When we first moved to our rambling old farmhouse, there was one bedroom that hadn’t been inhabited for decades. The plaster was crumbling off the walls and the ceiling was sagging, but it’s proportions were stunning with beautiful wooden floorboards, a fireplace and shuttered window looking out onto the garden.
It was known as the ‘cold room’ as you used to be able to see through the floorboards to the old milk parlour underneath and the constant draft made it freezing cold. That parlour had long since been turned into a study and now it was the turn of the infamous ‘cold room’ to become warm and inhabited. I was pregnant with my second child and this was to be his bedroom.
It took us months to slowly mend, strip, rewire, re-plumb and lovingly put everything back into working order. We painted the walls in Farrow and Ball Blackened and the woodwork in Stiffkey Blue. I have a thing for painting doors in dark colours and applied the same dark blue to the fireplace and shutters. The shutters were professionally dipped so that we could repaint them afresh and avoid painting over all the layers of old gloss.
Much of the furniture was hand-me-down from our eldest or friends. Some items were junk shop finds or home made like knitted teddies from grandparents. I painted the tiles around the fireplace with Airfix model paint in duck egg blue and then applied bee shaped transfers from Etsy. The vintage child’s bicycle is from Bringsty Vintage where I always have a rummage whenever I am in Worcestershire visiting family. The fox rug is from Sew Heart Felt.
I love having the hand-me-down armchairs in the room for reading stories or just for me to chill out in whilst the kids play.
We turned to IKEA for two chest of drawers as they are inexpensive and deep enough to hold plenty of clothes and kit. Their drawer dividers are very handy for little socks and muslins. The yellow rug is also IKEA. The flock of birds mural is Charley Harper and the Fox poster is from Hus and Hem which is a lovely Scandi shop I always visit when in Ledbury. I don’t think that they carry it any more, but it is available from ScandiBlommer.
And so there is a very jolly country boy amongst us with a lovely room that we all enjoy and that hasn’t been used in more years than anyone can remember. It was so much fun to get it all up and running again and bring it back to life.
Looking back on two babies, (now growing up fast) the one thing I think amongst the endless products you can buy is that really you don’t need very much. You realise what kit you really like and need only once they have arrived and have made themselves at home.
Further reading… If you are about to create a bedroom for a new arrival and are looking for more inspiration on nursery decor and kit, Crate and Barrel have a lovely article on how to design a nursery.
Wellies by the Door 