Interior Decorating: Loft Bedroom Restyle — Manchester Lifestyle Blog

At the end of last year, I undertook my first interior decorating project; a loft bedroom restyle in my hometown of Manchester. Now, I have been told and I like to think I am pretty good at styling my own home, but someone else leaving the decor of a room in their home up to me, well, that was slightly daunting!

But, I like a challenge and to put my mind to something (not that I have walls to paint, wallpaper to put up, rooms to finish in my own home to be getting on with or anything...) and I was excited to see if I was any good styling a room that wasn't mine.

My clients were a husband and wife who were using their loft conversion as a spare room for occasional guests to sleep in and hadn't really given it much attention. Their new plan was to move into the space themselves, after promising their 3 year old daughter their current bedroom so that she could have a bigger bedroom like her brother.

Below are some pictures of how it looked before I got my hands on it.

The key ideas from initially sitting down and chatting to them were incorporating the big 2016 trends of geometric and scandi, with a colour scheme of pink and grey with hints of metallic. The carpet was staying in the room but they wanted painted and wallpapered walls and new furniture and accessories.

It was a brief I was very happy with and one I thought I could take and create something really on-trend and modern. The main items my clients wanted me to source were a super king bed frame, bedside tables, chests of drawers, a dressing table and chair, storage, a light fitting and lamps, bedding and other decorative accessories. The agreed budget was not huge, but it was reasonable, and I was confident I would be able to source what they needed, but it was going to have to be quite high street focused to be able to pull it off. I had a two week timeframe to put my ideas together and I couldn't wait to get started.

First of all, I created a Pinterest page where I took inspiration from the key words of the brief; geometric, scandi, pink, grey and metallic.

Next I created individual mood boards, stemming from my Pinterest research and taking into consideration the brief, which detailed the key focuses I had in my planning for the room such as; Bold Lighting, Detailed Texture, Scandi Design, Pink, Grey and Metallics and a Statement Geometric Wall.

I wanted to create a space that was warm, cosy and inviting using lots of texture in rugs, cushions and blankets and since I had a colour scheme of pink, grey and metallic, I wanted to contrast the softness by using bold and modern shapes that would also give some masculinity to the room, since my clients were a husband and wife. With the geometric element, I wanted this to come through in strong industrial style lighting and accessories, which would also tie in to the metallic idea, and statement walls of wallpaper. Scandi style is associated with being clean and simple and I wanted this to come through in my choice of furniture, so that it simply blended into the room rather than overpowered it.

After all of my planning was done, the next task was sourcing a list of products within budget that I thought suited the brief and would be to my clients taste. I love shopping, and it turns out I love shopping for other people as much as I do for myself! So this was a really fun task and one I perhaps got into too much, as since the brief was so modern and on-trend, there were endless gorgeous geometric and scandi items to look at.

Following a lot of product research, I narrowed my choices down and built a product moodboard of the final items I felt worked for the room. This included paint, wallpaper, furniture and accessories and alongside this, I created a spreadsheet of each item, with its cost and a link so that the client could easily purchase it.

Finally, it was time to present my ideas to my clients! We sat down with my moodboards, wallpaper and paint samples, product sheets and costings and it's fair to say, they were rather made up with the outcome and pretty much everything in their finished room are items which I sourced for them.

I really enjoyed my first interior decorating opportunity and I already have more clients on the horizon. Whilst it was a new experience styling a room that wasn't mine or to my personal taste, it was one that was really fun and rewarding. I really like the finished room and it's somewhere that I would be more than happy to have as my own bedroom!

Have a look below at the room makeover and the key items are listed to buy if you want to add a similar geometric and scandi feel to your own home!

A cosy and inviting bed adorned with soft furnishings that tie in texture and the geometric decor.

Bold industrial lighting and accessories contrast to the pared back scandi furniture.

A mixture of baskets are used for storage along with some string shelving. Scandi style open shelving creates a picture wall, using offcuts of the wallpaper in the frames, and plants and soft lighting compliment the calming decor.