Baby Boy’s Room Reveal

First of all, a bit of background. I’ve been working on this Edwardian Terrace in Halifax for a few years, mainly consulting with the downstairs but doing a complete redesign of the upstairs. It’s been a fantastic project to work on, with some ups (the arrival of the client’s new baby boy) and some downs (the arrival of COVID). The appearance of baby Joe allowed me to work on the room I’m excited to reveal to you today! As an interior designer who loves solving problems for my clients, I like nothing more than a tricky floor plan to sort out and this project definitely provided that!

The clients moved in when they were pregnant with baby no. 1 (now aged 3) and by the time baby no. 2 came along, the upstairs space was no longer working for them. There were a number of issues with how they were utilising the space. Bedroom no. 4 was being used for storage and the ensuite was in the room they were using as the guest bedroom. You can see from the original floorplan that bedroom no. 3 had just about enough room for a cot, small wardrobe and chest of drawers, so not ideal for a 3 year old or a newborn baby and their mountains of clothes and toys.

Floor plan taken from Rightmove

We decided to move the youngest boy to bedroom no. 1 (previously the guest room), ripping out the existing ensuite and moving it to the opposite end of the room to create a master en-suite.

The eldest boy got the biggest room in the house on the second floor, where there was plenty of room for sleeping and playing. Because it’s such a big space, there’d be room to incorporate a double sofa bed for guests in future if needed.

An Unusual WFH Space

We decided to turn bedroom no. 3 into a dressing room (one of the client’s lifetime goals) rather than a home office. This was pre-Covid, you understand. Now, her husband would kill for an office…..instead, he can be found on his little laptop amongst her coats and dresses.

The Interior Design Brief

The brief for the baby’s room was to create a comfortable, practical space that can be easily updated in future when a refresh is needed. A play area and the existing cot had to be incorporated into the scheme, with enough room to accommodate a single bed for when the cot is upgraded. And because the pipes for the ensuite had to run through this bedroom, they needed to be cleverly concealed.

Before (Estate Agent’s picture) - the wall-to-wall wardrobes were concealing a chimney breast and alcoves so they were taking a lot of space off the room. The door on the right is to the existing ensuite.

We decided to have a wardrobe built in to the alcove and the whole wall above built out, carrying it along all the way across the alcove and chimney breast. The pipes for the ensuite could be concealed behind the false wall with recessed shelving above, and the room would be a nice rectangular shape.

It can be hard for clients to imagine how a room will look so one of the services I offer is the creation of a 3D scaled drawing. This really helps clients to visualise the space and get a feel for how things will fit together:

There’s the studwork for the ensuite going up.

Look at the lovely green tiles we uncovered - you can see more of them in the master bedroom and en-suite reveal! And that’s the lovely soil pipe running in front of the chimney breast.

The Design Scheme

As part of my design process, I create a design board so that clients can see how all the items I’ve chosen for the scheme work together:

To allow the room to be easily refreshed in future, and to keep costs down, I suggested that we stick to paint rather than wallpaper. I’m a little bit obsessed with original floorboards so the decision was made to restore them and stain them a warm, mid-oak colour. The husband was willing to do the work himself (I use the term ‘willing’ loosely - he didn’t really have a choice) so this was a cheap and practical option. For DIY advice on how to restore floorboards, read my blog post here. Together, we chose a light blue for the walls with accents of a darker blue, yellow, green and red. A lovely, colourful room!

The client initially asked for the room to be a neutral white/off-white colour. So many clients start off saying this! It’s not that they don’t like colour, it’s that they’re afraid of getting it wrong so they prefer to play it safe. But, depending on the lighting in the room and the type of neutral you choose, you could end up with a cold, soul-less space. Colour really sets the mood and it’s the thing that makes the biggest difference for the lowest cost. It’s my job as an interior designer to give my clients ideas they wouldn’t have thought of themselves, to push them out of their comfort zone, and often that means giving them the confidence to be a bit bolder with colour.

The Final Reveal

I pulled together a colour palette of Brighton by Little Greene for the walls - it’s lovely and soothing with a hint of green. We decided to keep the built-in wardrobe the same colour as the walls for a seamless look which creates a more soothing feel. The skirtings were highlighted in Deep Space Blue and a pop of colour was added by painting the window frame in Mister David (love that name!). The rattan light shade adds warmth and texture.

I got these stickers from Hartendief (I love wall stickers for kids’ rooms) to fill the rather long wall. How amazing are they?! And when the room needs a refresh in a few years’ time, they’ll peel off without damaging the paintwork. And how cute is this chair?! It was £5 - FIVE POUNDS!!! - off eBay….because the seat is flat, it can be used as a bedside table when baby gets older. The light up moon completes the rather lovely scene.

We displayed a collection of prints, plates and books above the cot; high enough up so they can’t be reached by little hands.

Ah, the false wall! You’d never know there was a soil pipe behind there would you? The IKEA Pax wardrobes work brilliantly built in to the wall and there’s enough room in them to hold all the baby clothes and household sheets and towels. Don’t you just love a good IKEA hack?! A joiner built the floating shelves into the recess and patched up some missing pieces of skirting board. Because of lockdown, we had to do it the wrong way round - after decorating - so there was quite a bit of touching up to do afterwards (long suffering husband was thrilled). The shelves are painted in Little Greene’s Phthalo Green (to match the chair) and I filled them with lots of stuff they already had. See how the white stars on the blue basket match the fairy lights? The one thing the budget couldn’t quite stretch to was a new cornice. Because the original one had been removed, I recommended getting a mould made of another cornice in the house but this is something that can easily be added in future.

I sourced a lovely cosy soft rug from La Redoute to complete the play area. The old wooden blanket box was a £10 vintage buy and it’s brilliant for toy storage. The beautiful bear prints are perfect for a little boy’s room and they pick out the colours in the room perfectly.

So there you go! A colourful, cosy room for a lovely little boy.

I’d love to know what you think. Let me know in the comments below!

If your child’s room needs a refresh and you don’t know where to start, please get in touch. I’m based in Halifax, West Yorkshire and I also offer a remote design service.