Home Sweet Home: Bedroom Tour

So, months and months after posting my living room tour, I’m finally getting round to writing up a bedroom tour too. I can’t lie, this is mostly to do with the fact that this is the first time my room has been remotely tidy since then. As you can probably tell from the pictures, it’s pretty small and doesn’t have a lot of storage so there’s always stuff cluttered about everywhere. I like to think that the living room is relatively grown up looking, but my bedroom is still very “studenty” – none of the furniture matches, there’s stuff blu-tacked to the walls, there are ticket stubs and wristbands and flyers everywhere, and it’s always a mess. The most annoying thing about the room is that it’s long and narrow so there’s only one possible way all the furniture can fit in (yes, I’ve tried rearranging it – to no avail!). But saying that, it feels like home and it’s definitely the room I spend most time in, and so I kind of love it.

The bed came with the flat and is an Ikea number (similar to this one) and despite being the squeakiest, creakiest bed in the world it’s pretty comfy! There’s not really much room on my desk for a laptop and books etc. so I usually end up doing all my work snuggled up in bed, it’s a hard life! The duvet set is from John Lewis and my mum bought it for me when I moved out to go to university – it’s done me pretty well these past 5 years. The fairy lights wrapped around the bedframe were from Ikea a couple of summers ago and they make it feel nice and cosy in the evenings. Behind the bed there’s a bit of dead space between the window, but it’s the perfect fit for my bedside table. I can’t remember where it’s from as I’ve had it from about 10 years (it’s kind of similar to this one). It’s really ugly and I keep meaning to buy something nicer, but as it’s behind the bed no one can see it anyway so there’s probably not much point. Can’t wait to have my own flat one day so I can buy furniture that actually matches! On top of the bedside table, there’s always a stack of books and notebooks: the novel I’m reading, my Moleskine sketchbook, my notebook for dissertation stuff, my Q&A 5 Year Journal, and a cute little Finest Imaginary printed Moleskine which I bought from Ginger Pickle and am using as my blogging notebook. There’s also my phone, lip balm, a little box for earrings, my owl speaker* in case I’m watching a film and want extra volume, and the most boring lamp in the world that was intended as a quick fix whilst I had time to look for something better, but it seems to still be here 4 years later.

On the wall beside the bed, I started an attempt at a bit of a collage kinda thing, but I stuck up four things and gave up on the idea and just left them there. This baroque mirror from Out There Interiors* makes a nice addition to the wall though, I got it in the “Petrol” colour and it’s lovely. It’s got a bit of that shabby chic/distressed kinda thang going on which I really like. Out There Interiors is a shop I only came across recently but they have so many gorgeous homewares; how dreamy is this mirrored glass furniture, and some rattan furniture would be perfect if I had a garden. They have pretty much every kind of homeware you could want, I’ve got so many things bookmarked that I want! At the bottom of my bed is the wardrobe, it came with the flat too so I’ve got no idea where it’s from. It’s usually overflowing and most of the time neither the doors or the drawer close properly, really need to have a good clear out soon!

Next to that is the desk, not sure where it’s from either, but it’s a fairly standard wooden desk which houses my printer and computery stuff on the bottom shelf, and on top there’s all my makeup, skincare and hair things. Have a look at my makeup storage post from last year for a bit more detail – everything is pretty much the same, but I seem to have collected a lot more stuff since then! The acrylic drawers are from Amazon and hold makep that gets used fairly regularly. The acrylic caddy is from Zalando but sadly they don’t seem to sell it anymore (this one looks pretty similar though), and I use it to hold my makeup brushes, my daily skincare and a few makeup bits. I’ve also got two Ikea plant pots – one for skincare and one for haircare. The purple table lamp is from Next and the folding chair is from Ikea. On the wall above the desk is my noticeboard/whiteboard that is covered in all sorts of tickets, flyers, event invites, and other little bits and pieces (including, for some reason, a huge bunch of ribbons?!). The whiteboard is pretty handy for jotting things down before I write them in my diary, or reminding me to do stuff.

I bought the white chest of drawers from Homebase last year as I was running out of storage space, and they mostly hold yet more clothes. On top, there’s a box full of body beauty bits which there isn’t room for in the bathroom, along with some extra skincare and makeup things. Next to that, I’ve got a couple of folding crates stacked up: the bottom one has yet more extra beauty things; the middle one has shoes; and the top one has clothes that have been worn but aren’t quite ready for the washing machine yet. They’re not very pretty but they do the job! In the opposite corner I’ve got some shoe boxes stacked up, and there are more shoes lined up underneath the heater. My favourite ever sparkly heels are currently living on top of the heater (which never gets switched on, btw!) as they’re too pretty to stay in a box but I hardly ever get the chance to wear them. Next to that is a mirror which my dad made for me and it’s covered in more studenty paraphernalia. Tucked behind it, and peeking out the side, are a couple of hessian shopping bags filled with belts and handbags. So glamorous! There’s also a big stack of beauty boxes living on the floor; I unsubscribed about 2 years ago but have still got hundreds and hundreds of samples! My vintage dress from last year’s grad ball seems to permanently stay on the back of my door, I’ve been meaning to put it away somewhere for the past year but I don’t want it to get squished in my wardrobe so it just hangs out here. (Usually with a little dust bag though!)

I think my favourite part of my room is the ceiling. I bought some of those glow in the dark stars and stuck them to the roof above the bed in the proper constellations (although, I managed to do them upside down!). The ceiling is pretty high in here so it was no easy task, especially as I couldn’t move the bed out of the way. There was a lot of precarious leaning from the top of a ladder – but I got there eventually with a little help from my flatmate! I also love my little purple plastic chandelier from B&Q, I think it was the very first thing I bought for moving into this flat.

Please tell me all your rooms are as full of clutter as mine?!

Gillian x