Quick and easy bedroom updates
It's nice to give a bedroom a makeover now and then. I get bored very quickly and find that changing the room around and adding a few new details here and there instantly updates and refreshes the bedroom, making it feel like a new room!
This vintage bed was old news to its previous owners, but a coat of black paint and a little distressing gave it a fresh, up-to-date look that works perfectly with this bedroom's relaxed style. You can use any colour paint to distress old furniture.
Reinvent what you have
Creatively using what you already have around the home is a great way to furnish a bedroom on a budget. Before investing in expensive, new pieces, check with friends and family to see if they have anything they'd like to give away.
In a bedroom that receives a lot of sunlight during the day, refreshing tones of blue in this bedroom keep the room feeling cool and relaxing. The inspiration for colours in the room was taken from porcelain plates that hang above the bed.
Be creative
It's so easy to add impact to a boring room. To add detail to walls, make a stencil out of cardboard and handpaint the design to create a focal wall in a bedroom that perhaps ties in with a pattern on the curtains or bedding in the room. And painting furniture is as easy as sand and paint.
Here's how:
It is essential to sand back the previously painted or varnished surface before applying more paint. Use an Orbital Sander and start off with 80-grit sandpaper. The reason for starting with an 80-grit is that this sandpaper has widely spaced grit that allows for the collection of paint or vanish without clogging up too quickly. A 120-grit sandpaper is for intermediate sanding, and a 180- or 240-grit sandpaper is for final sanding.
Today's acrylic paints - such as Prominent Paints Sheen and UltraSheen - are waterbased paints that are washable, easy to apply and provide a long lasting, extremely durable finish. You can apply paint with a paintbrush or foam roller. I prefer to start with a paintbrush for detailed sections and around edges, and then finish off with a foam roller for large and flat sections.
Details make a big difference
If you don't like the idea of colour in your bedroom, go shopping for decor accessories that add interest to plain walls, and dress the bed in luxurious linens and gorgeous cushions. Plants and flowers always make great accents and add just a hint of colour to a room.
Crown moulding is an affordable way to add interest. A decorative polystyrene moulding can be easily added at the ceiling in a room and these moldings are easily attached as a do-it-yourself project. Leave bare white or paint in a complementary colour.
How to:
You can buy crown moulding at your local Builders Warehouse or hardware store. It comes in a variety of styles to add a decorative finish to the top of your wall. You can easily cut polystyrene moulding using a mitre box and backsaw, or with a jigsaw, circular saw or mitre saw. Fasten to walls and ceiling with a product such as Pattex No More Nails Interior.
This canopy bed is so simply in its design - even a beginner DIY enthusiast could achieve in a weekend. A painted top panel is attached to the ceiling directly above the bed and corner drapes attached to hang down to the floor. I am definitely going to give this project a try in the future.
Add luxury
Nothing says luxury more than a 4-poster or canopy bed. You don't always have to spend an absolute fortune to have the look.
Here's how:
My take on this would be to have BisonBord cut to the same size as the bed. Apply edging strip around the outer edge of the board to finish off once you have painted.
The panel would need to be attached to ceiling battens (timber supportswhich run from one end of the room to the other) at regular intervals along the length and width to be secure and support the weight of the curtains.