So, a couple of months ago I went into the ‘entering the third trimester panic’ where you realise the baby is coming, sooner rather than later, and perhaps you should buy a few bits and bobs and make a room habitable for a small human.
I told the husband it was time to build in some walls and turn the somewhat open study into a cozy nursery for our wee man. So, we .. the husband .. got out the carpenter belt and started demolishing and rebuilding.
The room we had chosen for our nursery would have originally been the front verandah of the home and was, at some point (probably pre drug dealer house) built in. The room was always pretty, if you could see past the smoke stains on the ceiling, holes in the walls, cracked window and the fetching door to the porch that was nailed in and actually served no purpose.
The before shot – the real estate photo – it’s been filtered
With two double doors leading into our lounge the room was too open to be a bedroom so we needed to cut a new door and build in the existing doors. The external door also needed to be removed and built in.
Pregnant lady taking a rest with 4 legged babies .. Honey has no modesty
And we have a new door!
And a new living room wall and porch wall..
So lovely to have more space in the living room with the two big doors gone, completely opened up the space
With the new doors and walls in place the room needed some major repair work, this is the state of the walls and windows pre makeover..
After repairing the walls they still weren’t perfect, in fact far from it. They are uneven and in parts where the asbestos is, the joins were prominent. The husband remembered from the English part of him, that in the UK they use paintable wallpaper to make imperfect walls perfect. We hunted around and found a fab place in Booragoon called The Wallpaper and Border Shop who sells fibreglass which rolls on like wallpaper but is clear and textured. You can then paint as you wish whilst giving the walls a beautiful finish.
We choose a chevron texture and we .. Matt installed it.
In terms of colours, I wanted black walls .. yes black. The room is very light with a massive original jarrah window we glossed white, with high skirting and a low ceiling. I felt the room could wear the black as long as the furniture remained white and light. Husband was on board.. for a while.. then he turned .. to the blue side. I’m extremely fussy with colour and compromised on grey, ending up with a grey that looks quite blue in some lights .. Happy wife, Happy husband = winning.
Now, there is quite simply not much I love more than a newly finished room, just dying to be decorated! We knew we were having a wee man join our family but I wanted to stay away from it being too gender specific.
We kept our leather roadside collection couch (still the best find to date) as the nursing chair, adding a simple roller blind to the newly finished window and sheer side drapes from Ikea to finish.
I wanted the room to stay light and I love white furniture so we went with a simple cot and change table that converts to a shelving unit when no longer required.
Whilst hunting for wall prints, I stumbled across a gorgeous business called Ink Hearts Paper and this limited edition copy of a lion, I loved it and set it with another two prints available from their store.
So, with our wee mans room in place and 18 days until his scheduled arrival we are set and ready to say …
Kirsty. . .what can I say? You and Matt are just so clever. The perfect reno duo. And that couch…from the kerb side? ??
Thank you Lara 🙂 Yes, I made a mad dash for it a couple of years back, I’ll never let it go, so comfy!
Love this room! Gorgeous x
Thank you Emma! x
Beautiful job guys! Room looks fabulous. He’s a very lucky little boy coming into such talented & fabulous parents xx 😘
Shucks 🙂 Thanks Tara xx
OH my!! I love it! You put me to shame…. 7 months on (and er, I don’t mean 7 months pregnant, I mean my baby is 7 months old) and he still doesn’t have a room all nicely set up. I’m so impressed by your energy. Also your amazing legs. I can’t believe you are in the third trimester you look tiny! (I’m sure you don’t feel it right now but you look it).
Thank you Maya! I can assure you that I am now in my 35th week and either giving birth to a toddler or a small baby and a cake.. I’m massive.. By any standard 🙂 these photos were about 8 weeks ago, it’s exploded! Hope all is going well for you and you are settled into mummy hood!
Reblogged this on thelifethatlovebuiltblog and commented:
Harrisons
Oh ‘Miss Macara’ …. you look amazing. Sound amazing. Just amazing. Sending love to your wonderful family and your business venture that will be be … amaing! ‘Miss Ord’ xo