When we started our house search, our criteria was three bedrooms and a study, or four beds with the option to turn one into an office. The cottage we ended up moving in to managed to tick all those boxes in some way; as you know we have a snug office downstairs and three doubles upstairs. But we also have a bit of an odd bonus room off the living room too.

In the header image above you’ll see a door which leads to a bit of an odd arrangement. It’s another bedroom of sorts with a wet room. When ever any visitors open the door to visit the loo, they seem to clutch the door handle and look back with a slight look of dismay and maybe even fear and declare ‘in here?!’ Like they’ve walked through a wardrobe into a veritable Narnia, but ended up being diverted into a 1990s teenager’s bedroom.
Bonus-Room
I’m sure the estate agent billed it as a guest suite but to us it’s just a really odd space. It was originally the pig shed to the property but now the living room extension links the original house to the piggery. The ideal would be for this room to echo the decor in the other living room and have a space with a bit more purpose rather than a corridor with a bed in it. Anyway enough rambling about the positioning let’s chat our favourite topic, decor.

Inspiration

The discussion began by deciding to whip off the wallpaper, add a link of paint to the walls, change the lighting and blinds and switch to a sofa bed. My famous last words to James, ‘I’m sure we could get it done in a weekend’. When will I ever learn?!
We both decided to examine the room and stand there gawping in. James turns to me and says, ‘you know what would be good in here? French doors to the garden, should you sell or rent your house, I mean’.
I have to agree with him here. The sunsets in this room are immense and due to the positioning of our windows, when you’re downstairs no other room gets this view. French doors get added to the list, and no doubt at some point a full landscaping of the area outside the doors.
Last year we added parquet flooring to our wish list for the living room. Then I saw Rebecca’s in real life and it got promoted up the list to the very top. If we’re going to make this a more seamless flowing space then it would make sense to lay the same flooring in here. Parquet flooring is scribbled on the list.

Parquet-Flooring
We have a look in the wet room. The tiling in here has never taken my fancy and the sink has always been awkward. So guess what? A bathroom make-over gets added to the list.
Then we talk about how much more effective the column radiators we’ve recently fitted in some of the other rooms are. You don’t need to be a genius to guess what happened next.
Then there’s all the bits and pieces which were originally on the to-do-list; one of them being to switch the three quarter bed to a sofa-bed or maybe a day bed. Isn’t occasional bed purchasing a minefield? I’d prefer a more streamlined style so have been looking at the ‘clic-clac’ versions like this one from Wayfair, but most of them seem to be lacking a bit in width when you open them out. They differ so much in price too. The search continues as does the wish list.
I’ve been left wondering why is it that a simple make-over often becomes far more time intensive and costly? Why do I always get a bit carried away and can never make do with a slap of Dulux on the walls? Have you ever started a simple makeover but ended up needing to sell your kidney instead? How much has your budget escalated? Surely it’s not just me who starts off with a weekend DIY job which turns into a mammoth project.
P.S. While I have you here I know we’re all keen to stop hearing me whittering on about my recent experience but I wanted to let you know how much I appreciated all the comments on my last post. Thank you.