Our "The Block" week

When we moved into our house a year and a half ago, I promised my husband that I wouldn't start renovating until we had lived here for at least a year. All the experts say that is what you should do, to get an understanding of how you live in it, where the sunny and warm spots, as well as where it's not really used and a little cold and unpleasant. I had full confidence I could do this, as the race to suddenly finish all the projects we had started on our last house in order to sell it quickly had left me somewhat tired of the whole renovating thing. Or at least I thought.

Three months later the first school holidays hit and we had decided to have a "The Block" week in my younger son's room. Yes, I know, what about being sick of renovating? Don't ask me. Anyway, my son's room was on the southern side of the house, absolutely tiny at 3x2m, and was painted a sort of mushroomy-pink colour. You can see it on the "My Home" page. Yep, every boys' dream...

Now I do love vintage styling, however most little boys won't appreciate too many old suitcases, bevelled mirrors and floral fabrics, so we decided to theme the room according to what he was interested in: animals. And more specifically, African animals and Sea Mammals.

Wall colour is important and I am a big believer in making the most of small and cold rooms not by painting them warm whites, but by using gorgeous, jewel-like colours that enfold you in beauty and energy. Rafe decided on Emerald as his colour but let me tell you - this is no easy colour to find! After about 3 or 4 samples (getting up to $10 a sample isn't cheap!) we happened upon a tin on the clearance table with a green blob on the top that looked about right for $30. Four litres of gloss enamel should do the trick in a room prone to dampness, we gave it a try! Sure, it did take 4 coats to really get to the depth of colour we were after, but the result is stunning.

The space under the sleeping platform is nice and high - nearly 2m - but still a little boring, so we ordered a photo-murel from the US - a cheetah and her cubs which are Rafe's favourite animals. At nearly $400 it was an expensive wall but gives the room a sense of space that it lacked before and makes it truly feel like you are out on a safari! In hindsight, I would purchase one with a single drop, rather than two pieces as the thick vinyl is very hard to stick down, even with the thickest wallpaper paste. I ended up stapling it down at the edges. 

Other little details are a hammock hanging below the sleeping platform (we started with a string one but this was uncomfortable so we changed it for a green and blue silk one from Mitre10), a stripy blue, green, and grey mat from The Warehouse, hooks for all his caps, and a tall cubed shelving unit to keep all his knick knacks and animal models.

I made a little desk space with a fabric-covered pin-board for his awards and sports photos, and we picked up all kinds of gorgeous pictures for his themed room - a canvas of a tiger, a 'moving' picture of some dolphins, and a poster with all kinds of whales on it. His bed has a cheetah fleecy blanket from Spotlight and pillows with cheetahs and zebras from Trademe. On the floor are a beanbag and pillows in zebra and cheetah prints. I covered his light shade with a green 'batik' my husband had brought back from Africa 20 years ago.

Virtually all of the house has rimu skirting boards and architraves, which I find absorb so much of the limited light. Rafe was given the option of painting these out white or leaving them timber, and he chose to keep them natural. I'm glad he did now, as it's nice to feature some native timber somewhere in the house!

A future projects for the room is an army camo mesh 'curtain' along the front of his sleeping platform which he has to climb under to get in and out of bed but I haven't managed to source one yet.

The truth is that it took more than the prescribed week that was our challenge, but it takes time to get things perfect!