and so, to bed

1. & 2. Room for three // 3. Bedside reading // 4. H&M cushion and vintage bed linen // 5. The best lamp I’ve ever found // 6. Plants, florals and vintage tins // 7. Vintage jewellery // 8, 9 & 10. Making Daisy feel at home // 11. Enamel teapot // 12. Radiator shelf made from wood found behind someone’s house. (I think it might have been a piece of a pergola!)

We’ve been in this house for over a year now, and I’ve been putting off doing any room-tour type posts because a) nothing ever gets finished and b) nothing is ever tidy enough to photograph. Our bedroom has been especially difficult – the house only has two bedrooms, so the kiddos are going to have to share eventually but until then, Daisy is still in with us. It’s a pretty small room, so it’s not as airy and spacious as I’d like, especially with her cot in the corner, but I’m a firm believer in working with what you’ve got so we’ve made the best of it. (This doesn’t stop me trawling Bolaget or Pinterest, and sighing over wooden floorboards and sash windows, though!)

We thought that even though Daisy’s only got a corner of our room, it should still be hers, so we’ve brought the shelves from the conservatory upstairs to keep some of her toys and books on, and given her a little gallery wall above her cot. She can reach the shelves from her cot, so the idea is that when she wakes up at the crack of dawn, she’ll poke her little hand through the bars of her cot and grab a toy. She’ll be entertained, and we’ll still be sleeping, hurrah! (I do realise that in reality, this is never going to happen – things will fall on the floor, she’ll be shouting, and it will end up in the Husband and I jabbing each other in the ribs hissing, “it’s your turn,” while wrestling over the quilt. Keeping it real, y’all.)

I saw the shelf-over-the-bed idea on Pinterest, around the same time as my houseplant obsession took over, so it seemed like an obvious choice to decorate the wall behind our bed. The bed itself has been a huge, ongoing nightmare, that we’ve only just resolved. Our original bed was too big to fit in the room, so we bought a new one, but it was so hard that I ended up losing feeling in one side of my body. In the end, we took it back and got a normal divan with storage from our local bed shop, with a mattress so soft it’s like sleeping on a cloud. We paid quite a lot for ours, but the double mattresses at Furniture Choice are exactly the same and about half the price – they also do a great range of bunk beds (I spend a lot of time looking at bunk beds at the moment!) which we’ll have to start thinking about buying soon.The pillow cases are vintage from eBay, and the amazing Aztec blanket and cushion are from H&M home – their range of homewares at the moment are really lovely, and well priced as well (read: not extortionate).

My other favourite part of the room is the little radiator shelf made from scrap wood. We rescued some plant pots a while ago from behind someone’s house, and there was this little pile of wood sitting sadly next to them, so we gathered it all up together and took it home. They were covered in some sort of awful red-brown paint, but after a bit of sanding and elbow grease, came up with a lovely rustic finish – we’ve got about ten of them, so I’m thinking maybe some picture shelves, or front facing bookshelves for the kiddos room (when they eventually share…).

It’s not perfect, and to be honest, I’m already looking for a different lampshade, but it’s calm and tidy and peaceful, and more importantly, it functions well as a room for two-and-a-half people. And you can’t argue with that.

This post was written in collaboration with Furniture Choice.

14 Comments

  1. LandGirl1980
    August 16, 2013 / 12:10 pm

    Yes! It is calm and tidy. I need to take a big fat leaf out of your book! Looks fab!

    • Vicky
      August 19, 2013 / 1:43 pm

      Thanks lovely! It will never again be this tidy though, ha!

  2. Lou Archell
    August 16, 2013 / 1:52 pm

    COR! House tour yourself lady! 😉 x

    • Vicky
      August 19, 2013 / 1:43 pm

      Haha, thanks Lou – your house pics are always really inspiring so that means a lot!

  3. zehra
    August 16, 2013 / 2:39 pm

    What a beautiful inspiring space! Thank you for sharing x

    • Vicky
      August 19, 2013 / 1:44 pm

      Thank you 🙂 I doubt it will be this tidy again, especially when little Madam is on the loose!

  4. Kate @craftsonsea
    August 16, 2013 / 6:46 pm

    Love it! Have just pinned a picture of it to give me some inspiration for my home 😀

    • Vicky
      August 19, 2013 / 1:44 pm

      Wow, thank you!

  5. Lisa-Marie
    August 18, 2013 / 5:30 pm

    I think it's lovely! So light and airy, and mindful of Daisy's need for it to be a wee bit 'her' too. Gorgeous.

    • Vicky
      August 19, 2013 / 1:45 pm

      Thanks lady, she seemed quite happy with it!

  6. Joanna
    August 19, 2013 / 12:59 pm

    I love it! It's the sort of room I would pin on pinterest – I aspire to it!

    • Vicky
      August 19, 2013 / 1:45 pm

      Crikey, thanks so much!

  7. Caroline South
    August 20, 2013 / 5:37 pm

    What a gorgeous room! I love the cards pinned up with the little clips and the radiator shelf from scrap wood is just lovely! x

  8. KatGotTheCream
    August 24, 2013 / 9:49 am

    Lovely room – I adore your collection of pillowcases especially! X

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