A Nursery For Dreaming

I always knew that I would have a little girl, don’t ask me how – I just knew.

When Amelie was born our whole life changed for the better, forever. At the time we were in our one bed flat and so little Amelie had a corner of our room that I prettyfied by hanging up heart bunting above her crib.

This however was not enough, Amelie deserved more!

Whenever I got the chance, (normally in the middle of the night whilst feeding Amelie) I began searching for nursery inspiration on Pinterest, Instagram, home catalogues and blogs. It was so addictive and like most things in my life I became obsessed!

The Edit:

I fell in love with these gold heart decals, clouds, candy and flamingos. And so at 3am whilst the whole wide world was fast asleep, our little Bunny’s Bedroom theme was formed.

Source: Instagram

After moving into the “Ryder Residence” I couldn’t wait to give her a bedroom fit for a princess, a bunny princess that is.

For me this was more than just painting walls in a room, this was my chance to give my daughter a special little place for her imagination to blossom and dream her little dreams like there’s no tomorrow. I felt like it was my duty to give her a bedroom that reflected the love we have for her, kind of like I owe her it for choosing me to be her mother.

Her bedroom before I got my hands on it had seen better days. I felt so sorry for this room, it clearly hadn’t been dusted or even had a window opened in it for a while, I really wanted to give it a hug, poor thing ?.

During the transformation:

The first thing we tackled was the floor. Like our bedroom Amelie’s room had vinyl wooden flooring, I personally don’t feel this is fitting for a bedroom. A bedroom is the place you retire to after a long day; cold, hard flooring is not inviting or relaxing (It would however make you jump into bed quicker!).

I mentioned on my last post that my Father in law has the most amazing skill set. He is a self-taught, painter,electrician, tiler,carpenter and plasterer! There is absolutely nothing this man can’t do. I remember coming home one day and he had managed to lift up all the flooring from both rooms, on his own! This made it so much more cost-effective for us, as it allowed us to buy the carpets for the whole house on one reel. We didn’t have to wait for each room to be done, once the floor was up the carpets went down!

We then began on the walls.They were a not so awful lilac colour, but they were so thick with dust, lumps and holes that I knew this wasn’t going to be a quick job.

If you have this same problem, do not skip the “prepping” stage, it’s imperative to achieve a smooth, gorgeous finish. We began cleaning the walls with a Homebase own sugar scrub, it works like magic, it’s also a super savvy buy at just £2.99 !

You can shop this here:

http://www.homebase.co.uk

Scott and Wes (my Father in law) began digging out the uneven lumps in the wall, filling them and then sanding them down. This was so effective and made the walls look almost as good as new.

We then painted the walls with a white primer. This helped to mute the lilac colour and prepped the walls perfectly.

Once the walls were perfectly prepared we move onto the paint. I love all things pretty and so I knew I had to give Amelie a pretty room and this meant lots of pretty pinks!

I searched forever to try to find the perfect shade of pink. I personally don’t like that dusty, whitish baby pink colour as I feel it’s a real young baby nursery shade, I needed a pink that was going to stand the test of time. One that would see her from baby to toddler, to pre-schooler and maybe even beyond!

The other colour schemes I found during my nursery inspiration search were peachy pinks and soft greys and it was here that I fell in love with this light, coraly, warm undertone shades of pink.

Quite a few tester pots later I hit the jack pot with a Homebase own paint “Ballet” in the matte finish. Another absolute savvy buy at just £10 a pot! I want to stress here that you DO NOT need to pay the earth to find a good paint. I feel sometimes you really are just paying for the brand name. We have used paints triple the price in the past and yet this gave the best coverage and finish by far.

Bringing the room to life:

It was then onto the most exciting part for me – the heart decals! I knew I wanted them in a diagonal pattern and so began drawing little dots onto the wall in the correct position. This was so tedious and time-consuming and so I chose to put the pencil down and let my inner decorator take over.

It took me just over an hour in total but it was so worth it! I was so happy with the result – even if I do say so myself! I would highly recommend decals to anybody looking to change or update a room. They’re so easy to apply, quick to remove, more cost-effective than wallpaper, and look absolutely fabulous.

You can shop this here:

http://www.mylittlewears.co.uk

Carpet down, walls finished now it was time to have some fun and accessorize!

Keep your eyes peeled for part two where I’ll be sharing all of Amelie’s nursery accessories.

I’d love to know your faveourite nursery theme? Let me know your thoughts below.

Love