This day I love.......: decorate

We are very lucky that when we found out we were expecting Thing3 that we had enough bedrooms. It did mean that I had to give up my office, but this has now been relocated. My office walls were decorated recently in Graham and Brown wallpaper and it was decided that rather than removing the paper we would instead paint over the top to brighten up the room.

I wanted to keep the nursery neutral as we do not know if Thing3 is male or female and I settled on Ammonite and Dimpse, from Farrow and Ball, for the walls. These colours both have soft natural hints to them and as this is a little room I thought it would be perfect for adding in light. Dimpse has a subtle grey tone to it and Ammonite has more a natural fossil colour. I felt the two would compliment each other really well.

I was really pleased that the paint covered the walls well and only needed one coat. Farrow and Ball paint has a real luxurious touch to it, which you can see when you paint. I wanted to ensure a good coverage over the wallpaper and therefore Farrow and Ball was the paint of choice. In certain lights the walls change colour slightly, with the feature wall becoming darker and the other walls becoming closer to white and then sometimes grey. I think it depends on the light from the window and if in natural light or artificial light. I love these subtle changes to the room. The room feels really warm and welcoming, and the natural tones on the walls add a calming effect to the room.

The carpet in the room was the original black carpet from when we moved in. This has been in need of replacing for some time and converting the space into a nursery seemed the optimum moment to do so. I settled for a hardwood floor, as it is much easier to keep clean, plus it is then in keeping with the rest of the house. Once the flooring had been laid it was a case of adding in the furniture.

The room has a fitted wardrobe, so all that was needed was a cot and chest of drawers. The drawers I already had, and the cot we painted from a second had cot which I bought online. I made sure it met all current safety standards and had the required stamps before purchasing. It looks brand new and I am so pleased with it.

There was originally a sofa in my office and I decided to keep this in the nursery for night feeds. We all love superheroes in our house and I thought this, along with Dr Seuss would be perfect for the theme for the nursery. I came across a batman cushion online and knew the second I saw it that it had to be in the nursery.

I had had a canvas shopping bag which the handles broke from Cosatto and by sticking velcro in the top I converted it to a cushion cover. Perfect for the nursery. The sofa has been used to create a reading corner. We have a real love for books and reading in our house and we are hoping Thing3 develops this same love. As this is only a small room I purchased a tidy books book case in white to help display all the wonderful books for Thing3. The girls both have tidy book cases which I have also purchased for them and they take up very little floor space, along with giving easy access to the books.

The girls have their scan pictures displayed on the walls in their bedrooms, and I found the hanging frame in Asda in the sale. It is the perfect size for adding scan pictures to.

The reading corner is finished with my beautiful wooden print from Imprify, which of course is of the girls in their superhero costumes.

I would love a superhero themed rug and blind to go in the nursery but have not yet managed to find one, but these can be added once Thing3 arrives.

I really love the nursery and the way the room has transformed from my office to a room filled with love ready for Thing3 arrival.

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I cannot tell you how happy I am at the minute. It feels like our bedroom makeover has gone on for most of the year, and I guess in many ways it has, At the start of the year we began the design process. Initially wanting a walk in wardrobe and then opting instead for full length wardrobes. We are so happy with this design choice as it gave us much more space. I wrote a post in October which walks you through the room and you can read it here.

For the past few months we have been waiting on paint delivery and decorator availability but finally this week they all came together. We purchased the paint used, except the paint for the wood work and used Wall paper which was left from an earlier project [a post to follow shortly]. I had intended the wallpaper to be used this way and we had just enough with no rolls left over.

One length of the room is the modern black gloss wardrobes. These in themselves are very powerful in the room and draw your attention towards them. However my husband and I felt that the opposite wall needed an extra something to compliment the wardrobes and we decided upon a feature wall.

We created a feature wall using paper from Graham and Brown and the design Spring blossom Mist. We wanted a design that was not too complicated but yet had a special touch to it. We also like paper that changes. By this I mean that it looks different dependant upon the light and where are you stood when you look at it.

I was looking forward to the challenge of wallpapering however the bump prevented me doing so and so we used a decorator. He did comment on the quality of the paper and estimated that it would be around £30 a roll, actually it is £12. The quality of the paper is stunning and the metallic patterns add a real touch of luxury. I love how the wallpaper works with the wardrobe and the blind without over complicating the room. The oak of the furniture really brings out the metallic sections within the paper.

We have kept the ceiling and coving white and chosen Silver Feather from Johnstones for the remaining two walls. Silver feather in daylight looks almost white but at night has a darker silver colour to it. The walls join the wardrobes so the colour needed to be light to offset the black of the wardrobe doors. Too dark and the room would have felt very enclosed. Instead of painting the wood work white we opted for Mesmerise from Johnstones paints. A bright white would have been too contrasting against the grey and silver tones in the room and we have found with two small children in the house show up the dirt far too quickly.

The whole bedroom has a real luxury feel to it, but we managed to achieve this using products without the luxury price tag. Silver, black and grey runs through the room as the theme and all the furniture is oak, The colour of the oak compliments the colour scheme and adds warmth into the room. You can see my design inspirations here

The room has been totally transformed and I love how the room feels different in day light than at night time.

With special thanks to:

Graham and Brown - for providing the wallpaper Spring Blossom Mist

Johnstones Paint - Mesmerise Wood paint and Silver Feather Matt wall paint

JYSK - Silkeborg Super king-size bed, bedside tables and chest drawers

Kilner Joinery - Wardrobes

Web blinds - Roman blinds

Lighting Majestic - table lights

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I decided to combine this weeks update and things for Thing 3 post as it all seems to fit together. This week has been an emotional week as I was advised by physio to stop running. I saw the physio at 23+1 for the pain I have had in my abdomen. The extreme pain when walking has been getting worse and physio was in many ways needed.

My physio has diagnosed a 3.5cm distasis recti and hip displacement. On top of this I have also torn and done damage to my lower abdominal muscles. This week has been focusing on doing my exercises in order to prevent and further damage and try to make every day tasks like walking less painful.

I am not allowed to lift anything. Lifting s bowl of cereal hurts. I cannot do the ironing or vacuuming and some simple tasks like putting on shoes really hurts. However I am determined to keep going and am doing everything my physio had advised. My husband has been great at helping with housework and my Mum has been a superstar too. I do feel really frustrated and guilty because they are such simple tasks and pregnancy should not be an illness or an excuse to not do things. Unfortunately for me the damage to my muscles is saying otherwise.

Thing 3 gave me a scare mid way through the week after having a very quiet day, but soon made up for it with some strong kicks. I am loving all the wiggles and kicks and they seem to be getting stronger every day. I am looking forward to hearing Thing 3 heart heart at the 24 week appointment with the midwife.

One of my friends has very kindly given me some baby clothes for Thing 3 which I am incredibly grateful for as I had given away all of the girls things. This week also saw the paint arrive for the nursery. I have gone for neutral colours as I do not know the gender and also chosen paint from Farrow and Ball. I wanted good quality paint that I knew would withstand daily life with a baby and farrow and ball met this criteria. I shall be writing up nursery ideas in a few weeks and sharing with you the finished nursery. I am currently looking at flooring and blinds and then it is a case of putting it all together.

As the pregnancy progress I am also making decisions towards birthing plans and how I will feed Thing 3. I am hoping to share my decision as soon as I have made one. Whatever I decide I know that Tommee Tippee have a range of products to help me and my work with then as a mumbasador helpfully will continue with Thing 3.

To celebrate my partnership with Tommee Tippee I am giving away a box of 20 breast milk storage pouches. The pouches fit most brands of pumps so you can express directly into them, meaning no more spilt milk. A single pouch can be used to express, warm the ouch directly and then feed direct from the pouch. All you need to do to be in with a chance is follow the instructions on the widget this also shows full terms and conditions. Giveaway closes midnight GMT on 18th December 2015.

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A few months ago I began redesigning our master bedroom. I touched upon the furnishing ideas in an earlier post which you can read about here. We wanted a modern bedroom but one which was also relaxing. Originally we wanted to split the room so the top half became a walk in wardrobe but after consultation with Kilner bedrooms decided that this would leave a very small master bedroom and so instead opted to install a fitted wardrobe across the full length of the room instead.

This is how the room looked before we started

We designed our wardrobes with an oak interior and gave the outside a modern black mirrored finish. We had full control over the design and installation only took one day. We are so pleased with the overall look and finish and how much storage we have, we also cannot believe the price as it was a lot cheaper than we had been quoted else where.

The rest of our bedroom has been designed around this wardrobes. JYSK kindly sent us a super king size bed and mattress tor review, which you can read about here. I love having a super king size bed and cannot believe how much more space we have. If you have the space I would certainly recommend having a super king size bed! We purchased two memory foam mattress toppers from JYSK as the mattress was a little springy for our taste, and these are fantastic and really made all the difference. The bed is big enough to accommodate all four or us and bump and it's the perfect place to relax on a Sunday morning.

To match our bed we also have a chest of drawers and bedside table from the same range from JYSK. you may have seen on my Instagram feed my assembly of them a few weeks ago. When I look at them I cannot believe that I built them. The instructions were easy to follow and it took me a while as the pieces were heavy to move.

They look the same as the ready assembled solid wood, although all the pieces were solid wood so I can see why. In fact I could not believe how thick some of the pieces were. Really excellent quality at a great price.

To finish off the bedside cabinets we have some beautiful touch lamps from lighting majestic. I have mentioned the lamps in this post, but now they are in place they really have added a touch of luxury to our bedroom. The three light settings are perfect for early morning starts or can be used to light the room fully. The room has really been transformed.

We opted for a Roman blind from Hilary's to finish the room, instead of curtains. We felt this gave a much more cleaner modern look and love how it fits in perfectly. We wanted a subtle pattern rather than a solid colour just to break the room up slightly, and am so pleased with the overall look and feel of the room. Really quick and simple to install with everything we needed provided.

The quality is fantastic and has really added to the luxury feel of the bedroom. Hilary's have even thought of children and safety in their designs and comes supplied with a cord that fastens to the wall. By pulling the chain tight and securely fastening to the wall this way it stops the kids getting tangled in the chain. It is also slightly behind our blind so it is not in an obvious way for the kids to discover and play with.

There is only one more job to do to finish the bedroom and that is to paint the walls. I have chosen a light grey colour for the walls, but our paint has been on order since September. I did want to wait to publish this until everything was completed, but if you keep an eye on Instagram I shall show you the room fully painted.

We really love our master bedroom and feel we have created a touch of luxury on a budget!

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At the end of May I revealed the BIG project. After cleaning all the play house and play equipment June has been spent doing repair work. This has taken a lot longer than expected. Mainly due to the intermittent weather but also for unseen circumstances.

Our first job was sanding. We wanted to sand the climbing frame to make sure the surfaces are smooth to remove any 'splinter' related injuries to the children. My eldest wanted to help. She started looking for places that needed sanding

She then started sanding.

The original idea behind the project was to get the girls involved at the different stages so that they had more of a sense of achievement and an understanding of what had been done.

After the climbing frame we turned our attention to the play house. This needed a lot more work. The roof needed replacing.

A new wooden fascia was needed on both the front and rear of the house, as well as the wooden diamond decal at the top.

I was unsure what roof to buy or where to get it from having never done this before. I had to do it at a point that my youngest was asleep and there was no chance of rain, as I did not want to get wet. I searched the Internet and free ads for some time and then we found some felt in my Dads garage.

I took on the challenge of roofing the play house, and whilst I don't think I should give up my day job, I also don't think I did too bad a job.

I repaired the fascias, but unfortunately have not yet managed to find a diamond decal for the apex.

After all the repair works, it was time for my favourite part and that is painting.

Farrow & Ball have very kindly provided the paints for this part of the project. I have to say with all the beautiful colours it was a very tough choice picking the ones we did. We went for Elephants breath and Mouses Back in Exterior eggshell. I just love the names!

I would describe the paint as smooth and creamy. It went on really well and everything only needed one coat. This was a great pleasant surprise and a real time saver especially when having to paint between daughters naps. The paint dried very quickly which was also great when my eldest wanted to play in the play house whilst I was painting. I also loved that I could wash the paint off my daughters hands with baby wipes and water. Fantastic as she has sensitive skin.

I still have the main poles to paint, which will be the same colour as the house. I also need to paint the door but not sure which colour to choose, would love to know your thoughts?

I am really hoping this weekend stays nice so that I can finish painting the play house and the bridge, and then make a start on the climbing frame. Since painting the playhouse both my husband and I keep stopping and looking out the window at it. We cannot believe how different it looks. It just goes to show how good quality paint can really transform and restore a 12 year old previously unloved playhouse, to a much loved and treasured play house that is going to grow with my girls for a good few years to come.

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