Thought it was about time I showed you our "new-look" bedroom. This is what our horrible mould-ridden bedroom looked like before we spent about £1 million pounds getting our bedroom, bathroom and hallway refurbished.
The photograph isn't exactly in focus and I hadn't bothered to make the bed or clean up, but it gives you a good idea of what the room was like, although it doesn't show you the ridiculous storage of our clothes charity shop-style on two rails, on the wall at the foot of the bed! This was because the built-in-robe, on the right-hand external wall, was so damp we could not use it.
But that wasn't the only thing wrong with the room. The walls, near the ceiling, were stained from our battle with mould; the polyester carpet was moth-ridden and bloody ugly to boot; and the bed springs in the double-bed had long since died a miserable death. The only decent thing about the room was the curtains, complete with black-out lining, that I had bought a couple of years earlier from John Lewis.
Now the bedroom looks like this! In a bid to solve the damp problem and to give us more space, the built-in-robe was moved from the external wall and reinstalled on the internal wall at the foot of the bed. How lovely it is to actually keep clothes in it!
Where the built-in-robe once stood we now have a new chest of drawers (built by yours truly -- I'm yet to build the matching bedside tables) in stained pine with chrome handles.
We also invested in a new king-size bed, with faux leather headboard and a memory foam mattress. Honestly, I didn't know a bed could be so comfortable. Notice the matching bedside lamps -- I scored these from Argos at the rock bottom price of £9.99 for two!
And for those of you who asked about the carpet, we opted for a 100 per cent wool Berber style in a dark cream. It's lovely and soft underfoot, but the smell of lanolin is a little overbearing; I assume the odour will disappear over time.
And finally, this is the pattern on the curtains. It's a kind of lush combination of gold and white on a pale cream background. It matches the walls, which are tallow, and all the white paint work on the radiator, skirting boards, window frame and ceiling.
I'm really happy with the way the room has turned out, and have taken to using it as my retreat, where I can sit on the bed and read or churn out posts on the laptop. I'm even considering buying a reading chair, so that I can this room as a proper alternative to the living room...
