A creative, colourful child’s bedroom

It’s been 3 weeks since the close of Grand Designs Live and we spent a hectic Sunday evening dismantling and packing up our fun children’s bedroom we’d created for the room-set feature within the interior design area of the show. I’m pretty sure I shouted it from the rooftops that I’d been selected as one of the room set competition’s 5 finalists but incase you didn’t know here’s the moodboard and a little more info on how LMH x GDL18 came about.

The room came to life almost identically to how it was planned on the initial roomset thanks to the designers and suppliers we worked with making sure everything arrived on time (the only thing missing was the wardrobe). We had 2 days to build the room on site before Grand Designs Live opened, so the first thing to do when we arrived was get the paint on the walls. We painted 2 walls in Rustoleum chalkboard wall paint, this was an important element of the room as it showcased how to enhance a child’s creativity and play whilst still giving a stylish finish to the room. The rest of the room was painted in a pale grey, with a feature ‘unfinished’ yellow paint effect on the wall the bed stood against. The yellow added some fun to the grey and also framed the bed making that area of the room feel a little cosier than the rest of the space.

Next was to get the floor laid, the artificial grass from Buzzgrass may not be the first choice for a child’s bedroom but bear with me…it’s soft for playing on, it’s made from plastic so wipes clean easily and it looks fun! The flooring added an indoor park feel to the room hopefully inspiring young children to keep active whatever the weather is doing outside. The yellow blind was fitted by Hilarys, who managed to colour match the yellow wall paint perfectly.

Once the walls and flooring was completed it was time to assemble the incredible cabin bed that Cuckooland supplied us with. I was a little worried as whilst a bed complete with climbing ramp and a slide seemed a cool idea, it also sounded like a nightmare to build but amazingly it was pretty simple (or so the guys building it told me), it came with thorough instructions and was built in less than an hour! I have to admit if this bed came in an ‘adult size’ I’d happily order myself one, it’s ace! The bed is raised so there is plenty of storage room beneath and has some lovely features to make any child want to jump out of bed for school in the morning.

The lighting was sourced from around Europe via Etsy & I was so pleased with the end result. The centre pendant light was handmade in the Netherlands from a unique blend of recycled paper mache and clay. I love how the light filters through the little houses. The yellow moon wall light came from Barcelona and made such a statement against the black, chalkboard wall. Maisons Du Monde provided the cute cactus lamp that I chose as a little nod to the adventure theme of the room.

I wanted to add a climbing wall to the room to add to the playfulness of the room but wanted it to match the colour scheme, all I could find was the standard playground primary coloured climbing holds so I painted them in Rustoleum Neon paint & I’m so happy with how they turned out! Every kid needs a climbing wall right?

On the rest of the walls I combined some fun, inspirational quotes with slightly eccentric animal prints from Desenio, along with a natural wall hanging to add a little texture.

Instead of over accessorising the room (which I felt would be a little unrealistic for a young child’s bedroom) I chose to fill the space with stylish toys. The ball pit and recycled plastic trike are stylish enough to never have to put away and the teepee from Wildfire Teepees I would happily have sat in my living room all of the time.

To finish the space I added some soft furnishings, playful cushions on the bed from The Modern Nursery and Maisons Du Monde and some stylish grey bedding from BHS. The knitted floor cushion provides a space to relax and read a story.

Overall I’m chuffed with how the room turned out and all of the fantastic feedback from GDL visitors, it’s a shame that the wardrobe didn’t arrive on time but I think we managed to pull it off regardless! Here’s a list of the products used in the room with links to where they’re from:

Chalkboard Paint – Rustoleum