See, we were lazy and didn’t want to spend all that time and money on installing a plaster ceiling medallion. That, and the fact that the selection was incredibly limited at local DIY stores – we couldn’t find one in the right size that wasn’t insanely expensive. So, after our success in installing plastic coving in our kitchen, we decided to go the same route with our ceiling medallion. Plus, it takes like 5 minutes to put up!

We ordered this ceiling medallion from Amazon, as the middle circle was large enough to accommodate our IKEA pendant light. Many medallions had detailing too close to the middle or were too pricy. This one had detail right in the centre, but the smooth expanse around it was wide enough for our needs. We simply cut away the middle detail, as our light would cover it anyway.

When we received it, I was a bit disappointed. It wasn’t smooth and ready to paint, like our coving had been, but resembled polystyrene packaging. It had that rough nubbly surface. So, I thought I would try a trick I read about on Daniel Kanter’s blog Manhatten Nest. He painted his plastic medallions with watered-down plaster/filler to help make them look older. I mixed up some, but I think I made it too wet… when my first coat of primer dried, huge cracks formed all over the surface!

I was sooooo bummed, as sanding a detailed medallion is ridiculous. I tried to remove the larger cracks with sanding and then hoped that a few coats of primer would fill in the rest. Well, it took like 6 coats before they started to look okay, but even then had more texture than I would have liked. After primer, I used our ceiling paint to do a couple more coats.

It still has a bit of a rough/sloppy look when you see it up close… but definitely doesn’t look brand new! If I were to redo this, I would skip the joint compound, and simply do a couple rough primer coats, allowing the paint to soften the edges.

Once it was all painted, I simply applied some No More Nails to the back, and stuck it up in place! Took me all of 5 minutes to install. Then I just re-attached the lamp, caulked around the edge, and painted it once dry.

So my verdict? I would definitely recommend polystyrene medallions for the ease of installation, and removal. They are so quick to put up! But, I do still prefer the look of the plaster one. Maybe it’s just because I know it’s plaster, but I feel like it has more visual weight to it. Or maybe that’s just because it’s bigger The one that Daniel Kanter used in his kitchen definitely had more presence to it, so perhaps it’s not because it’s polystyrene, but because we chose one that was too thin. Hmmm…

I think in the future I’d use plaster ones in my forever home, because I like the thought of using real permanent materials, rather than plastic. But for this wee flat?

Polystyrene my friend, hands down!

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Helloooooo drama!!

While Richard was away for work, I decided to tackle painting the bedroom. As discussed in earlier posts about dark bedrooms, and my plans for this room, we had chosen to paint it Farrow + Ball’s Hague Blue (using Valspar paint) a few months before, and I am so glad about that decision. The paint has such a lovely teal-y green undertone to it, that makes it feel warmer (in my humble opinion) despite how dark it is.

Now painting without Richard meant lots of time spent on a ladder, with no one to see if I fell… but the worst part of doing it alone was not having a vehicle! Unfortunately, Richard took it with him when he left… not that it really mattered as I still haven’t learned to drive on the left side of the road!

Carrying liters of paint on a bus is fine, but I had plans for updating that closet a bit and they required much larger items…

closet before

I decided to remove the silly lights that someone put up (they didn’t actually illuminate the inside based on where they were installed) and make the closet look more original. To that end, I removed any of the plastic capping on the MDF and decided to add some molding. I couldn’t recreate something exactly like the rest of the trim in the room (three different styles, all different sizes) – but thought that anything similar would blend in fine.

useless plug-in lights and fake wood trim

Now, one thing I found frustrating was the lack of ready-made molding at home improvement stores (that wasn’t plastic). So I decided to buy a few wood trim pieces and build my own. I used the following pieces from my local B&Q in combination – D shape trim (x2), coving, and regular planed timber (x2). However, these pieces were like 7′ long and I was carrying them on a bus!! I got quite a few funny looks taking them home.

closet now (wow that mirror looks dirty!)

I assembled the molding by simply nailing it up, one piece at a time, staggering the long pieces with the short ones so that I didn’t have the joins all in the same place. Since the wood was so soft, it was quite easy to cut with a hand saw. After they were all in place, it was just a matter of filling in the nail holes and joins with some putty, and sanding it smooth.

iPhone photos at night are terrible!

Unfortunately, I don’t have any good photos of this process as I was doing it all at night after work. There is still a small gap where the wood meets the metal of the sliding door track, which I need to fill, but otherwise, it looks great!

still need to fill this gap

I painted the bottom of the track white as well as the sides but saved painting inside the closet for another day. It still looks like a modern sliding door closet, but I think it’s getting to the point of looking more built-in. Now I just have to figure out how to make the doors themselves, and the metal track, look nice. Sure, in my dreams, I could replace the sliding doors with proper ones (three sets of doors that open) and they could look amazing but… time + money!

close-up of the new closet molding

After getting the closet all ready for paint, I prepped the walls as well. The top of our room, above the picture rail, was painted Farrow + Ball’s All White (using Valspar paint). While the ceiling and walls only took a couple coats to cover, the closet trim took about 3 or 4 as the wood and putty soaked up the first coat or two.

Now one thing that I discovered, when painting the walls Hague Blue, was that dark paint splatters! I’m not sure if this can was just a bit different than our last ones, but unlike the light grey and blue paints, the dark blue splattered all over my nice white trim. I ended up painting the blue walls, before going back over all the white trim again… sigh.

The only other change we’ve made in here so far is adding our new IKEA light! I have been in love with the SINNERLIG pendant since the collection was previewed a few years ago. When we moved into this space, I knew the warmth of the bamboo would look great with the dark blue, and have been waiting for a chance to put it up.

The only thing missing is the ceiling medallion, but I didn’t feel confident installing it without Richard to help. We’ll have to add it later on.

We’ve only changed the paint, added a light fixture, and some trim – but what a difference it makes! I am so excited for the potential that this room has. Next up – DIY upholstered bed…

View of the bedroom from the hallway

There are a few rooms in our flat where I know exactly what I want to do – the two most solidified in my mind are the hallway and the bedroom. The hallway is easy to figure out because it’s such a small space. Add a single piece of furniture, some artwork, a mirror, and a few accessories…. and bam! Done!
The bedroom is similar in that it is dominated by one piece of furniture – the bed. It takes up so much of the room that it becomes simple to determine the items required to finish the space. Here, I’m thinking lots of texture and a sort of nomadic world-traveler sort of vibe. (Is that a vibe?!)

The room has two large windows with great moldings, but they let in a lot of early morning light

Here is the bedroom just after we moved in. The bed frame was left behind by the previous owner, and the little tables beside the bed were stools that Richard brought home from Nepal. They’re just temporary, but they were a great solution to our lack of… well.. anything. 

The only thing we really did to the room was add some simple IKEA roller blinds to block out the early morning light. Again, kind of temporary, as I would love to layer some woven bamboo blinds and curtains. I really want that warmth and texture in here. The only thing is that we don’t have room to the left of the windows, to add a curtain there. Would asymmetrical curtains look too weird?

Layered window treatment inspiration via

The color that was here before wasn’t bad and is actually quite similar to the paint we did in the living room, but it was a bit darker and a bit more purple in tone. However, I really didn’t want a light, bright, bedroom – I wanted something moody and dark. Enter Hague Blue by Farrow and Ball. You can see the swatch I tested on the wall below (still a bit wet when I took this photo).

I already have the paint done (photos to come), which is a huge part of the feel for the space. It’s cozy and dramatic and just needs the right furnishings and accessories to bring it to completion.

Since our flat is small, storage has always been a big priority in every room. In here, the closet provides plenty of storage both inside, and in the alcove above. Side note – Personally, I hate mirrored doors on closets, and would love to make it all look more custom, but we’ll see what I can do. I’m not about to replace the doors, but don’t know how I can DIY them better.

Now, we don’t need more clothes space (big closet), but we do need space for all the other stuff (Christmas decorations, hiking gear, etc.). To that end, I have plans for a bed with plenty of storage, and the best candidate for that is an ottoman bed. (I can’t remember what they are called back in Canada, but over here in the UK that’s what you call a bed that you lift up to access storage underneath.)

Initially, when I was imagining the bed, I had a light grey tufted headboard in mind. However, tufted headboards remind Richard of dated beds from the 80’s or something (what’s wrong with him?) so I had to brainstorm other options.

Tufted headboard inspiration via

I’m thinking I will go DIY on this project because as much as I like some of the beds at made.com, they are still out of my price range.

I had thought I might make a headboard that was somewhat modern in design, using straps of leather. I was inspired by Emily Henderson’s bench in her last master bedroom, as well as the headboards at our resort in Rhodes, but have since thought against it. My plan is to introduce lots of textures and patterns in the artwork, bed linens, and side tables – so maybe a bed that is simple and classic will be the better supporting character?

Upholstered bed inspiration via

I absolutely love the simple bed that Orlando Soria used in his previous apartment (above), and would like to use it as inspiration to hack an IKEA Malm bed. (I just have to see if the quality of the bed is worth the effort.)

After we have the bed in place, we just need a couple side tables to flank it.

Bedside table inspiration via an IKEA bedside table via

I fell in love with these West Elm tables a few months ago, and have been trying to imagine a way to DIY something similar. I think that these IKEA ones could be a good candidate to try, wouldn’t they? I love that they have a drawer (to hide unsightly things) as well as a shelf to have books etc. on display. I am thinking of using painted balsa wood strips to mimic the bone inlay? Paint everything else black? Make the legs look metal?

Once I have those pieces of furniture, all that’s left is to add a couple brass sconces (as opposed to table lamps), artwork, decorative pillows, a throw blanket, woven bamboo blinds, and a vintage rug… it’ll look amazing! I already have a great set of pillows and a duvet cover from West Elm (on sale!), and just need to add pops of color and texture to the bed with some accent pillows and a cozy throw.

Our lovely textured duvet cover and pillowcases via

Here is my final mood board with everything pulled together (minus the rug – still debating). Thoughts?

bed frame // sconce // woven lamp // nightstand // feather headdress // pillow 1 // pillow 2 // pillow 3

Dark + moody bedroom inspiration | Hello Victoria

navy bedroom via Design Sponge

I’m normally a fan of very light and bright spaces – shades of pale grey and blue tend to be where I gravitate – but I think I’m slowly converting to the dark side. Or, at least when it comes to my bedroom.

charcoal bedroom via Design Sponge

I first got inspired by the impact that a dark bedroom can have when I saw San Fransisco blogger Jordan Ferney’s black bedroom. While most everyone in the blogging world was painting their whole house white, she had created this eye-catching space by painting all her walls and trim in the softest of blacks.

Jordan Ferney’s black bedroom via Oh Happy Day

Since then, dark navy and grey bedrooms seem to popping up all over the place, and I’ve come to realize just how cozy and inviting they can be. London designer Abigail Ahern is constantly trying to convince others to embrace dark paint on their walls and trim, via her blog.

Moody hues make any room instantly cosy. Everything looks cooler, taller, smarter edgier and that’s all just through a can of paint. I wish I could bottle how it makes you feel! All I can say is try it.

dark blue bedroom via Nordic Design

Well, I’ve definitely been convinced, and even picked out the perfect dark paint for my bedroom – Farrow & Ball’s Hague Blue. Now, I just have to find the energy to break out the painting supplies again…