In this special Easter-inspired makeover, today we join Charlie armed with a paintbrush, some William Morris wallpaper, a chocolate egg and some beautiful solid wood furniture as she creates an Easter-inspired bedroom.
Springtime spruce up
One morning around about now you’ll awake to springtime sunlight streaming through your bedroom window, and you’ll realise that the long grey months of winter are finally over. If your bedroom is in need of a seasonal refresh, then the long Easter weekend is the perfect time for a bedroom style and painting makeover. So drag out your dustsheets and get your paint brushes ready for a three-day springtime spruce up.
Good Friday
Banish the old to make way for the new and give your room a good spring clean. Today you are preparing your room for painting and papering – throw on some music to break up the tedium, try Patti Smith’s Easter album, or Rabbit Fur Coat by Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins.
For painting and papering your walls need to be smooth, clean and dry. Brush your walls and ceiling with a broom to get rid of cobwebs and dust, then wash walls down with warm soapy water. Grease and stubborn stains can be removed with sugar soap. Leave to dry and crack on filling in any holes and — cracks. Use filler and allow to dry before sanding to a smooth finish with a medium grain sandpaper.
If you need to remove old wallpaper wipe it over with a large sponge and warm soapy water – score with a knife to ensure the water soaks in. You may be able to peel most of the paper off and tidy up with a stripper tool. If not you can remove the paper with a removal solution or a steamer.
You can paint over any smooth clean surface without a primer. If you do need to prime a surface use the right colour: white for a white surface, grey for dark colours.
Saturday
Decorating day! Hop out of bed early and clear your room as much as possible. Cover your floors and furniture with dustsheets.
We are decorating our room in fresh, cool blues. Right on theme is the beautiful Brer Rabbit wallpaper by William Morris in slate blue (£52.01 per roll), based on a 17th century Italian silk. It may feature bunnies, but its heritage look ensures that it’s still suitable for grown-ups. Use on a feature wall or for small defined areas, such as the recesses flanking a chimney breast.
Paint the remainder of your bed nest with Blue Grass and Peace and Quiet from Fired Earth (£39.50 a pot). If your walls are bumpy (common in older properties) opt for a matt paint; satin finishes reflect light that will highlight imperfections.
Papering a feature wall
- Remove wall fixings before you start and turn on any lights this will cast shadows on and lumps and bumps to be brushed out.
- Start on the right hand side (left if you’re left handed). Leave an excess of five centimetres on the top and bottom so that you can get a nice clean finish.
- Brush your wallpaper with a wallpaper brush, working from the centre to the edges. When you’re happy trim the wallpaper at the top and bottom with a sharp knife.
Painting like a pro
it’s easier to put masking tape on a wall than it is to put it on skirting boards
- Paint when there’s plenty of light, and make sure that you have adequate ventilation.
- Unless you have a steady hand, mask off any edges. And remove any wall fixings.
- If you’re painting your ceiling, do that first, as it doesn’t matter if the ceiling paint goes on the walls.
- Do the woodwork last as it’s easier to put masking tape on a wall than it is to put it on skirting boards and door frames.
- Work in squares (say bottom, middle top) and merge edges before they dry so you don’t have a visible overlap. Emulsion dries quickly, so finish each wall before taking a breather, otherwise you may end up with patches of different tones.
- Emulsion normally ends up where it shouldn’t be but it comes off quite easily if you’re quick, so have some kitchen roll and a bowl of warm soapy water to hand. This will save you scrubbing with white spirit later on!
Easter Sunday
Prettifying day! By now your bedroom walls will be dry and you can dress your room.
For a clean spring feel we have chosen the simple colonial style Radley bed from Feather & Black (from £299). It’s available in white and American ash, and both styles work well with today’s scheme. Cover in crisp bright white bed linens and finish with a blue herringbone throw (£70) and blue linen cushions (£20), also from Feather and Black.
With patterned wallpaper and a blue on the walls we want to put lots of light in the room to keep it fresh and welcoming. Choose white and mirrored furniture; for the bedside we have chosen a pair of white Damien square tray tables (£108 each) from Artisanti, then back to Feather & Black for a Gatsby 3 drawer chest of drawers in a mirrored finish (£675).
To light your room we love the blue ceramic bedside lights (£400) from Feather & Black and the contemporary East pendant light (£85) from Habitat. Bounce all this lovely light around with a porthole mirror from John Lewis (£35) and the full-length Luella mirror (£275) from Habitat.
To tie in the creams from the wallpaper and walls dress the floor with an Adya rug in ivory, available from Lombok (£295).It’s hand woven from the finest wool blend by artisans in Haryana, India. To finish your room place a soothing picture or two across from your bed, such as a textured moonlit seascape (£50) from UK artist Lucy Moore at Artgallery.
Easter Monday
Waking up in your lovely new bedroom after such a hard weekend you deserve a lie in. Treat yourself to Eggs Benedict and a pot of tea for breakfast in bed! Then lie back in bed and admire your efforts with a devilishly large Easter egg.
You may also like
- Elegant colour scheme: Bloomsbury Set
- Get the Jungle Look with Pantone Colour of the Year: Greenery
- Wallpaper with Staying Power
- Modern colour scheme: yellow and concrete in the dining room
This is a sponsored post which may contain affiliate links. All thoughts and opinions expressed however are those of the author for The Idealist and are not of the sponsoring company.
© 2018 THE IDEALIST
Show Comments