Manning Up In The Bedroom

It’s still weird for me to consider that before I moved to this house I’d never lived on my own. There was my room at my University halls of residence but that doesn’t count because when your single mattress is covered in a thin layer of plastic and your carpet smells like horses… it doesn’t make one feel particularly house proud, that’s for sure. Every other place I’ve lived in was shared with a man, meaning I had to take things like their opinions into account when I was decorating. Ugh. Such a drag. 

So when I first became single I was like a woman possessed, interiors-wise. I wanted ALL THE PINK, ALL THE FLORAL STUFF, ALL THE FAIRY LIGHTS. I wanted anyone visiting the house to know, hey, no boys live here (apart from Hux, who spends most of his time these days asking for hair clips to be put in his hair). My house, it kind of looked like a fairy princess had visited and vomited all her girlyness all over it.

We’ve lived in my new place for nearly six months (holy hell how did that happen?) and as the days went on I found myself getting more and more antsy at the amount of pink stuff that was in my house. Yes, I liked the fact that I’d been showing that side of my personality through the medium of interior design but really? It just didn’t feel like me. Let’s be honest, a woman who uses the word ‘vomit’ as much as I do in her everyday lexicon (see paragraph above) probably should not have flowers plastered all over her bedroom. Plus it might be nice to have a man around here at some point in the future and I don’t want them or Hux feeling like this is a boy-free twinkly flower-filled zone.

And so I’ve spent the last couple of weeks making subtle tweaks to the house. Starting with the bedroom! I’ve got rid of the overly feminine rose-print sheets; I wanted to take things back to basics and get some plain white bedlinen. This set was the dream – the black piping is so chic – but £100 for sheets right now? Not gonna happen. So I went for a happy medium, IKEA bed linen from the slightly pricier range, and I love them. It’s amazing how much calmer I find the bedroom now I’ve switched the sheets out.

I also added a black and white blanket (IKEA once again) to the foot of the bed to toughen it up a bit; there’s no way I’m parting with my bedknobs and broomsticks-esque bed no matter how girly it is.

I wanted the decor to remain plain with some colour pops so I added in these Horses Kissing pillowcases from Urban Outfitters which I adore (and were in the sale!): they’re the only horsey thing in this house though, lets be clear… no whiffy carpets.

I brought my shelves upstairs from the laundry cupboard: these are used to store paperwork, magazines and shoes. The stool was moved from the other side of the bed (Freecycle bargain) and my awesome orange lamp switched with my white one to bring yet more colour to the room. My old bedside table is now carrying out the completely useless purpose of holding all my perfumes, a candle and an orchid. What? I might not want to be super girly any more but I’m still human.

The only thing I’m not sure about are the curtains. I’m considering switching them out for a blind so they’re not so, you know, lacy…

I love my bedroom now. Love love love it. It’s just the right size for me and all my bits, the walk-in wardrobe still thrills me each and every day and barring the few times I am hungover I wake up happy every single day here. It’s a sanctuary, a calming place for me to come to drink chamomile tea and watch three episodes of Desperate Housewives. Because what more do you want out of life?

QUESTION TIME: the pictures in this post are making me think I should iron my pillowcases. The one time I ironed my pillowcases I got neck ache because I was worried about sleeping on them too hard and creasing them up. Is pillowcase ironing A Thing I should be getting on board with?