The Guest Bedroom Makeover
Despite being a little dark in the winter this room has such a calm feel to it. The transformation has been very gradual and my main aim was to add a bit of warmth and depth to it, which all started when we ripped out the carpet to reveal some beautiful originally floor boards that were surprisingly in pretty good nick!
Before
They needed a good sand down, a bit of filler in places and all the carpet nails removed. We then primed using Dulux pure white undercoat and painted the floor boards with two coats of Eico Antique white floor paint, a slight off white with hints of grey. We have since used Eico on all the windows in the house, as its durability has been very impressive!
Removing the carpet revealed a fireplace hearth, which we painted white at the time, I didn't think much of it until I finally decided to fully revamp the room last month, which had cracks everywhere, it was high time for a good lick of paint. I got a bit carried away on the patch test front as wanted to introduce some colour, but found all the ones I tested were too cool for this north facing room. Going to the Farrow and Ball new colour launch, got me obsessed with the gorgeous new Sulking Room pink colour, but again the tone was not right on the walls. In the end we decided on Little Green Slaked Lime Deep (Intelligent Matt Emulsion). It has a gorgeous earthy tone to it I would describe the colour as a moss like grey/green colour that gives off a really warm feel and works beautifully with blacks and sulking room pink, which I was determined to use as a colour pop somewhere in the room.
On removing the mirror where the hearth is, I found the wall was crying out for a focal point and that's when I started searching online for Victorian cast iron fireplaces, after a little hunt I found one on Gumtree £40, it was beautiful and close to home, I couldn't believe my luck! It arrived a little rusty and broken in some places, but other than that in a very good condition. Knocking the initial a hole in the wall was a tad nail biting, but luckily after the first layer of bricks a hole was revealed and it fitted like a glove. It wont be a working fireplace it is purely decorative to bring back some of the rooms initial character. To add a bit of contrast I decided to paint it in the colour we used downstairs on our conservatory windows. This is basically a mix I created using the Ash and Midnight blue of Fusion Mineral Paints in equal parts, it creates a beautiful blue toned dark grey colour, similar to the Farrow and Ball Railings. This paint doesn't need much prep, just a quick sand down on the wood/metal surface and it can be applied very easily, once dry it has a beautiful matt finish.
A lot of the furniture we already had in the room looked pretty worn down and tired, but was still perfectly functional, so I decided to up-cycle as much as possible, whilst making it more in keeping with the new colour scheme. This was my queue to finally use a bit of Sulking Room Pink (Estate Eggshell) of which the two side tables had the pleasure, I also added new brass handles. I was on a roll and also decided to up-cycle the chest and mirror in the black/grey and a little end of bed bench we were using in another room. With new handles and a fresh coat of paint these pieces now look completely different! I got the handles for the chest at Dowsing and Reynolds and the small ones on the side table from Amazon Home.
The divan bed was transformed through adding a headboard (Tikamoon), the whole room has a bit of 1930's feel to it with the new colour scheme, so I went for a rattan style and painted the wood surround in my little paint mix.
I am aware that I might be repeating myself here, but it really is amazing how a lick of paint can transform a room especially if you are on a budget. This room is now so cosy and inviting, just changing the colour palate adding a pops of pink and some cosy soft furnishing has given it so much more character and the main vocal point the fireplace, looks like it was always meant to be!
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