[Rosie on her new chair.]Hi everyone, I hope you've all had a lovely weekend. I know I have! I've been doing some of my favourite things - interior design and shopping. :-)
I went to Bristol to see the OH's parents and pick up the lovely chair and chest of drawers they got for us. We went to Ikea because my little sister is pregnant and they don't have much money so I thought it would be nice if I went and got them some things to kit out their nursery. They don't live in a period cottage and pretty, girly and beige are not her thing, so I thought the brighter the better! It's so much fun working with colour. I bought a multi-coloured rug, I did pick a similar one up in the children's department, but it was 4 times the price. As soon as you add 'children/baby' to the description of an item it's like a license to print money! In total I got a big rug, a cute bright green bug light, some bibs, a few round bright round rugs, a big pack of face clothes, 2 x shelves and brackets, a clock, a toy store, a rat toy, a set of bunting print single bed clothes, a really pretty hot air balloon mobile, a blanket and 2 rolls of fabric (plus some tea towels for me, paint brushes, and 2 rugs) for £77! I also found a few things in my stash that I can give her, including some baskets to sit on top of the shelves for storage of wipes, nappies etc, 2 white hand towels, a pair of blue and white curtains, a cream lampshade and my brightly coloured quilt that I made a while ago (perfect size!).
[Ikea booty.]
[Lampshade from my stash jazzed up a bit.]
[2x bright picures to jazz up the cream walls.]
[Felt picture - I spotted this big canvas in my craft room this afternoon and had a brain wave that I could use some felt to make a children's picture. That's rosie there :-).]I made the above pictures for her nursery very quickly and simply just to brighten up the cream walls and to match in with all the lovely bright colours. As I was taking this picture I noticed the quilt I made earlier in the year behind it, which would be the perfect size for a cot quilt and will look lovely wih all the other colours.
On Saturday I helped the OH's mum with a little project of hers, this lovely grey 1950s unit (already painted in this pretty colour) looks lovely from the front, but there was no proper side to it so we use some old white melamine and glued it on. I also helped rearrange the end of the room to make it look relaxing and welcoming, and to try and make the most of the views of the garden.
In the sitting room, OH's mum originally had brown on the walls and rather muted colours, which aren't really her style and also are a little bit dated now. She had already painted it pink but it needed just that something extra to bring it all together. I had seen this multi-coloured rug on Hen's blog and it reminded me of her lounge so when she said she had been looking at it for a while too she decided to bite the bullet and get it. I think it all looks wonderful now. We also painted the wooden frames of some of her pictures in the bright green.
[Sitting room: Before]
[Sitting room: After]
[Dining room]
See, it just goes to how that you don't need to spend a lot of money to improve the look and feel of a room. A simple bit of rearranging and repurposing things you already have can have the same effect.
