A Creative Lifestyle Blog By Zoe-Lee Skelton

Choosing the right bedding to match your bedroom color scheme is not as big a challenge as you might think. However, before I even start to re-decorate a room, I have to get the basics right first. I check to see if the room could do with a new carpet or different flooring? What’#s the condition of the walls like? Could they do with a new lick of paint or poly filler? And for bedrooms, I check whether I might need a new mattress too.

If your mattress is seven years old or worse, it’s most probablky be damaging your posture and causing a bad night’s sleep. Take the time to invest in a new mattress now. I recently bought a cheap mattress online at CutPriceMattress it’s a new firm super king size mattress set for a fraction of what I would have paid at the local retail mattress center.  

How to choose the the right bedding for you

Pairing linen with furniture

The first thing I look at is bed linens. Styles with straight lines harmonize with other furniture in the bedroom and offer a contemporary and clean look.  If you don’t want to keep your bedding for a few years, chose colors that create a serene mood and are easy to look at. This way the style will never date. 

Tips for the minimalist

If you want to keep the style of your bedroom minimalist,  I recommend going with solid colors. Just one solid color works great, especially soft blues and some white. This color combination provides both a cool and soft mood, while giving the bedroom that uncluttered look. Be sure that you cover the box spring with a white sheet that matches perfectly with your fitted sheets. Then all you need to do is tuck the bed covers and the top sheets behind the bed rails to create that clean look.

If you like pattern and bold styles

Once you have your sheets and comforter, mix things up a little with decorative pillows and throws. I love the Boho Moroccan style right now, and even though you might think the colors and patterns might clash with a clean light blue and white set, you would be surprised how amazing it really looks. Tailored designs and colourful accessories can bring together the 21st century and wild color scheme of the bohemian style nicely.

 

One thing I love doing with my bedroom set is creating a comfy pillowscape when I make the bed. Prop up the large square pillow up against your sleeping pillow, then arrange rows of smaller decorative pillows from big to small.

Now your bedroom matches your bedding and you can feel more comfortable in your room. The key here is incorporating as much as your personality as possibly while keeping things clean and contemporary.

*this is a collaborative post with Omar Nawaz

Anyone who has ever lived with me will know that I am both a hoarder and messy. Probably the worst combination. Being a hoarder breeds messiness but my magpie ways are a bit of a hangover from my art student days. I’ve got a little bit tidier as I’ve got older and got into a “grown up” relationship but I know I’m still messy by most people’s standards – especially my boyfriend’s who I’m eternally grateful to for putting up with me.

So when Room 4 Interiors, who sell stylish furniture solutions, got in touch with me and asked if I would like to take part in a Blogger desk challenge,  I thought, perfect. My desk could do with  a makeover and a good tidy as it’s constantly messy. It drives me mad. Plus, I thought I could combine some of the ideas I had from my Bedroom Storage Makeover upcycling competition.

The challenge

Here are the guidelines from Room 4 Interiors Desk Challenge:

“We would like to challenge bloggers and writers to a desk makeover. With just £20 could you find creative, stylish and modern ways to transform their desk? The possibilities are endless and we would like to see what you can do….take a picture of your desk before and after, post it onto your blog telling your readers what you did, how you did it and how much it came up too with a link to Room 4 Interiors as the challenger. Remember to share your before & after pic onto Twitter with hashtag #Room4DeskChallenge”.

Storing my cotton reels neatly is a really big problem I have right now. I use cotton often for my projects and so I decided to upcycle an object into a cotton reel holder.

As the challenge states, I need to share a before and after picture. This is my desk. Before I created the cotton reel holder. I can’t believe I’m sharing this picture, I’m so embarrassed at the state it’s in:

My work space doubles up as many things: a make shift photography studio, hence the lights and the white paper, a place to make my RagnBow bow ties as well a holding space for any other projects I have going on. It’s needs organising!

Here’s how I made my cotton reel holder.

Step One: Source a Plank of Wood

I scavenged an old oak draw at a local junk shop and took the front panel off from the back box. It was heading for the fire so I saved it’s life 🙂

Step Two: Deer Stencil and Spray Paint

The oak panel is real solid piece of wood and I like the grain but I wanted to add some stencil detail to bring it back to life.

Step Three: Add Nails to Hold the Cotton Reels

In between the Deers I plotted out where I wanted the nails to go to hold the cotton reels. 

Step four: Draw Handles

I wanted to keep some elements of the draw so I reattached some cute cat draw handles. I will use these to hang ribbons and other pieces of equipment from.

Step five: Add the Cotton Reels and Voila, the Finished Product

Here’s what the upcycled draw looks like finished and in situ:

How much did it cost?

Here’s a breakdown of the costs:

• Draw front: free
• Draw handles: £7.99 including postage
• Deer stencil: £7.59 including postage
• Nails: £2.90 for 50

Total: £18.48

I’m just under budget but it would have probably been over budget if I had used a new oak draw to upcycle.

What do you think of my make? Have you ever upcycled anything to save space and help declutter?

*Room 4 Interiors gave me £20 as a budget for this project.