Ad disclosure: We were given £50 by MoneySupermarket.com to spend as we liked, in order to transform a room of our choice for this challenge.
As part of MoneySupermarket.com’s Room for Improvement challenge, we were offered £50 to transform a room of our choice in our home. Unfortunately the competition clashed with our house moving dates, and so there was no way we could move in & transform a room before the contest ended. Despite this, the lovely folks at MoneySupermarket.com still sent the money & just said to do the challenge when we could.
We decided to spend the money on what will be Georgie & Lydia’s room. Although she is still sleeping in a crib in our bedroom, our baby girl is racing toward the 6 month mark and so it won’t be long until she is sharing her big sister’s room instead!
Here are some before photos…
As we have moved into a new house, we decided to go ahead and put what will be Lydia’s cot up in the girls room, so that we don’t end up using the space for something else, and finding it difficult to fit it in later! The room is a bit of a tight squeeze, but I’m pleased we managed to fit so much toy & clothes storage in there.
We already had some safari/jungle themed things from the old house, so it made sense to us to continue and develop that theme for our little girls first shared bedroom.
The items we already had include a Raa Raa duvet set
* (a birthday gift from my parents), Ikea Barnslig Djur curtains with a jungle animal motif, a variety of soft toys, Lydia’s Sunny Safari cot mobile, some jungle-themed “Georgie” bunting, a crocodile mirror, and a Mickey Mouse hot air balloon lampshade
* (because Mickey Mouse is exploring the jungle?).
The first thing we did once the furniture was in and we worked out how much space we had, was to take a trip to Ikea, where we bought the following items:
- Green HAMPEN Rug (80 x 80 cm) – £10
- 2 x DRÖNA storage boxes (blue) – £2.50 each
- KUSINER Wall pockets (red) – £3.50
I then did some shopping on eBay, and ended up with:
- Cheeky Monkey wall sticker – £4.49
- Jungle Animals wall sticker – £5.99
- Elephant cushion – £14.95
- Tiger coat hook – £2.30
- Jungle cot sheet – £4.99
Grand Total: £51.22
Ok, so I went over my budget very slightly, but I just couldn’t resist that cute tiger coat hook!
We rent our house, so we are constrained as to what we could actually do. No painting for us, so wall stickers are a great way for us to add fun to the walls without damaging them at all. Instead, it’s all about the accessories.
The cot sheet prevents Lydia’s cot from being the boring corner of the room, and the addition of some jungle animal toys waiting to be played with makes it a fun place for her. I love the jungle animals sitting along the side of her cot, and the cot mobile we bought for her a while ago fits in perfectly with our new purchases.
Georgie loves her new “Hufty pillow” and it has pride of place at the top of her bed. The tiger hook from the same Sass & Belle range makes a perfect place for Georgie’s beloved dressing gown to hang up on the back of the door, and adds a splash of colour to the otherwise white expanse.
I love the rug we picked; it’s the perfect size to make a little jungle floor between the cot & the bed, and is the most gorgeous shade of green. For £10 I can’t believe how good it is; so soft underfoot. Georgie loves her new Ikea wall pockets too, and different toys are awarded the honour of sleeping there in turn. One of the new turquoise storage boxes has blankets & Lydia’s sleeping bags in, and the other all of the cardigans & jumpers for both girls.
The curtains we brought over from the old house are too long, so once James had fitted the curtain rail (also from the old house), I pinned up the curtains to the correct length as a temporary measure. As soon as I can find the time, not to mention the power cable for my sewing machine, I will buy some lining material for them and shorten & line them at the same time. At the moment the sunlight streams in as they are so thin.
James also put up Georgie’s star light that we bought over a year ago and never fitted to the wall at the old house! Georgie adores her “Light! Star!” and it creates the perfect atmosphere to read the bedtime story. We used Ikea IVAR shelving that we already owned to keep all of their toys on, and popped a few toys and board books on top of the chest of drawers and on the windowsill, for Georgie to enjoy when she’s supposed to be napping in the afternoons.
Here are the after shots of our little jungle…
What do you think? We’ve tried to create a fun place for the girls to sleep and play, with the additional challenge of it being a small room in a rented house. I think we’ve done ok!
Sarah McGenity liked this on Facebook.
I love it! Really need to finish my little ones nursery before she out grows her mosses basket (currently in our room).
Love it, it looks so colourful and cute!
Thanks Becca! I’m really pleased with it 🙂
Wall stickers are definitely the way forward! Love what you have done, my two little monkies would love it. We’ve gone for a seaside theme for them, complete with bucket lightshade but it is still a work in progress!