Getting our bedroom to "Phase 1" – No. 42

Bedroom1930s house renovation

25 Oct

Progress at No. 42 is going steady. See all the before shots of the house we just bought here (it's dire!). We're almost complete on the plastering of 2 rooms, living room and first bedroom, so we've set ourselves high goals to have these both complete by Christmas (sounds too good to be true given they look like this right now)

The Phase 1 bedroom design

Given we've been under a lot of pressure to make decisions quickly (there are still no radiators on walls until we finish painting, and this place is getting FREEZING) I plan to do our bedroom design in phases.

What is a phase 1 bedroom design?

Phase 1 is... getting our bedroom to a "blank canvas" standard where the foundations are in place to make design-magic happen later on. By foundations, I mean getting the radiators, plastering, skirting, door, flooring, sockets, walls and ceilings all to how I want it, acting as a blank canvas for me to experiment with, then later on, slowly introduce the interior touches.

Why not just design it all in one go and get it finished?

Let me explain.

Budgets are super tight. Everything we've budgeted for is structural / contractor work and we deliberately didn't allocate any budget to "final touches" like curtains, cushions, furniture, because we want our money to be spent on getting things done well as opposed to cheaply.
I hate designing rooms fast. I honestly believe that if you try to decorate too quickly, 6 months down the line your taste will change. I know what I'm like. Decoration decisions I have to deliberate on. So by getting the bedroom to a "phase 1 standard" it'll free me up with a blank canvas to take my time on getting right – whilst not living in a pit either.
We desperately need somewhere to look "ok" Our sanity is being really stretched living here now. The house is liveable, but full of dust and rubble. We are living in just one bedroom with ALL of our possessions (and the TV!) around us. It's quite laughable given the house is so big, and we're squished up in one room.

To me, there's nothing worse than holding up an entire project because you can't choose whether you want shutters or curtains. You just make your living conditions more uncomfortable by prolonging decisions when you can worry about it later.

Don't judge, I'm sharing a photo of the room we're living in so you can see exactly how unglamorous life is right now. Filth and untidiness everywhere.

So what comes after we nail the first design phase?

I'll post some photos at all phases, but Phase 2 will most probably be having curtains up, rugs down, nice lil side table thing going on – and a wardrobe! Oh wow it will feel good to have my clothes in a wardrobe again after months of living in a suitcase.

Will definitely post some photos once it starts to look more like a home – stay tuned :)

F x