atlas

Finally, David’s bedroom update!

Way back in 2013, I wrote about wanting to do this (here) and I had full intentions to start right away but the project kept getting neglected… funny, considering he’s an only child and they tend not to get neglected but I am happy to say (show), after a lot of research, it’s done.

I will be the first to admit, I got major inspiration for his room from a post I read here. I fell in love with the atlas wallpaper /red bunk bed combo and used them as my starting off point. We searched high and low (haha) for a bunk bed in the city that was affordable but not cheaply made.

We found a beautiful locally made bunk bed but it was + $1000 (unfinished) and was too big for the room. We thought about buying online (here or here or here) but again, very pricy and not quite what I wanted. We also thought about buying and painting the Ikea bunk bed but shipping and paint would cost more then the bed itself.

So, in the end, I convinced Mike to build it. Reason being, it’d be sturdier than Ikea’s, cheaper than the other 3, no shipping and we (Mike) could paint them red! The other great thing about D.I.Y. is it’s attached to the wall – meaning it saves a few inches of space in the room because there’s no gap between the wall (and baseboard) and the bed. We also added an extra foot to the length of the bed to allow room for custom boxes at each head to serve as built-in nightstands. Clever eh?

Because I am an honest and a non-professional interior designer, I think it’s fair to share some of the problems we encountered.

First and foremost being the Wallpaper – apparently (from the amount of cursing I heard), it was not easy to hang. Matching up outlines of counties is hard, especially in an old house with wonky walls. Once it was hung it looked amazing for a few months until one particular time-out session when David decided to draw some run-away escape routes… on his wall. Hard to resist when you are stuck in your room with a marker and a ten-foot long map. So many possibilities. I was really mad until I realized he could be the next Columbus… or Cabot!

The second lesson learnt was the paint. We used Annie Sloan’s Emperor’s Silk. It was our first time using the product and the colour is great but the purpose of the paint is more for refinishing old and/or ugly furniture. Not raw wood. It was expensive and soaked up a lot of paint. I think it would of been smarter to shop at a big box store instead. Opps. Still, read about the paint – I highly recommend it for what it’s intended for (and stay tuned for an upcoming post featuring the paint again).