Just after Christmas my eldest son became a teenager and so we wanted to makeover his bedroom to give it a more grown up feel. It was very plain and boring with beige carpet and white walls; it actually hadn’t been redecorated since the room was used as a nursery for his younger brothers – and they are now 6 and 9 – so a change was well overdue.
Although the smallest bedroom in the house, I really wanted to try and give it the feel of a mini urban loft apartment. Key to this soft-industrial look is brick, wood and metal, so when I was offered the chance to review some wallpaper from I Want Wallpaper.co.uk I was delighted to discover that they had several brick styles available.
I chose the Muriva Just Like It Loft Brick Wallpaper and was really excited when it arrived. It has a great, raised and textured finish for an authentic look and feel.
It is a really nice quality paper that should be very durable. Even though we’re not very experienced at wallpapering, it went up easily and quickly and at £14.99 a roll is really good value. Rather than wallpaper the whole of our small bedroom with the brick effect paper, which might have looked a bit too much, we opted to put it on two walls only. On the other walls I was keen to add a rich, deep paint colour that would complement the brick and metallic accessories. First thoughts had been a smoky dark blue-grey, but when I saw the intense, matt colour ‘Genuine’ which is verging towards a blue-green, from Crown’s Fashion for Walls range, I knew that was the one!
It has a great depth of colour and covered really well – only one coat needed on the white waffle wallpaper that we were covering, which was impressive as I thought two coats would be needed.
Recently I’d been invited to do a crafty DIY tutorial on the Wayfair blog and as we were planning Alex’s bedroom makeover at the time, I opted to personalise some Wayfair crates to stack in his room like a shelving unit.
You can see exactly how I customised the crates over on the Wayfair inspiration page.
I really like the rustic feel they give to the space and they’ve also added some valuable storage to his room. Wayfair also kindly gifted me a wire basket from Gallery which I’ve hung on the back of his door and an Ampersand wall sign which really is the finishing touch with its lovely industrial metal finish.
Alex’s Nana bought him a couple of New York themed duvet covers that fit the scheme perfectly; this NYC Manhattan Skyline one from Asda and another from Argos called the New York Reflections Bedding Set
He doesn’t have room for much furniture; he just has a bookcase, desk and chair in addition to his bed (and some underbed storage boxes), but there isn’t space for a wardrobe so he uses a pretty boring white Ikea hanging rail for anything that needs hanging up, e.g. his school uniform. I like the simplicity of the rail and it does the job, so I just bought a can of copper spray paint from B & Q and used it to give the hanging rail a cooler look.
The only thing left to do in the room is paint the floorboards, which we are planning to do grey, so I’ll share that project when we tackle it!
What do you think of the room and especially the wallpaper? Did we meet the brief do you think?
You mean that IS a wallpaper? I wouldn’t have known if you didn’t mention! It looks really good. I’m definitely checking out their website.
It’s a great wallpaper, better than I expected to be honest!
It is so easy to go safe and not push the boundaries but you have! It looks amazing and done so well, I love it! I bet your son is over the moon with it too.
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Aw, thanks Steph! He didn’t seem bothered about us doing up his room at the time, but when it was finished he gave me a hug and said thanks mum, so that was nice! x
If you’d told me about a ‘brick wallpaper’ without these pix, I wouldn’t have been very enthusiastic, but you’ve made it look great. Very simple and stylish. I remember bare brick walls were very fashionable in the 1970s, so delightful ‘retro’ chic as well as loft chic.
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Thanks! I was really pleasantly surprised, I hadn’t expected it to be so authentic, it’s great 🙂
Love this room! And the wallpaper looks really legit – after going back to brick all over our house and living like that for a year, I know what it looks like! Haha
Great job Antonia 🙂 x
KarenAnita recently posted…The Kitchen Feature Wall & A Dining Room Makeover
Thanks Karen, oh god yes I bet you break out in a cold sweat when you see exposed brick now, he he! Hope little one is well and you! xx
wow, I love it. The wallpaper looks fantastic, it looks like real bricks! I’ve just used something similar, but white, in my eldest daughter’s bedroom, unfortunately she won’t let me share pics on the internet. I love that colour paint too and it goes so well with the brick wallpaper.
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Hello Anne, thanks for your comment, I’m pleased with the colour combo. I bet white brick looks gorgeous! Especially for a girl’s room x
I LOVE this whole makeover. That wallpaper is seriously, seriously cool. I love exposed brick but as we live in a new-build, there’s no chance of of stripping the walls back. This could be a great solution though, especially in my boys’ bedroom. You genius!
Why thank you! I thought it might feel a bit much in the small space, but it really doesn’t – just feels nice and inviting. Definitely great for a boy room, too.
Love it1 I’ve worked with all kinds of wallpaper over the years and you usually get what you pay for! At £15 a roll I call that a bargain!
Hi, thanks! It’s really great quality for the price, should be hardwearing and last well I reckon.
That wallpaper is a wonder! Love it – trying to think of a wall I can attack with it in my flat x
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Thanks, glad you like it! I hope you find a spare wall to try it on 🙂 x
Damn wishes I’d have seen this yesterday for my Britumums roundup. Love it!
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Aww. thanks Amanda! Hope you are well, take care xx
Oh I think this looks amazing!
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Thanks Becky! I really appreciate the feedback xx
Fabulous! The wallpaper is amazing isn’t it? Our cottage has exposed brick in the conservatory and it doesn’t look dissimilar to be honest! I love the ampersand too — really appeals to the designer in me 😉
What a great room for a teen — I’ll bet he’s over the moon with it!
Re floorpaint — the Farrow and Ball floorpaint is AMAZING. Really hardwearing and comes in their amazing palette of colours. Would highly recommend it x #LoveYourHome
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Thanks for your nice words, he is really pleased with it, although I’ve noticed the ‘keeping it tidy’ has dropped off a bit already – typical, ha! I’ve never tried Farrow & Ball floorpaint, but have heard other positive reports so it’s definitely one I’d love to try. Thanks for dropping by! xx
This looks absolutely amazing. I am so obsessed with exposed bricks and perfect for a teenagers room. Love this wallpaper it looks so real. This style would suit any teenager bet he was so happy with it. You have just gave me an idea for my sons’ big boy room as it’s still decorated as a nursery. lol OOPs. Little late as he is starting school in September. hahaha #loveyourhome
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Hi Jenny, it’s good to have you here! Thanks for the really nice feedback. Don’t worry, it took us waaaay longer to tackle the nursery decor. It’s amazes me how fast the time passes though! xx
I’ve finally landed in blog world and found your site.
As you know, when I saw your twitter link the other night, it was perfect timing. I had just spent an hour researching petrol blue walls and interior brick walls. Your post might have just saved me about two weeks of my life and about a billion pounds. So thank you!
I will be writing about interior brick walls v soon, so will definitely give your blog and this wallpaper a mention!
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Welcome Karen! I’m so glad you are here & have decided to blog – I love your style and think I can learn a lot from you (in fact you’ll probably get fed up of me picking your brains, ha ha :)) I’m pleased you like the brick and paint combo (petrol blue, yes! I couldn’t think of the right word, but that is exactly it). Now I’ve seen your fabulous charcoal/black wall I want to try that colour – and I love your woodburner, my friend has just had one fitted and it looks amazing, so I want one doubly bad now!!! Keep in touch xx
Pick away! I could chat about this stuff all day 🙂
Thank you for your lovely welcome too x
Making Spaces recently posted…Back to black
I just love this makeover Antonia, it looks amazing. Love the colour, the wallpaper and the extra little touches.
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Thank you Jen, it all came together and so we’re really pleased with it! x