Genius Mum-Of-Six Creates Boutique Hotel Bedroom For Her Daughter For Under £2k
- Shirley Hill, 54, downsized when five of her children moved out
- She wanted to create an amazing bedroom for her daughter Sarah, 21
- She used products from The Range, Dunelm and IKEA
If you’re running out of ideas for a bedroom renovation and you’re fed up of the ubiquitous grey and pink look, take inspiration from this unusual but stunning bedroom.
Shirley Hill, 54, a mum of six from Kilmarnock, Scotland, who runs a sewing business, decided to downsize when five of her six children moved out of home.
After finding a smaller property on the edge of town, Shirley used her creative expertise to create an incredible bedroom for her daughter Sarah, 21.
Using brick slips, deep blue paint and upcycled furniture, Sarah’s new bedroom looks like a chic boutique hotel room.
Shirley sourced products from local selling sites, The Range, Dunelm and IKEA, managing to keep the cost to £1,800 including all the furniture and building materials.
Shirley told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: "I have four amazing daughters and two fantastic sons, and all but one have grown up and left home.
"This prompted me to put my large family home on the market and downsize. For practical reasons, I decided to look for a small property on the edge of town that I may be able to turn into cosy home with a rustic, urban country vibe.
"In designing a bedroom room for my daughter Sarah, 21, I took into consideration her personality and what would make her happy.
"She’s a beautiful young woman who likes doing her make up and hair so a dressing table with good storage was a must alongside a full length mirror for those important selfies.
"For me it was important to create not just a look but a feeling.
"I wanted Sarah to feel she had a modern, bright, relaxing space that was contemporary and made you want to step into the room: a sanctuary.
"For years I have loved textures, fabrics and colours. I run a very successful sewing business with another daughter so I’m surrounded by these things everyday.
"I love the feelings fabric bring up: I see velvet and want to reach out and stroke it. Same with fur and wool, they remind me of indulgence.
"I love the crisp cool freshness of cotton that makes me sense fresh bedlinen that I want to curl up in. So I added as much texture and fabrics as I could.
"I’ve used various brick wallpapers in the past and loved them but I wanted something with texture that would bring the wall to life so I chose brick slips and knew I wanted a rugged slopping shape so started at the top and worked my way down to get that.
"If I were doing it again I’d measure it out and start from the bottom up to save bricks slinging down the wall.
"Because it’s an old house I had the property re-wired just before lockdown which made the timing perfect as I had a blank canvas during lockdown that I could work on.
"I knew I wanted brick and wood but wasn’t sure of the colour.
“As soon as I saw this chair I knew a blueish teal was perfect. I love colour and added as many as I could without it looking mismatched. Grey, teal, blue, white, mustard, navy and black... I think I got away with it.
"I recycled a chest of drawers that I already had and picked up a free wardrobe locally. I used Frenchic paint and made them distressed looking.
"If you’re new to painting furniture a distressed look is a great first project because your mistakes can be intentional!
“The dressing table and small bedside cabinet, shelves and leather storage chest are from Next, the full-length mirror from Pagazza lighting, the mustard velvet curtain was from IKEA and the walnut wood blind was from a local company.
“The bedding, cushions, copper lamp, circle mirror and wooden tea tray were from Dunelm, the black lantern, copper hare, candles and artificial plants were from The Range, the chair was from Woods Furniture and the carpet was sourced locally.”
Shirley is delighted with the finished look of the room, and it made for an emotional surprise for Sarah.
"I couldn’t wait to see it finished,” Shirley adds.
"I was a bit nervous but happy I had achieved the look I was aiming for and Sarah absolutely loves it too.
"It was hard to arrange any nice surprises during lockdown so Sarah and I decided that she wouldn’t look in the room until it was finished.
"We decided to do a big reveal. She also celebrated her 21st birthday in August so I had the room ready for her to move into the day before her birthday which was a nice touch.
"She absolutely loves it and says the room has taken away all the anxiety she felt about moving from the family home. She says it feels like home, like it’s her own little modern apartment.
"There were lots of tears: a house move, lockdown and not being able to celebrate her 21st the way we would have liked to.
“We’re a big close family and all helped out doing various bits and pieces.
“My eldest daughter and her friend helped apply the bricks to the wall, and my sons and daughters tackled anything DIY.
"My son is a carpet fitter and my son-in-law is handy so it was very much all hands on deck to help.
"As I say, we’re a close family and like to go away on holiday together and COVID-19 meant we couldn’t so we did this instead.
"As a mother, I was worried my children would really miss the love and support that being in a big family brings so this little project was ideal timing.
“It was a good distraction during lockdown. Like a lot of people, I was caught in the property market trap when we went into lockdown.
"The offer fell through on my family home but I had already committed to buying this little house so it was quite a stressful time juggling two houses financially.
"I was fortunate that I had a lot of work booked in for my sewing business so I could escape in my sewing room too. I’ve since sold my house and Sarah and I moved in here a few weeks ago.
"The bedrooms are complete but the rest is a work in progress!
“In total, including all the furniture, carpet, painting and bricks, the bedroom cost around £1,800.
"It’s hard to say how long it took because after the electricians did their part I was only able to do a couple of hours per day a few times per week in between work and waiting for supplies to arrive, but I’d say between six to eight weeks.”
Tom Church, co-founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, comments: “This amazing bedroom wouldn’t look out of place in a chic boutique hotel and looks like it’s jumped straight out of Pinterest’s most popular pages!
“By adding unusual design touches such as the brick wall and the bright blue paint, Shirley has created an amazing bedroom with plenty of talking points - and thanks to sourcing local products locally and upcycling them, as well as shopping at budget brands such as The Range and Dunelm, she’s managed to keep costs down too. Genius!"
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Wow!!! What an amazing job u have done. And under all the stress u were suffering... What a super mum u are.. Amazing job ***