Refurnishing my Bedroom

[Patrik]

I've been thinking of redecorating my room for a while, because the colours are quite faded and the carpet is a bit horrible. Recently, my parents told me that they were thinking of buying me a new wardrobe, as I need more space and the one I have at the moment is falling apart a bit. This prompted me to start thinking about the redecorating, and now I have decided to completely redo the bedroom, with new furniture, layout, walls, floor and possibly even ceiling.

I've been planning the redesign for a week or two now and I am starting to get a solid idea of what I want to do with it. I am in the process of writing a comprehensive plan for the bedroom, with all the appropriate dimensions and restrictions included, and once I have finished it I will post a link to the document from the forum.

The document will also include photos of my room in its current state (or maybe once I've tidied it up a bit more!) and I'll try to post semi-regular updates and photos to show the status of my project once it gets started.



For now, though, could I ask some advice?

My parents have given a conditional permission for my room, but if I want to build any permanent furniture I have to seek expert advice. Can someone tell me where it's best to get help with furniture 'blueprints' and recommendations of materials I should use?
I was really hoping that the consultancy service at Wickes would help but they will only help with kitchens and bathrooms. One of my brother's friend's has a dad who might be able to help me, but if there are other people too then that would be even better!

I'm a bit crazy and/or creative sometimes, and when I was thinking up the design for my room, I had an idea to cover the ceiling in mirror paper, then hang clear plastic sheets from it, and then light the ceiling from the sides or underneath so that the mirror paper reflected the light and the plastic would cause it to 'glow' when the curtains were closed.
Has anyone ever tried this before? Would it work?

I have other questions too, but I'll leave it at that for now! I am very excited about my project and I hope to have more information about it for you up soon!

 

[BigRobCanUFixIt]

bespoke fitted furniture can be sought from places like sharps or I even saw it in home base the other day. Or a joiner maybe.

If you want to have a go yourself you could rather than having fitted units but say buy a standard item and modify it. Its often cheaper than from scratch and you can take it with you.

Regards to your ceiling... Mirror paper would mabey look a bit weird as it is never going to be flat up there and the reflection would be distorted... How bout fitting a mirror on the ceiling or think about making a light fitting out of mirrors.

The less "fitted" items mean you could always take em with you a reuse if you move.

 

[Patrik]

Thanks, BigRob - I was starting to think I'd get 0 replies!

I've considered bespoke furniture already - my mum linked me a couple of websites. Unfortunately, for those websites at least, the price of a wardrobe was upwards of 700 quid and although they had a lot of options, I couldn't manually edit the size, nor the internals of the wardrobe, and they only had a couple of colour choices.

With a custom built wardrobe I would hope to build to exact specifications, and if I use cheap materials I reckon I can spend possibly even less than £50 on it - the cheapest wood sheets on Wickes are about 6 quid per 1-2 sq.m and so long as I don't A) use it to support anything very heavy; B) support it with thick beams; C) cover outer faces with paint or paper; then I guess it would be okay?


I wanted to upload a panorama picture of my current bedroom to the site so that people can be a bit more interested in my project, but unfortunately I'm having trouble finding the USB connector cable. My bedroom's a tip in the photo (though surprisingly this isn't the reason for having lost the USB cable) so maybe I should tidy it a little before I upload a photo, anyway!

I'm still having trouble finding a professional who would tell me if my designs are good or not. I was thinking of contacting random carpenters but I thought it might be a bit weird to ask them, if I'm not actually thinking of paying for their service...

I've almost finished a 20 page powerpoint document which will tell you (and whoever else I let read it) all about my bedroom and my project plans. I'm procrastinating on creating the blueprints for the furniture, but after that I'll be almost done with it!

As for style, I've been pondering the theme of my bedroom for a while - one half of me wants light and airy, and one part of me wants a cool, futuristic 'cellar' type room where I can set mood lighting and play video games. I think I have a solution now - lots of shiny faux-metallic surfaces like "cobalt" which will look good in sunlight and in relative darkness? I'm going to add an 'inspiration palette' to the powerpoint so that you can get a better idea of what I'm going for.


Anyway, please do reply. I'm sorry that it's obviously not the most interesting of topics without any pictures, and I'm not at the stage where things are moving forwards yet, but I would really appreciate any advice that more experienced DIYers can give me!

Thanks![/i]

 

[Patrik]

Update thingy!

I borrowed my brother's USB cable and managed to upload a picture of my bedroom!

It's a complete tip at the moment - partly due to being in the process of taking everything out of my room, one box at a time. But quite often it reaches this state of untidiness anyway, which was the original reason for changing the storage system around a bit in my room.

Not completely sure I should be posting this on a forum but I don't think there's anything too personal on it, and nothing offensive either...

http://i.imgur.com/NAEhl.jpg

(Uploaded via Imgur - I couldn't get the Forum's album thing to work...)

Sorry about the quality - I dropped my proper camera in a mountain stream last summer, so these were taken on my phone. Also, the panorama stitching software usually does a great job but apparently not this time.

The book case in the lower right 'corner' is actually shoulder/head height - I suppose the weird panorama effect distorted it a bit... I was standing in the doorway to take these photos, which forms an extra space at the side of the room's main 'rectangle' - it'll be clearer when I upload the powerpoint with the plan view of the room!

Thanks!

 

[snico]

is this you?

 

[Patrik]

is this you?

... not really on topic, or the type of reply I was expecting, but I appreciate your effort. To answer your question, I'm not into wearing caps in a big way, nor do I have ginger hair, so no, that is not me. Feel free to PM me if it would mean a lot to you to try again, but don't post it in this topic. Thanks!

As for the topic in general, I'm a bit disheartened by the lack of interest in it. I had hoped that more people would offer some advice or at least curiosity but I suppose I've gone to the wrong forum. I'll leave the topic up on here, anyway, just in case.

 

[munchingB]

can you use a drill? have you ever drilled something into a wall with success using raw plugs? can you use a handsaw and make a straight cut?

you dont need someone elses plans to design your own furniture. you basically will be making box shape structures with open sides against the floor and wherever there will be shelves or doors.

you will need a spirit level and think about building off the wall using battens that are screwed into the wall.

there shouldnt be any need to compromise the strength of your build if it is constructed in the right way and you use the correct materials.

 

[BertyUK]

1) Rip everything out
2) Paint walls
3) Get carpet professionally cleaned
4) Buy some cheap furniture (IKEA, Argos... etc)

Think about what you need storage for and buy appropriate furniture. If you can't afford it all at once, buy bit by bit.

I would expect all that to be possible for around £600

 

[boxoftickytacky]

Hi,

I commend you for wanting to change your room, your walls and ceilings look fine, they just need prepping and painting, plus a new carpet so you have your base be it muted or colourful to then furnish. I would upgrade the light fitting and the curtains and replace them with wooden venetians too, made to measure from the internet is not overly expensive, or ikea too for readymade.

I would say if you are new at this decorating & design lark then ikea has great funky furniture for not a lot of money...building your own with proper wood, is not as cheap as you might think, compared to budget ikea flatpack furniture. If you want to give it go still, you need the right kit, and I would try anawhite.com for plans you can change to your dimensions.

You need storage and ikea has loads of ideas to maximise your space...I would also consider getting a high bed, with a desk underneath then you can get a double bed in, as your room is not huge and you have A LOT of stuff to pack in there.

Not to be mean but NO shiny ceiling please, you want to add your style with art, it can be made cheaply, the internet is full of ideas, then when you get bored you can swap it out...