving a lot nicer anyway!
We selvaged the original wooden skirting-boards by sanding down any imperfections and old paint. We did this purely because they are good quality and flow nicely into the door frames which we aim to keep.
We then freshened them up using Satin Wood paint in ' brilliant white' which we applied using a mini foam roller (super quick) and trusty Frog Tape to save us touching up the walls.
The carpet was long gone by the time we painted the skirting-boards. There wasn't much of it.. no underlay to worry about!
There are too many smaller jobs to mention. From filling imperfections around the door frame; to sanding and paining the window-sill, it all took a weekend!
The main 'smaller' job that's often forgotten is the window. We were already lucky enough to have new(ish) windows, however, when stripping the wall-paper, we had to chuck out the old window trims.
Not such a big deal? Wrong. It revealed a huge gap around the window which had potential to create some kind of leak or draft. And it did. Between taking off the trim and a usual UK bad day, we had water streaming into the room.
We ended up filling the gap and sealing around the window once it was dry. It hasn't leaked since so it looks to have done the trick. We struggled, but managed, to find similar window-trim which now looks good as new! Head to our TikTok to see this as it played out...
We ended up leaving this room for a few months before starting our next project. For the main part of our dressing room, we planned to build in IKEA Pax Wardrobes (IKEA Pax Hack), however you may remember these being out of stock for a long while. That's the post Covid world for you.
I won't go into too much detail on the the Pax Hack. We have a full video Guide on our YouTube Channel as well as a quick step-by-step here. But don't worry, I'll make sure to write up a full Blog with all the details.
Essentially, the largest Pax offered by IKEA were slightly (frustratingly) too big. We weren't able to cut these down (as often mentioned by our followers) as they have pre-cut slots and holes for fitting them together. It was easier to build them in our way...
We also didn't add a platform to the bottom. This is often advices to get you an easy, level base, however we were set on having as much added storage ontop as possible. Raising them wasn't an option.
Ewan got to work building units to fix to the top of the Pax Wardrobes. This will all be detailed in a seperate blog, and YouTube if you'd rather watch. They ended up a really good space!
The built in look came from adding coving and side trims, and honestly, I couldn't be happier with the result!
That's where we are left as of now, except coving which we added before Christmas. The room is only lacking carpet (ordered) and some much love decor. Keep an eye out on our Instagram for this!
The plan is to add some baskets to the added shelving to make it look neater; a vanity, mirrors.. all that's in between.
Until then the progress has moved onto the hallway. Look out for all things how to and don't forget to tell us what you think!
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