Finn and Cora's Shared Bedroom

We have lived in our house for nearly 4 years and this is the third change to this room as we try to work out the best way to use the space.  It was originally a shared nursery for the little two, it then became Finn's room alone with a king sized bed taking over most of the space and now, with Cora's room repurposed into an office, and us becoming more aware that neither Finn nor Cora like sleeping in a room alone, I have tried to create a unisex shared bedroom for them.

Finn is 6 and Cora will be 5 next month.  I wanted a room that gave us options, storage and space, and that could grow with them.  We are limited by the fact we are in a rented house, but we decided to go for one feature wall which could be repainted if we decide to move.  I chose a fun design from Murals Wallpaper and they gifted us the mural.  I liked this one as I could pick out different colours for accessories and it wouldn't be outgrown.  The room is small but I love how it adds colour and fun.

I bought the bunk beds and kallax unit from Ikea and Finn already had the white Ikea chest of drawers.  As well as the kallax boxes on the bottom row, I found the fun crates at The Works and loved how well the colours co-ordinated with the room.  Both children have their own set for storing their 'special things'.

We were sent the most beautiful Picca Lou Lou pompom garland from Luna and Cash and it is so incredibly soft.  I need to put some proper hooks on the wall for it.  I love the rich colours and it looks great above their bed.  They also sent a beautiful Fabelab animal cushion which matches the bright mustard on the wall and is taking it in turns between the children at the moment!

The four prints I bought from Desenio, and the wooden dolls house and make up set are preloved toys from friends who had outgrown them. The cosy corner is made up of things that were in Cora's room before, purchased from a variety of stores.  I wanted to reuse as much as we could.  

I wanted the bedding to be as easy as possible, so I bought coverless duvets that can be washed and tumble dried as they are (it might sound lazy but to me it sounds genius!).  I bought them from Fine Bedding and got the matching pillow cases (unfortunately they have to be removed from the pillows before washing).  They are wonderfully soft and they have slept well in them.

I love how their room has come together.  It is colourful and Fun and the space works well for sleep and play together.

Read more ⇨

A Gaming Themed Shared Bedroom

The older boys have had a London bus themed bedroom since they were 2 and 3 years old and their bus bunk bed was well loved and played with, but as they have gotten older and are heading towards the tween years, I wanted to change their shared space into something a bit more grown up for them, something that reflected their interests more and that will hopefully grow with them.  Both are avid gamers, although the games they choose are different, so I used this as a base.

Archie is very into the colour black and we already had some furniture in the room which was white so I chose to go with a mostly monochrome theme.  We live in a rented house so my options for the walls and floor are limited and I went for decorations that are easy to remove and change up.  I bought them each a single MALM bed from Ikea with black under-bed drawers and started putting the room together.

We were sent a custom designed piece of steel wall art from Narla and it is probably our favourite thing in the room.  I chose to have it made in the shape of an X-Box controller and it has green lighting so it works well as a nightlight too.  It is amazing quality and something that should last them a long time (They have a gamer dad too, so I am sure he will be using it if they ever don't!). I bought some pictures from Etsy as well as the Vinyl 'eat, sleep, game, repeat' wall sticker and the black letter bunting.

Their built Lego is displayed on top of the taller Kallax unit and Red Candy sent them a giant Lego brick which has all the loose pieces in ready to play.  We were also sent a Nintendo Switch dual charge base which stores their consoles.  

Storage is Key and most items are Ikea.  The black and white storage chair was actually given to us by a friend looking to get rid of it and it goes perfectly with their room.  They have under-bed drawers for toys and plenty of Kallax boxes so I am forever hopeful that their room will stay this tidy for a while!  

I didn't want to theme the room too much around particular games that may just be a phase so all the art work is generic gaming and the duvet sets are from Asda.  The boys are really happy with their room and I think it will work well for them as they grow older and want to spend more time up here.  I would have loved to have done more with the walls and flooring but we are limited at the moment with that. I have been meaning to look at dying their blackout curtains black too, but it never seems to be top of my priority list!

What do you think of our gaming themed bedroom?

Read more ⇨

A Cosy Reading Corner

Our new house is open plan downstairs which means one thing we are quite short of is corners.  One of them was chosen to be a reading corner early on though and we have finally made a little cosy space to sit and enjoy a book.

Using my book case and the kids' tidy books bookcase and a beautiful rug from Lorena Canals that we were sent to review, we made a bright and snuggly corner where the children can sit with a book or a game.

We are storing most of their books over on their Kallax unit but I seperated the Christmas ones in an effort to start feeling festive and I have found that having a smaller selection out on display like this makes them much more likely to pick up one and have a look. 

The rug is perfect for a busy house as it it completely machine washable! We have tiled floors and I was looking for something to keep little feet and bottoms warm this winter and the rug ticks all the boxes.  It is a great size, easy care and we can pop it in the washing machine when it (inevitably) gets grubby.  All the Lorena Canal rugs are 100% cotton, made from natural dyes and socially responsible and eco-friendly.  

I think we are going to get a couple of little bean bags to make the corner even more enticing and maybe a standing lamp to go in the corner too.  I want to make it somewhere we all go for some quiet time and a story and I am loving watching the children sharing books there already.

 Thank you to Lorena Canals for sending us one of their gorgeous washable rugs.

Read more ⇨

A Rainbow Bedroom

When we moved house we decided to move the two little ones in together and create a rainbow themed room for them.  As we are living in a rented house we kept the white walls and went with a fresh white feel to the whole room with some colourful accessories.  Finn and Cora are loving their shared rainbow room and sleeping really well in there together.

Both children have white cot beds and Cora has a new NaturalStart mattress from Harrison Spinks which combines hundreds of baby springs with luxurious natural fillings.  I bought both Finn and Cora's sheets from etsy and Finn's pillow case in part of the Little Bird bedding collection that I bought him last year.

Finn's rainbow blanket was lovingly knitted by my talented mother in law and we bought Cora's whilst on holiday a couple of years ago.  Both of their cots are cotbeds so will be turned into beds as they get bigger.

Above Finn's beds are the words 'You are my sunshine' in acrylic from Baby Abode.  They custom make acryclic and ply wall art and I love how different this looks.

Above Cora's cot I have hung some cloud bunting that I bought from Etsy. She has her two favourite dolls in her bed including her mermaid which was a birthday gift and made by Little Lapins.

I bought a white chest of drawers from ikea and I put three pictures on the top.  The first was painted by a friend for Cora for her birthday, the second was made by Lavender House Gift Company and is so beautiful.  I love the delicate details and it is something that we can keep for Cora.  The third is a print from Kirsty Mason designs and goes perfectly in their rainbow room.

On the floor I have made a comfy play area with a Little Bird rug, cushions from Mama Designs and Tiger stores and a lovely little shape sorter we were sent from Born Gifted which the children play with every day.

There are three shelves above their play area for their Grimms rainbow and bobbins from Babipur and I have put some of their Pantone books on the third, although I need to find the rest of the collection in one of the unpacked boxes.

We have kept the room simple and minimalist, giving the children more space to play and keeping the room calm to help them sleep.  In the evenings we put on their rainbow light which projects a rainbow across the room.  It is the perfect nightlight to help them fall asleep in the evenings.

I have loved decorating this rainbow room for them.

Some of these items were sent to us to include in these photos and others were purchased by me.  I have only included things that we genuinely love.

Read more ⇨

Needing More Space

Realistically we are outgrowing our house.  Adding another baby into our three bedroom means things are tight, especially considering both the bloke and I work from home so we need space for a home office.  

I spent many an hour daydreaming about our perfect house, but the reality is a 6 bed with a huge garden and swimming pool isn't looking likely any time soon.  The reality of moving house either heavily pregnant or with 4 under 5s is also incredibly unappealing so we are going to be making the most of the space we do have and trying to declutter over the next few weeks so that the six of us can live comfortably for a few years until we are ready to upgrade.  

We need to find somewhere to store Bump's bits which are currently scattered around the house in boxes.  I love the idea of getting fitted wardrobes in our bedroom to maximise the space and then she could have her own area.  We have recently bought a new bed so that we can store things underneath too which is making a big difference.

Image - Fitted Wardrobe Makers

We recently when on a giant toy purge and boxed up over half of the boys' toys.  They seemed to be taking over the house and there were too many for them to choose from, so we are rotating them now, making sure they always have a selection but not everything at once.  It has made such a difference not only to the space, but to the effort it takes to tidy up at the end of the day too!

As baby gets bigger and starts to need her own room, it will be the back bedroom that needs a makeover as we attempt to put all three boys in together.  The room is big enough for bunk beds, a cot and some storage, but we are going to be looking at the best way to make the most of the space so they still have somewhere to play away from a crawling baby.  At the moment the boys' bedroom is their haven from Finn where they can play with Playmobil or other games that they don't want him interfering with and I would like them to keep this special space.  

The Boys' bedroom

We are lucky that our living space is quite large and I know we will find a way to make our house work for us until we are ready to tackle moving - until then I may start playing the lottery as the six bed house with a garden and swimming pool that I want isn't going to be cheap!

Disclaimer:  Collaborative Post

Read more ⇨

Fitting 6 in a 3 Bedroom Home

When we moved into our current house back in 2012, I was heavily pregnant with our second baby.  Our previous home was quickly being outgrown and we chose somewhere we could see our boys growing up, somewhere near the schools that we wanted, within walking distance from everything we needed and that fitted our family of soon to be four.  Archie was to be the final piece of our puzzle and we didn't want to have to think about moving.

Over three years there have been lots of twists in our story, an unexpected pregnancy that resulted in a third baby boy meant the bigger two boys had to start sharing a bedroom and a job change for me and redundancy for the bloke has seen us both start working from home.  Our long term house has quickly started to feel rather full and with a fourth baby on the way, I think our time here is coming to an end.  

We don't want the stress of moving whilst pregnant or even with a newborn, so we are going to find a way to make things work for a while whilst we make a plan for the future.  Our current set up has the two boys sharing a room and the baby's room doubling as an office, so we have to decide whether to lose our office and work from the dining room or have the three boys all in together for a couple of years - something not completely hard to imagine as they are all so close in age but busy all the same.

It is looking like bunk beds are definitely on the cards, something which the boys are incredibly happy about.  Dylan currently has a mid sleeper which he loves so I think a bunk bed will be really easy to get used to.  I love the idea of a fitted bedroom to help create more storage and space - this kids 'Cassia' option creates so many drawers and nooks around the bed that it would give the boys far more space to play if their stuff could be well stored.  

Downstairs, we are lucky that our house is quite well planned out with a long living room/playroom, a dining room and a box kitchen, so there is enough space for six of us to live, it is just the bedrooms that seem to be problematic.

It doesn't feel like long ago that I packed up Finn's 'baby bits' and in three months or so they will be coming back out again.  A play mat, bouncer and moses basket take up quite a bit of space in the living room so I think fitting six into a three bedroom house is going to be about being organised, tidy and finding the best storage solutions that we can.

Do you have any tips on squeezing us all in comfortably for a few years?

Read more ⇨