Our Seaside Bedroom: Before & After
Hello friends! Today I want to share a little before & after post with you and this time… it’s out bedroom! When we first moved into our house, this bedroom was one big room with 3 windows and a bathroom with no windows, so we consulted an architect, moved the bathroom so it captured one of the windows and added in a walk in wardrobe. We also changed the fireplace slightly, moved and changed a radiator, fixed the windows, changed the doors, stripped the floors, stripped the fireplace and painted. Oh and we put electrics into the stud walls so we would get a nice clean finish with the Anglepoise wall lights… phew! OK! Let’s deep dive!!
Before
After
The Fireplace
One of the biggest changes for me was the fireplace, I was never a big fan of the top part of it and when a builder told us it was broken, I jumped at the chance of taking off the top part! I am really against ripping out original features, but on this occasion, I was so grateful it was a little cracked and I took the opportunity to get rid of the top part as it really overpowered the room. The bottom part and the tiles are original, but the top part was removed. We also removed the surround as we didn’t need it and it was a bit of a trip hazard. I spent hours painstakingly removing the gloss paint to reveal the wrought iron (a tough job, but totally worth it!!) and I’m SO glad we were able to keep the original fireplace tiles too! They are a little chipped and we were advised to remove them and replace them with modern, but I would rather have chipped old tiles than modern fresh ones! What would you do?
The Windows
The windows were SO bad when we moved in! They were super draughty with cracked panes and generally a little rotten. We spent over £400 PER WINDOW sorting them out with specialists, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but there was three windows in this room alone and 7 windows in my office – YIKES! But it was totally worth it! I’m sure some people would have ripped them out and replaced them with double glazing, but the windows were one of the reasons we bought this house, so I would have rather kept them as they were than replace them! We used one company to overhaul and draft proof the windows and a second company to replace the stained glass. Feel free to ask me any questions if you have similar windows, I’m always happy to help!
The Floors
The floors were relatively simple, we hired a sander and got to work. Make sure you buy yourself a boiler suit and a sturdy face mask as the dust is so much more than you can imagine! It’s also pretty hard and heavy work. You start off with the coarsest sandpaper and then work your way down to a finer sandpaper. It’s also worth painting a quick layer of woodworm treatment on the floors just in case and then we painted them white. Which we might not have done if we had done it later on, as Gordon’s hair sheds SO much and the black hairs on the white floor are a bit of a nightmare!! But I love the floors so much and I love Gordon too!
The Radiators
I know we *could* have left the radiators as they were, but I hated them so much!!! So we invested in these vintage style ones from B&Q and I’m so glad we did! They were around £100-200 each, which is good individually, but a lot when you multiply it by every room, but it was worth the investment! The whole house was replumbed / repiped, so it wasn’t too much extra work as the floorboards came up anyway!
The Wardrobe
The wardrobe and the bathrooms are ‘new rooms’ which were created out of the original room and bathroom. We liked the idea of having a walk in and being able to hide away all the clutter and keep the bedroom clean and neat. The industrial units were made by Key Systems who usually do shop fittings and I really like the way they look. Full wardrobe post here.
The Woodwork
This room has panelling on all the external walls. Again, we got told it would be easier to remove it and it would look more ‘modern’, but I stuck to my guns and refused! We kept it as it was, painstakingly stripping and sanding it back to the original wood and then priming and painting it. We also used filler between the floorboards and skirting board which helps seals the room and keep drafts out. We also got the top parts of the room skimmed as it’s SO nice to have flawlessly skimmed walls!
The Blinds
The windows in this room are really interesting as one of them is butted up against the wall which is really unusual. We spent a LOT of time thinking about what the best option would be curtains were impossible, net curtains I HATE and shutters would have been crazy expensive AND would have interfered with the wall because they need a bit more room when open. So eventually we decided simple blinds would be the best option. These were made bespoke (by my mum!) and they are Designers Guild, who I adore!
The Decor
Finally, the decor! The fun part! Because we live by the sea and we wanted this to be a really calm space, we went for a super cliche blue which I know is really obvious, but we both really loved it! It tones in nicely with the green of the fireplace and the white floors and it’s just really pretty and calming. The light was a major splurge, but I LOVE it, it’s from Anthropologie and the print on the wall is by Tracy Emin, it’s a signed print of I think an edition of 250. The chair is from Multiyork, the bed is Feather & Black and the Candle is of course, Diptyque. I think of this room as being fairly minimalist – for me! But also being filled with really lovely things. As for the bedside tables, I fell in love with these and couldn’t afford them, so for 2 years we used cardboard boxes as bedside tables and then in the January sales we finally bought them! It was worth using cardboard boxes for two years in order to wait and get the right item! I love the way they give us storage and also hide the plugs. I feel like we will have them for the next 20 years and they are built to last!
♥
And that my friends… is my bedroom before and after! It looks like a simple project, but it was actually a LOT of work to get here! Let me know what you think! Also, this post contains some affiliate links.
