When we moved into our new rental home almost 11 months ago to the day, we were one bedroom less and one of the bedrooms was fairly small and had been used as a nursery by the previous owners. The room was painted two different colours, top and bottom and had a strip of pink painted stars around the middle. Not exactly the easiest of rooms to decorate.
The other dilemma we faced was that our two boys, who had always shared a room, wanted their little sister in with them in the new house. So I came up with the grand plan to have the small room as the “sleeping room” and the large room as the “play room”. While I will vouch for the benefits of the three siblings sleeping in the same room, they loved it and it was very bonding, the playroom didn’t exactly work to plan. They rarely played in there and dragged all of the toys into our lounge room to be near to us.
A few months ago I noticed that Paolo, our six-year-old boy was starting to need his space so we talked about him having his own bedroom, which he was very excited about. So the big move began. We moved the double bunk into the large room for the two youngest. Lou was graduating into a big bed from a cot and Noam from the bottom bunk to the top. Everyone was happy. We then got a new bed for Paolo and found that the Ikea Daybed worked well because it can pull out for another mattress to go on in for when the grandparents come to visit.
We were then so uninspired with the walls of the small room for Paolo and considered getting some decals to cover the stars and then we thought we’d try our luck and asked our landlord if we could paint it a white, which she agreed to. Now for my European readers, this might sound strange but rental rules are much more strict here and you’re not even supposed to put a hook in the wall!
I thought the vintage Ukrainian army stool was perfect for a bedside table and also something that we could reuse around the house at a later stage. The lucky boy ended up with our Tolomeo lamp because we had it sitting around with no place to put it. The lamp works well here because he can use it as a reading lamp or swing it around for a desk lamp over his little vintage desk.
We’ve still got to find a shelf of some sort to house his books and to have as a display area. In the meantime, Paolo has organised his books and comics in French and English along the wall.
Okay so here it was before…..
bedroom before
…. and see below for the after with the same view!
I’ve listed and linked some of the items in the room below.
Mel xx
Ikea Hemnes Daybed | Citta Design Duvet | Fine Little Day Tomato | Ukrainian Army Stool |
Tolomeo Lamp | Vintage Desk |Perforated Orange Tolix Stool
23 Comments
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Hi Mel, what a great transformation, just goes to show that a few simple changes can create such a great impact on a room. It will be something your oldest will grow into a cherish. Hope you are well. xD
Thanks Doris! Yes and a white or that perfect colour is always such a good starting point..:-) Hope you had a lovely weekend. xx
it looks fantastic Mel! This is such a great space for a growing boy…i love that he is learning French as well…wish I knew how to speak French!
Thanks Anastasia. I know and learning two languages from day one is such a natural and easy thing to do. You should know this? I imagine you were brought up with Greek and English? xx
yes for sure – I did 6yrs of Greek school (after school twice a week!) felt like torture growing up but so glad I can now speak/read/write two languages – and I even send my boys to Greek school every Saturday afternoon (mean mummy…Im sure just like me, they’ll appreciate it later on..)
Oh good on them and you! Your parents had such foresight so many parents of that generation let languages slip. Have a great mothers day lovely! M xx
Mel, this is so gorgeous on so many levels.
Love the storytelling, the transformation and your photography. Really beautiful.
Here in the Uk you can change things as long as you make good boefore you leave!
Hope your little big man is happy xx
Thanks Tina, he loves it! xx
Good Morning Mel,
thanks for your nice comment on my blog. Thanks for stopping by :). What a lovely room for your boy. I think this is one point on my never ending to do list: To decorate the rooms of my three girls new ;). You inspire me Mel to do it now. Have a great day…
Michaela
Oh thanks Michaela, good luck with the rooms. xx
You have done really great job, Mel! I could hardly imagine how much more thinking and planning it needs to make a rental into a beautiful home taking into account that you can’t change everything you’d like to… Like you already said, we have much more freedom as renters here in Europe, some landlords even offer refund if you do some painting etc in an apartment longing for some facelift.
P.S this Ukrainian Army stool makes a perfect bedside table!
Such a cool boy’s room Mel. Really good job. Awesome desk and stool by the way. I love how we see a small part of your home every now and then. It gives us an image of who you are and about your family of course :-) Xx
Thanks Claudia. Hope you’re enjoying the last days of travel. Big and exciting times ahead xx
LOVE your vintage pieces Mel! Our rental rule are quite similar re painting and hooks! Just a lovely makeover xx
Thanks Caroline. Oh it must be just greater Europe then. I remember G doing anything he liked to his apartment and his friends were renovating theirs like Holly Becker. M xx
Hi Mel, what a lovely post! I am amazed that you do what you do with three children! I am even more impressed by you now :) I love the way you designed this room, it is so cheerful and organized too! The desk is just darling, I used to have one like that when I was younger too and I miss it. Have a wonderful day! Jocelyn xx
Jocelyn you are so kind to me with your comments – thank you! Hope you have a wonderful day too and a nice little break. M xx
What a great room for him. I see his Ninja Turtles are keeping him company beside his bed (my son’s favorite). I bet he’s loving having his own room!
Hi Cyndi. Oh he LOVES Ninja Turtles, in fact I had to minimise the amount he has in the room for the photos ;-) Ha! Hope you’re well xx M
You did a beautiful, stylish and practical job there! Cannot wait to own our space to decorate like we want… In the meantime, I’ll jot down a few ideas inspired by you (love the vintage little desk, for instance… Flea market, here I come!) Thank you for the inspiration :-)
Oh well you’re in the right place – flea market heaven! But you know, we’re renting here and it really is a challenge. I was so grateful we could paint the walls in this room. M xx
Morning Mel, what a lovely space, clean, simple and plenty of room for Paolo to express his own creativity and ideas. It is enormously satisfying making over a space and getting better use from it, so well done. Our next project is our kitchen, we are hoping to get a carpenter to build the units rather than getting high street pieces, but it will take time and money…those two precious things we are in short supply of. xx
Things like that are worth the wait Amy. I’m sure that it will be done with incredible style too – can’t wait to see it! M x