Building My Boudoir

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You know that episode of Sex And The City when Miranda buys gorgeous new bedding in a bid to change her ‘bed karma?’:

“I’m trying to change my bed karma. I figure if I can make my bed a place I really want to be, others will feel the same”.

I’m trying to do the same with my whole house. As where I live was once a family home for the four of us and it’s now just me and the kids, I kind of feel like changes need to be made. I want to make it feel like it’s a home I’ve put together as a single gal, somewhere I really want to be, and because I get so little sleep these days I figured it’d be worth starting in the bedroom.

Oi oi! Ahem.

This is what it looked like before. Perfectly functional but a little bit cluttered and nothing very interesting to look at. Basket of washing permanently on the end of the bed.

I’ve been working on a Pinterest board the last couple of months for my bedroom. I want to turn it into a boudoir, make it as feminine, light and airy as possible: florals, fairy lights, shoes on display. Your general cliche’d single girl’s room, basically.

The first decision I made was to get rid of the bed. I still sleep in the bed we bought as a marital couple which is a massive kingsize space-sucker: it’s much bigger than what I needs and I’m not a fan of all that wood anymore. I decided to buy a white metal framed bed but couldn’t find one within my teeny tiny budget so bought this bad boy for £30 off eBay (the frame only). I cleaned it up, sanded it down and got to work with a bottle of primer and one of white satin spray paint. What do you know, I’m a DIY/crafting genius!

(the chair’s going to get painted white anyway…)

Next up was a shopping trip to everyone’s favourite Scandinavian store: IKEA. I love this place; I take the kids at least once a month for a special treat meatball dinner and it’s particularly good now Elfie’s old enough to spend time in the creche (whine free browsing!). I set myself a budget of 100 quid and went looking for some fairy lights, storage, new bedsheets and a large picture frame.

For some reason, when I shop at IKEA items literally leap into my trolley. This time was no different and I bust the budget by about a tenner.

Unfortunately as my (sale) mattress hasn’t arrived yet I can’t put my new bed up so the room isn’t completely finished, but I think it’s a big improvement already:

(Sidenote: does anyone iron their bedsheets? Should I be ironing my bedsheets?)  

I love the look of mismatched bedside tables and was desperate to incorporate them into my new room. But because I couldn’t get these within budget I went to a couple of second-hand furniture warehouses nearby in the hopes of finding some gems that I could lovingly Annie Sloane back to life. Unfortunately it was pretty slim pickings so instead I recycled a set of (IKEA) drawers from my dining room and a stool that was found by my mum on Freecycle.

My trip to New York was so life-changing to me that I really wanted to incorporate a part of it into my new room. I’ve framed a graphic map I bought while I was out there and it’ll go above my new bed.

I don’t wear half of these shoes anymore, but who cares? They’re nice to look at, right?

If anyone’s in the market for some new floral sheets I can highly recommend these. They were £20 for the King size and are incredibly soft. IKEA always delivers…

As soon as the bed is up and running I’m hoping to look at painting the room and maybe getting some new rugs. I’m so happy with what I’ve been able to do with the budget, though, and I feel very calm in this room. It’s a kid-free and man-free zone (for now!).