Ten Times Paint Transformed A Space {RMS Special}

The countdown to Christmas has truly begun! Our weekends are starting to fill up with social soirees involving Christmas cocktails and mulled wine. (Head over to Rock My Family today for some festive fashion). The turkey’s on order and I’m wondering whether I can get away with serving up a Hotel Chocolat yule log instead of Christmas pudding. And most excitingly, Lyra’s been singing snippets from a song about innkeepers that I reckon may be debuting at a nativity near us soon.

My little sister and her boyfriend will be staying with us over Christmas so I would love to spruce up the guest room for them. The number one priority is to paint the greige Ikea Hemnes wardrobe and matching bookshelf that are in there. They looked fab in our last guest bedroom which was east facing and bright, but in our current west-facing spare room they suck all the light out of the space. They’re in good nick, and I still love their traditional style, and it’s SO useful having more storage, so they’re not going anywhere soon, but they would definitely benefit from a facelift. I’m thinking maybe a matt pink paint or a chalky teal blue like this cabinet. I’m hoping a lick of paint will magically transform the whole space…it certainly did in the following rooms.

1. Adam’s Bathroom

Adam’s dark and moody bathroom makeover had us all reaching for the Down Pipe: who didn’t love his newly painted bath? Call me naïve but up until recently I didn’t even know it was possible to paint a bath.

2. Lyra’s Bedroom and Chest of Drawers

One of my favourite DIY projects was using tester pots to paint clouds and raindrops on my three year old’s bedroom walls. I had initially envisaged half a rainbow peeking out from behind the curtain but I eventually decided this would have been one splash of pastel paint too far. I continued the soft, pastelly colour theme by painting the Ikea chest using the leftovers.

3. Lauren’s Kitchen

When Lauren blogged about updating her kitchen on a budget I immediately brought up the images of her newly painted cabinets on my phone and waved them in Rich’s face. (When I start a conversation with him using the words “I’ve worked out how we can save ourselves some money!” it’s always a winner).

4. Allison’s Home

I love vintage pieces but I’ve always wondered whether they would look odd in a new build. Allison’s house tour (click here for the upstairs and here for the downstairs) showed me that a modern home and vintage furniture can work beautifully together if you choose the right shades of paint.

5. Alba’s Nursery

Now this is a trick I’m desperate to do somewhere in the house: painting the top half of a room one colour and the bottom half another, thus creating a bold design impact. It’s exactly what Laura from The Modern Nursery did to her little girl Alba’s room. All you need is the paint and some frog tape. (Peeling off frog tape. One of the most satisfying things ever?!).

6. My Lounge

From dreary wallpaper to a light, airy space…not a day goes by when I don’t regret stripping the wallpaper from my lounge and going back to bright white walls.

7. Adam’s Garden

Adam clearly had some Down Pipe left over from his bathroom as he went the whole hog and painted the back of his house and his decking in the hue. It just goes to show that using a dark paint can work wonders at making a space seem larger.

8. Lauren’s Chest of Drawers

One of Lauren’s favourite items of furniture is her upcycled chest of drawers. She’s currently using it as a bar cart in her dining room (the floors of which have also been transformed thanks to a coat of paint). If you’ve got a battered old oak or pine piece of furniture which fits the space perfectly, but just hasn’t got that wow factor, then you will probably want to get customizing, a la Lauren.

9. Alice’s Bedroom

Alice’s bedroom was stylish before Lottie got her hands on a tin of Dulux, but how amazing is the transformation from retro nursery to a beautiful and quirky big girl’s room. It looks so different that I had to double check that it was in fact the same room.

10. Katie’s Study

If you’re lucky enough to live in a character building with floorboards that are in good condition then you should probably show them off to the world and paint them white, as per Katie from The Vintage House That Could. One of my friends did this in the bedroom of her Victorian terrace and the end result was like something out of the White Company catalogue. Gorgeous.

Have you ever transformed a space with a splash of paint, or have you got any plans to do so? Anyone else an Ikea Hemnes fan?

For even more inspiration of the paint variety, check out Lottie’s post from earlier on this year.