Small is Beautiful. Guest Bedroom Makeover.

They say that good things come in small packages and it's true. I'm going to prove it.

During this last lockdown I am sure lots of you have been putting your creative talents to the test and spending some of this extra time we have had at home sprucing up your homes. I have loved giving my tiny guest bedroom a total overhaul and I'm so excited to take you through the process. I will share all the products in the directory at the end.

Before you start decorating a room it's always a good idea to give the room some thought. How can you make it work to it's best advantage for it's intended purpose as well as making it look sensational.

With this room there are numerous issues to contend with and take into consideration. For starters it's north facing which makes it very dark and I also have very small windows in this house. Not surprising being a cottage built in the 16th century.

This bedroom is also on the ground floor and has a glazed door that links through to the dining room so there is an issue of how to keep it private for a guest when they are using it.

The small size meant that I also had to get creative with storage space and really think about how a guest would use the space in order to ensure they have a nice comfortable stay.

As I've been working my way around renovating most of my home I always like to have some sort of continuation to link the whole house together. Doing this makes your home flow better and feel more cohesive. This can be done in various ways, for example... though your colour palette choices or through flooring for instance. As I already had these fabulous tiles in the dining room, entrance porch, top of the stairs and on my fireplace in the lounge I chose to run them straight through into the guest room which also creates a feeling of space in the room by extending the eye as it travels across the pattern. They are extremely practical as well as beautiful and the black and white print really help to send light back up from the floor into the room. For me being a boho babe they were a winner with their aged look as well as creating a timeless feel.

For the walls I chose to keep within my colour palette and went for this soft warm pink which is a great neutral for my brighter colours to work with. I painted white on the ceiling. Many people chose to paint the walls of north facing or dark rooms in bright white but this tends to have the opposite effect making your room feel even colder and grayer. So opt for something in the warm tones or go for a bold wrap around wall paper print, embrace the dark side and go cosy. You won't regret it.

There is only room for a singe bed in here but a guest needs more than that. The big cupboard in the corner houses a large water tank which had to stay so to soften the look of the expanse of the doors I have hung a beautiful kimono over it as a feature which also compliments the colours of the room and my guest is welcome to use it. There is an odd unused space which has 2 shelves over the top. Here I fitted a hanging rail underneath and a curtain in the same fabulous bold fabric I chose for my curtain. Voila! My guest now has their very own wardrobe in a room where putting a wardrobe would just cramp the place up.

The main fabric in here is this bold print that I bought in Ikea some years ago. I've been dying to use it for ages and this room was the perfect choice. I love how it has such bold colours that sit within my colour palette and the natural element of the deer which are regularly spotted around here. It's always great to link your outside surrounding to your home.

As I mentioned earlier the glazed door does not provide any privacy but does cast crucial borrowed light from the bedroom to the connecting dining room during the day. A roll up blind has provided the perfect solution so my guest can just drop it down when they are in their room.

Though there isn't much room for furniture the careful choice of this sweet little antique dressing table and the old chippy chair were the perfect proportions. I decided to paint the dressing table in this cheery yellow with a bright pink glaze applied to the details. The piece gives the room some more warmth bringing all the room together with the soft furnishings used on the bed and the little yellow and white roll up blind used over the other window.

For those of you that didn't know painting furniture is what Feral Furniture Designs does best. I offer a bespoke furniture painting service where I source, paint and deliver that special piece to you anywhere in the UK. So please don't hesitate to give me a call or drop me an email to help get you your special piece of furniture here.

Now on with the blog....

I absolutely love the whole process of designing and decorating a room but I think one of the most fun things is styling it up, giving it that personal look and adding items that are personal to you. Adding gorgeous bedding, cushions and accessories it such fun and I can totally get lost down a rabbit hole searching the internet for beautiful items. As you can see I love quirky stuff and have collected some very weird objects over the years. I also love art and in here I am lucky to have some beautiful pieces, some of which I am waiting to get framed. At this stage I must give a shout out to my very talented daughter Jessica Campbell-Plover who has very kindly given her Mother Hen one of her stunning pieces. Jess is a very talented artist who does lots of amazing work and can be commissioned. Check her out on her web site here, etsy here and Instagram here. The piece below is called Burn Down Babylon. I love it!!! All the other fabulous art work, bedding, accessories, paint etc and where to get them are in the directory below.

So there you have it a sneak peek into my cosy and welcoming guest bedroom.

For those of you that would like to learn how to paint your own Fierce and Fabulous Furniture I am in the process of filming some great on line courses. To keep a watch for when they are being announced head on over to my web site and make sure you are on my mailing list here.

Check out what stunning pieces of furniture I have for sale here.

Directory

Walls painted in Autentico Versante Matt in colour Blushed which I stock on my web site here.

Desk painted in Autentico Versante Matt in colour Brazillian bird.

Black and white Scintilla Black Star Tiles available from various companies on line.

Back and white rug was Homebase.

Retro Deer Print Fabric on man curtain, door blind and wardrobe curtain from Ikea.

Small roll up blind in yellow and white strip is Clarke & Clarke, design Stowe, colour Acacia.

Animal Small Zebra print bedding was Marks and Spencers, similar at Next.

Throw on bed from Ian Snow.

Pink Cushion on chair and yellow heart cushion on bed from The Graduate Collection

Other cushions on bed all charity shop and vintage finds.

Basket and plant both Ikea.

Large glass orange lantern from North Cornwall Hospice Shop.

Yellow Bird from Maison Du Monde.

Kimono, glass skull, Russian dolls, Figaro Pelam puppet, red retro studio pottery vase all my own weird, vintage finds.

Desk and chair by Feral Furniture Designs view furniture here.

Art Work

Urban graffiti original art work called Burn Down Babylon from The Debauched and Deranged Series by Jessica Rose Campbell-Plover web site here etsy here insta here.

Chinese Dragon bright limited edition print by the mysterious Granite and Glitter web site here insta here.

Mexican Wrestles hand painted picture on board and small painted hamsa hand from Blackout Shop Brighton

Small painting on shelf of tin mine by Wendy Parkyn web site here.

Damien Hirst limited edition I AM Become Death Butterfly Plate.

Star Gazer glass art by Gerrard Lindley

Bird Plates by Magpie online.

Cheetah tile from Tin Design.

3 arm Octopus light fitting I made myself with bright pink flex and brass gold fittings from Lamp Spares online.

Thanks for reading my blog. I hope it has given you some inspiration and useful tips on how to achieve a beautiful home even in the smallest of spaces. Rosie the cat seems to like it anyway. Now I'm off to spruce up the lounge so I shall be sharing that with you when it's complete.

See you next time.

Lots of love,

Sandy xxx