It’s been a long time coming. For those of you who have been reading Rock My Style for some time now will probably remember a project that I took on with my partner Lizzie back in early 2014. A victorian end of terrace in Cheltenham in need of some TLC!

Walls have been removed, bathrooms have gone in and out and many many hours have been spent getting the perfect white wall colour! I’ll be sharing the full story in coming weeks (who am I trying to kid – months) but today I can share one room that is now nearing completion – the master bedroom.

It was a room that we were keen to get just right, the balance between too masculine or too feminine is a tricky one, especially when designing the look for a bedroom. It’s something Lizzie put a huge amount of care and attention in to so I feel it’s only right for her to pick up the story from here. I hope you like it!

Lizze: Ok, so this is our bedroom, our boudoir, our place of rest and peace and well… Other things.

Adam and I were both in total agreement that we wanted our bedroom to be super minimal, clutter free, light, bright and airy with a big comfy bed and not much else. First of all we painted the entire bedroom with white supermatt from Dulux, we wanted the room to feel warm so we avoided brilliant whites which contain cooler tones. You can read more on choosing this challenging colour in Laurens post, the right white.

We covered the original wooden floor by adding a luxurious cream woollen carpet, its thick and warm on barefeet which was really important for me.

Adding colour was our first big challenge because the rest of our house is rather white. I love colour… Bright and bold or soft and muted. Adam however is more of a 50 shades of grey man and colour needs to be introduced gently otherwise he gets scared.

I created lots and lots and LOTS of mood boards on everyones best interior designer friend, Pinterest and I became rather set on the idea of pale peach – inspired by Lauren Conrad. We decided the bedroom would be white and pale peach which added a feminine feel but we mixed this with darker accents of grey so we didn’t offend adams masculinity too much 😉

I’m sure you’ve noticed we have some very lovely looking Cast Iron Clothes rails which we picked up from Cox & Cox. They were spotted by the Queen of all things stylish – Charlotte O’Shea. After a lot of thought, we made the decision to opt for rails as they give the illusion of space and continued the minimalistic theme that runs through the whole house. The dark grey/blue wall behind the rails is a Crown colour called New York, the dark wall blends with the cast iron frames and make our clothes pop. Having our clothes on display has encouraged us to be more tidy and more selective with our purchases so the rails were a win win purchase, but that’s a whole other post. The tall side table between the rails was a junk shop find and the jar and balls lamp is a Rock My Style DIY special – A DIY Cable & Cotton Bedside Table Lamp.

Although our bed is slightly boring, it has a lovely mattress which works for both of our backs and it’s an Ottoman bed (so the whole thing lifts up like a car bonnet) which provides much needed additional storage. I really wanted to have a bed with some height that I could layer up with throws and blankets and this one from Dreams is perfect. I love our bedspread from Zara home as it is heavy and drapes over our duvet hiding any creases, creating a clean and tidy look. I also wanted to add some pops of colour and fell in love with the Peach Mohair fringe blanket also from Zara home. I am a cushion lover and am forever changing them around and adding to my collection – my favourite places to buy from are Zara, Habitat, BHS Home, Homesense, Feather and Black… The list goes on.

Now, there are a few elements of the bedroom that aren’t quite finished, we are awaiting our ceiling to be re-plastered and until that time comes, we didn’t really want to put new light fittings in so we have just re-used some lamps that we already had and tied them all together with some forest green shades bought from Sainsburys home department for a bargain £2.50 each. The curtains from Ikea are also a temporary solution. Does anyone else find purchasing curtains difficult? I just can’t find the style I want or the style is right but they are the wrong size or the colour is ok but the fabric feels cheap or looks too shiny! I think I may have to employ a fabulous curtain maker to make us something devine but I’ll need to save a few pennies before that day comes. Until then Ikea will have to do, layered with sheer drapes for privacy.

I really love thinking about what a space will be used for and making it as ergonomic as possible. I did consider having a dressing table but because I’m usually up and out of the door by 05:45 it seemed better for me to build my beauty requirements into the bathroom storage rather than waking up a certain someone whilst I apply my face. We have storage for our hair products and styling tools in a little chest under the Ikea mirror and we used Ikea Ribba picture ledges above to hold our scents and smells, an idea that is a firm favourite of the Rock My Style team, you can see them in Charlottes small master bedroom makeover as well as in Adam’s old 1930’s duplex flat in Birmingham.

{BEFORE}
{AFTER}

It’s crazy looking back at those before and after pictures! Taking on a project where every room needed attention (not to mention the garden and the building exterior) has really proved to be a challenge. You may notice from the “before” pictures that we actually took out an original fireplace and had the chimney wall widened to become a headboard… It’s a tricky decision to remove period features and it’s a move I am sure many of you will have strong opinions about but for us getting rid of the fireplace really opened up the rooms layout options…

We have no regrets!