After months of walking past the wasteland that was my former dining room, I have finally got round to converting this back into a bedroom. Whilst I loved my previous conversion of the spare room into a dining room (especially in the Winter months dressing a dark and dramatic dining room), with my new kitchen and breakfast bar I knew I no longer needed a dining room and the space would be better used as a spare bedroom.

So in line with my traditional approach to research, which as you will all know is to pour myself a cup of tea and get down to pinteresting and ebaying search, I began my planning. Whats more, since February i have slowly used the Facebook Marketplace to sell off my dining room furniture and some old kitchen bits and pieces which has given me an additional £300 to put towards my renovation.

Before I embarked on this project I had a vision in mind of how I wanted to decorate the room and so, keeping that picture in my mind I set about to sourcing the things I needed, and finding all of my furniture second hand!

I picked up the wardrobe from a local furniture/ antiques shop called Fully Furnished in York for £30.00. The chest of drawers from ebay for £25.00 (in York) and the bedside ikea Hemnes tables £15.00 for the two from Beverley off Facebook marketplace.

This gave me the majorityof the furniture I needed for just £70.00! The divan base was from a close family friend which was hardly used and like new as they were moving and no room for it. Meaning the most expensive item of furniture was a my fluffy (faux sheepskin) chair from Homesense (which was a gift from Dave!). With my bargain hunting in full swing I now had everything I needed to complete my conversion.

When it comes to the colour choice I knew I wanted to create a grown up space that reflected both a masculine and feminine influence. (Masculine!!?!! Who am I kidding hahaha). I opted for my old faithful and classic Elephants Breathe for the walls, as this warm grey creates a calm environment as well as soft a backdrop for your interiors.

Elephants Breathe

The first thing I did was to give the walls a coat of white just the deaden the deep dark green. Then I ripped up that awful school like carpet which I hated with a passion!!! I managed to find a exact match for the discounted B&Q floor in my bedroom from Floors2go in Leeds to replace the carpet, and, with a little bartering got the laminate and underlay for £115.00 – result!

Floor up and paint deadened  I rolled up my sleevea, popped the Whitney greatest hits on, and poured myself a strong brew ready for a Friday night in – of laminate flooring. With a slight set back of not being able to find a tape measuring, we managed to get by with a paper one from Homesense and 2 hours later we were done!

Flooring Friday Nights

Everything was coming together so quickly and, encouraged by my progress, I got up early and popped the first coat of paint on the walls before heading out for breakfast. Suitably fuelled for the day, by the time I got home it was ready for the next and final coat. I love painting and find it so satisfying to see something change, but I really am NOT a fan of the second coat! Relieved and stood in a floored and painted room I was now in the zone and so I grabbed my mini roller and tackled the furniture with a Farrow & Ball modern eggshell in railings.

I love railings and it sits so well next to the warm grey, bringing in the masculine element to the room. I painted all of the furniture in railings and changed the handles to high shine brass to create a matching and consistent  look. I picked up the handles through Selby Bolt & Nut with a bit of family discount (my brother owns it which is handy for occasions like this!).

So with DIY done I was FINALLY at the stage of any home improvement or renovation I love – the faffing and fluffing. I have a lot of stuff spread over a lot of places (Daves garage, my parents house and suitcases under my bed all house my accessories!)  and so with a bit of rummaging, I was able to pick out items which matched the image in my mind.

I did however know that I wanted a statement feature above the bed and I knew exactly what would work for this room. I saw the montage of dogs in frames collection when I stayed as The George in Edinburgh last year and fell in love with them. I have googled and googled these to find a copy of the prints as a collection and found nothing! I even considered buying the Best In Show wallpaper by Osborne & Little, but even that wouldn’t work.

Frustrated and ready to go back to the drawing board I decided to take a break from looking, and look for other options. It was about 20 minutes later a near miss with a dodgy purchase of a string wall tapestry, I had the realisation that just make the prints myself plus I can choose dogs I like. So that is what I did making the background a farrow & ball dimity and the silhouette the same railings colour of the furniture. I managed to get them printed and the frames for a total of £30.62.

With the home straight in sight I just needed to find the comfort! This being the cushions headboard and the mattress. I found a mattress in the Argos clearance reduced to £99.99 whilst the headboard was a Amazon purchase and I am impressed with it for a linen headboard at just £59.99. The cushions were not so easy to find. Even though there is sooooooooooo much pink about at the moment, I ended up having to go for all four cushions in Matalan home in Knaresborough for £44.00. I love the fluffy cushions as they compliment the chair and tie in the pink (albeit a different pink – I challenge you to find a match) of my flamingo lamps I got in Homesense earlier in the year.

The rest of the accessories as I mentioned I already had from years or hoarding, I love old luggage and a bit of history like the typewriter which sits next to one of my teapots I made during my degree. The man on the wall is a nod to the former dining room where he was hung on the wall next with his wife, I added the hats to the wall to add back in a bit of MAN haha.

So in a nutshell (admittedly a long rambling nutshell) that is what I have been up to with my last couple of weekends! Its so easy to get carried away while decorating and I often have to reign myself in, especially since I don’t have endless money to throw into a room that won’t be used that often. I managed to do everything to and for this room for £462.00, minus the £297.00 from bits sold £162.00. Its one of those situations where you have to self discipline and edit, yes I could of bought the sheepskin cushions for £60.00 each rather than the faux for £10.00, but why? I won’t get the use out of them, nor would my guests. For me its a matter of style but to my budget and I think that I have achieved what I set out to do, create a cosy grown up spare room, no?