Next month marks six months since we moved to our first owned family home. We spent years saving and improving our financial health and moving in to our own home was one of the happiest days of our lives.
Since moving in, we’ve welcomed baby Felix into our world and I’ve started twelve months of maternity leave. The past few months I’ve been focusing on saving money to make sure we have enough for me to be able to take twelve months off work, but now that goal has been achieved, I’m looking to where we can make house improvements so we can make our home as happy and as comfortable as can be.
Naturally, the most important people in this household are our two sons, so the improvements are starting with their bedrooms. We have a double front bedroom which is currently empty which is earmarked to be Dexter’s room and the room Dexter is currently in is going to be Felix’s nursery once he finishes co-sleeping with us.
Dexter’s Toddler Bedroom
This room is currently painted red and blue with a huge double wardrobe taking up the majority of the space. There are two windows to the front and laminate flooring. At present the room feels cold and unwelcoming and needs a good lick of paint.
We are going to start by painting this room white with a feature wall of navy blue and white stripes in a nautical fashion. We also plan to install a deep luxurious carpet to give the room some warmth and feel cosier.
Before we moved in:
Dexter already has a nautical themed bed in the shape of a boat, but he needs some new furniture to store his many clothes and toys in. We are planning to purchase a small white double wardrobe, some Kallax units and some beautiful white shelves to store books and prints.
We’ve picked out some beautiful black out curtains from John Lewis in navy blue and a gorgeous striped lampshade from B&Q to finish off the nautical theme.
Take a look at what we did to Dexter’s bedroom here
Sneak peak:
Felix’s Nursery
This room currently holds Dexter’s bed, a Kallax unit, Felix’s wardrobe and Felix’s cot. It’s slightly smaller than the front bedroom and feels very cramped with all of this furniture currently stuffed into it.
Before we moved in:
We are planning to paint this room a very light gray and then either paint or use wall decals to create mountains on one wall. I think it would also be lovely to use small coloured star wall stickers on the adjacent wall.
Felix has all the required furniture already: a wardrobe, cot, changing station and a Kallax unit for his toys and books, so that bit is nice and easy. However he will need new curtains, a lampshade and other decorative items.
I’m planning on putting the aqua teepee in his room so I’d like some prints to go on the wall with a splash of the same colour. I’d also like his name above the cot in big wooden letters.
Finally, we plan to replace the carpet with the same deep luxurious carpet we plan to put in Dexter’s room. In fact we plan to have it throughout the house! We are kind of over laminate flooring.
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/mummytodex/interior-and-home-decor-ideas/
Master Bedroom
Once we are done with Dexter and Felix’s rooms, we plan to make a start on our bedroom.
We plan to paint this room white as it doesn’t get a lot of light and anything darker makes it feel quite cavernous. It is currently painted blue and pink so it will be a lovely change. We had black coloured furniture in our old flat which we brought here when we moved. I want to get rid of all of this and invest in some beautiful white pieces including a new dressing table, bedside tables and shelves. I love the stuff from White Lighthouse Furniture and would love to get all of these bits from there.
Before we moved in:
Again, we wish to carpet the laminate flooring and at some point tackle the walk in wardrobe which has been half-heartedly kitted out with railings and shoe racks which are worse than useless. I’d also like replacement windows in the master bedroom as one of the windows has frosted glass and this is what makes the room feel quite dark. The only trouble is double glazing cost which is something we will need to save quite hard for.
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/mummytodex/interior-and-home-decor-ideas/
So these are our plans for the coming year. I have created a spreadsheet with everything I want to buy plus the cost of it so I can keep track of what I need to save. I’m hoping both boys rooms will be finished and paid for by the summer, while I don’t mind if ours takes a little longer with me going onto zero maternity pay by the autumn.