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In Reviews / Sponsored

Using Interior Design to Bridge the Office / Bedroom Divide

Author Nicki CawoodPosted on

I have posted many times before about my bedroom being the one room in the house that doesn’t seem to get any attention. It is a brilliantly laid out room with a fireplace and two large sash windows and all of my furniture is white and wooden. Being such a big room part of it has been earmarked as my office as during the day no-one else is using it and I love working in such a bright and light room.

The problem with having your office in your bedroom however is that it sometimes loses the “soft” and relaxed feel your bedroom should have. To combat this I’ve chosen my desk and furniture carefully and have been pleased with the way that the office and the bedroom blend as such so that we are not sleeping in a room filled with eyesore metal furniture. My filing cabinet is even cleverly hidden behind a white shaker style door.

The room has still been missing something and I felt it needed something more feminine that worked with the space and made sure that the room was a relaxing and warm bedroom first and an office second. I decided then that the bed should be the focal point and while looking at the bedding at Argos I came across the perfect solution, the Province bedspread and duvet set from the Catherine Lansfield Signature Home range. Together these make up a truly beautiful bed.

The quality of the king size duvet is undeniable and it looks fabulous against the accompanying bedspread (which is now my favourite thing in the room). The bedspread is perfect for layering up during colder nights and of course may be used on its own when the summer eventually comes around. Roy likes the design too (not too girly for him) and we are both really pleased with how the room has worked out.

So, what do you think? Have I pulled off the bedroom / office balance effect properly? Do you like the office / bedroom combo? I might have to sleep on it more to be sure but so far I think it all looks great and it feels a nice place to work and relax.

 

bedroom office
bedroom office

*This piece was written in collaboration with the mentioned business

 

In Interior Design, MoneySaving

Room for Improvement

Author Nicki CawoodPosted on 2 Comments

When a lovely gent working on behalf of Moneysupermarket waved £50 in front of me and asked if I fancied taking part in the Room for Improvement campaign I was unlikely to say no. You can find more details about this fab idea here however in a nutshell a select few were asked to titivate an area, redo a room or perhaps renovate a piece of furniture with just £50. The focus of the project was to show what you can actually achieve on a budget.

With £50 at my disposal my first thought was to do something for the boys, or Roy or the kitchen perhaps however it was my the long suffering husband who put his foot down and said I was to use it for something just for me for a change. With this in mind I decided to breathe some new life into my office.

I work as a freelance writer from home and seem to spend a ridiculous amount of time at my desk which as it happens is the one area of the house that has never been paid a lot of attention, until now.

Before:

 Workspace before

And after….

desk after

Small changes have made a heck of a difference!

My first purchase was for £20 and is this fabulous solid (and actually very comfortable) desk chair:

£20 chair

I adore the idea of having an older piece of furniture with a bit of history to it in my home.

Next up was Rymans where I found this faux leather desk tidy. It is bigger than it looks and has helped to clear up space on the desk.

Desk tidy

Off to Wilkinsons where I found these fabulous frames which I’ve filled with writer-related and motivational quotes, all of which make me smile!

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To the right of the desk you’ll see my water glass and carafe (Jamie Oliver) which is made from recycled jam jars. These cost me £0 as I used some Kenco coffee reward points to treat myself.

Kenco reward

Flowers are a must and this jar used to have rice in it but has now been repurposed. The lovely flowers were given to me by a lovely friend.

After all of this I had £6.01 left so bought a memo block, hardback notebook and this extremely used “Things to do” pad from Wilkinsons once again.

 Wilko stationery

 

This left me with 3p which I have put into my shrapnel jar; pennies make pounds you know! Am I pleased with the transformation? Thrilled would be a better description and I’m glad Roy convinced me that I wanted to do something just for me. With a bit of shopping around and re-using I think I’ve created a much more practical, motivating and quite frankly gorgeous work space for myself.
What do you think?

Whenever I take on a project like this I always set a strict budget because firstly it keeps the spending under control and secondly, I feel it gets the imagination going!

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*I was provided with £50 to take part in this challenge – thanks Moneysupermarket!

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