This was the day that we moved into our new house...

We had opted for dark green kitchen cabinets, brass handles and dark wood flooring but everything else was WHITE. 

We spend a lot of time in our kitchen diner so I wanted it to feel like a welcoming, warm space for the whole family. I bought a lot of colour testers and started to create a mood board. With the dark geen cupboards, I wanted a softer colour on the walls. Pink and green are complimentary colours, and are opposite each other on the colour wheel. The two colours balance each other and are a perfect pairing for a kitchen. A soft, muted pink would add warmth to the room, and the green kitchen cupboards add freshness to the colour palette. Below was my initial mood board for the room.

I settled with Lick Pink 01 and used this colour on all 4 walls. This was the video I sent my friend when we finished painting in the early hours!

The room is a large, long room so it was important to zone it into different areas to separate the kitchen and dining room. I decided to use a colour block technique in Lick Pink 13, a darker shade of pink, to section off the dining room and add interest to the long white wall when you first walk into the room. I then added the print 'Boats on a Kerala backwater' from King & McGaw. I loved this print as Rob and myself have spent time in Kerala, and the colours worked brilliantly with the pinks and greens in the room. King & McGaw offer a great service where the print comes framed so offers a high-end finish. 

I also used the same colour to add a pop of colour behind the floating shelves in the kitchen to tie the two areas together. 

We added artwork that means something to us; a map of the Atlas Mountains from a school trip I ran, a print of a chattel house in Barbados (one of our favourite places) and the famous 'Going to the Match' painting by L.S.Lowry. We also put up our favourite flip clock from Made.com and two pendant lights over the kitchen pensinsula from Industville. I added roman blinds using the made to measure service from 'Blinds 2 Go' in a simple stripe fabric and stuck up lots of the kids art work behind the door and on the side of the fridge. It was starting to feel a lot more like home!

I then extended the Pink 01 colour into the utility room, and used the Pink 13 inside the doorway. I added a tile splashback in green geometric tiles, and some floating shelves.

We have a lot of fun in this room and I was so glad to see the white walls go. 

Raffy
Age 3
The brief: "A blue room with monster trucks and a big boy cabin bed"

It was only fair that I decorated Raffy's bedroom for his birthday as well! Entertaining two children for the summer holidays is full on, but with Raffy's 4th birthday fast approaching, I set aside some time to start creating his room. His room was very neglected and only had a bed and a wardobe in it. Everything was white! 

I knew with this bedroom I wanted to steer clear from a stereotypical blue, monster truck room (even though that is what he asked for!) I wanted to add them in subtly so that he would be pleased with the room, but also create a calm space that he could play.

I started with the colour palette. I wanted the room to be calming but with pops of colour and different textures. I had seen a blue paint colour used in a kids bedroom called 'Airforce Blue' by Little Greene and I used this as my starting point. I wanted to use wallpaper again as it had worked so well in Etta's bedroom. I gathered a lot of wallpaper samples, but in the end opted for a more budget option from Wallpaper Direct to keep costs lower. I then colour matched another paint colour with the stripes of the wallpaper. The pops of colour would come through in the accessories and art prints. This was my first moodboard...

We moved Raffy into the spare room (which he was very excited about) and off I went! I painted the ceiling and part of the walls in the colour matched beige colour. Three of the walls were wallpapered, leaving one feature wall in beige for bookshelves. The woodwork and radiator were painted in the 'Airforce Blue'. Along the top of the wallpaper, I stuck bobbin moulding which I painted in the same Airforce Blue colour to tie in with the woodwork. 

I purchased an IKEA cabin bed from Facebook Marketplace, and stuck on half dowel moulding to give the bed a more textured finish. I then added a thin wooden curtain rail and made some small curtains using orange gingham fabric to add another pattern into the design. I added fairy lights underneath as well so that he could create his own little dens. 

The IKEA desk and storage board had been such a hit with Etta that I knew Raffy would love it to. It fitted perfectly into the space at the bottom of the bed. I added a neon monster truck light and wall stickers to honour the monster truck request. 

Underneath his bed, I put another mattress which is perfect for bed time stories and sleepovers. I added two large storage baskets above the wardobe to make use of dead vertical space. 

A great tip for kids bedroom is to purchase a made to measure black out blind. We got Raffy's from Blinds 2 Go. They are not the most pretty so I added a roman blind from Dunelm on top which fitted the colour palette and look of the room better. At night, we just pull the black out blind down and the roman blind is just for decorative purposes. 

Then it was time for the final touches.... a bed canopy, zebra head, personalised flag, ledge for his Yoto player, Bouremouth FC flag, art work and a custom made photo frame using his first ever baby grow.

Whack a few party hats on the cuddly toys and we were ready for the big reveal!

He loves it! He spends so much time in here playing and reading books under the cabin bed. Etta wants to sleepover in here all the time! 

A few weeks later, we added a felt notice board as he wanted to pin some things up like Etta.

And this time, I made him stick his silly stickers on the INSIDE of his wardrobe door!

Etta
4 years old
The brief- "A pink bedroom with my own desk to do drawing"

Etta's bedroom was the first room I decorated in our house. I was starting to get sick of the white walls and the temporary window blinds so I promised Etta that I would decorate her bedroom for her 4th birthday.

The brief was simple but the expectation from the client was high! When I started to think about decorating this room, Etta was 3, Raffy was 1 and it was carnage. I had just returned to work after maternity leave, Raffy was throwing food around the dining room every meal time and we had just about recovered from the house move/terrible twos. 

The room was already well used by both kids but just messy and chaotic. However, it was great to have a completely blank canvas to start with. 

And off I went! Etta was moved into the spare room and was banned from looking in her bedroom so that we could give her the big reveal on her birthday.  It was a juggling act! Decorating a bedroom, while working and keeping two young kids alive was full on, but we got there. The big reveal..

A very happy client, and a very tired Mum! 

I have added some artwork to the walls. These were postcards she chose from the Roald Dahl museum. The furniture was from IKEA but I have added new handles to customise and compliment with the colour scheme. I also added a few pieces that I used to have in my bedroom when I was little such as this calendar. 

However, the design has stayed the same and she still loves it! It is a lot more cluttered now but clever storage has made it an easy room to quickly tidy up at the end of the day when you're knackered! The only thing that really irritates me is the stickers stuck on the wardrobe door. Whyyyy do kids always do that!?