Finally settled in: the bedroom

When we moved we didn't bring anything with us apart from our personal possessions, my piano, a lamp (mainly because it had a clever dual plug and we liked it) and a chair that was once my grandmothers. Which meant we basically had to furnish our flat from scratch. Cue a long and very very tedious trip to Ikea, during which me and The Beard nearly came to blows over a sofa and we all decided we never wanted to set foot in an Ikea again.

One of the things about starting from scratch was that we could choose stuff together. Now I had a vision in my mind of what I wanted our flat to look at, but in the end not much of it made it into reality. Particularly in the bedroom!

I had had visions of some pseudo cliche luxurious goth bedroom, all bedecked in black and purple. I was somehow going to make this work with the cream built in cupboards and oak floor. Hmm. You can see my ideas on my Pinterest.

So now we finally have a light fixture, I can show you what it looks like (I am so glad to be rid of what they call the "Russian Chandelier" - a lightbulb hanging from the ceiling by its wires). 

The bed is the grey brown Hemnes in the 180cm width (we figured we had the space, we may as well have a giant bed!), the bed covers (chosen rather surprisingly by The Beard) are Alvine Kvist, again in the largest size. We have a lovely lightweight down duvet and down pillows of different firmness. We also bought gigantic feather pillows (the grey one you can see peeping out under all the rest) for those lazy Sunday mornings in bed with tea and breakfast. The beside tables are Rykene, the bedside lamp one of the things I brought with me, it is Ikea but I've had it for a long time. The rug is a Persby - its a synthetic flokati rug. I've always wanted a flokati but I'm slightly allergic to wool. Besides, this one can be thrown in the washing machine if it gets dirty (always a risk with a white rug and a cat).
All the pictures above the bed are ones we brought with us, they were all in the bedroom at our old house, and they fit perfectly with bedroom here.

I didn't want anything particularly fancy for a dressing table, and the Vika Amon work table fit the bill perfectly. I got the smallest one because there isn't space for much bigger with the bigger bed. I bought some Rektangel vases to store my make up brushes. They were pretty much the only thing I found that wasn't too tall for my brushes and had a nice heavy base. I think that Pixiwoo might have mentioned them a while ago as good for brush storage. The best thing is that if they get a bit dirty or dusty you can bung them in the dishwasher. The mirror above the table I brought from the UK, it matched our old bed, but I loved it so much I couldn't leave it behind.

I'm still working on getting adequate storage for my make up - my Stanley organiser that I've been using for years is not really big enough any more, and at the moment I have to keep it on the floor to protect my make up from the sun that streams in our window! After a bit of research online and looking through the Ikea website extensively, I've decided on a white Helmer unit and some Godmorgon draw organiser trays (if they fit; more here and here) for all the little bits of make up, and I should be able to store all my nail polish in there as well. And by putting it by the side of my dressing table, I can use the top to store all my perfumes. 

The flat gets very very warm in the summer, due to 3 outside walls. When the temperature was above 30C for nearly 2 weeks with very little wind and variable humidity we spent many uncomfortably warm nights huddled in the path of the stand fan we have. We were still looking for the perfect light fitting and struck upon the idea of combining the two things we needed into one convenient package. We ordered this one from Ebay. 

One of the great things about our bedroom is the vast inbuilt storage - although it does restrict the layout of the bedroom somewhat, it did mean that we didn't require much additional furniture. The double hanging rails are great, and there is a longer length one in the cupboard next to the one in the top picture. I didn't have much to put on the top hanger because I don't have much in the way of clothes that need to be hung up, but the rail proved very useful for storing scarves alongside my coats (especially seeing as we're still working on a coat rail in the hallway). The cupboards above the door aren't as easily accessible, but that is perfect for storing towels and clean bedding which you don't need access to every day. Even I'm not tall enough to reach that top shelf (and some of the ones in the kitchen) so we have a small set of steps to help (you can just see them under the mirror in the picture below). 

I settled on a plain mirror for the wall because I felt it fitted best. There is a handy space by the door for the laundry bin, but we need a new one as it is starting to look a little worn and battered! We also have a nice blank wall for which I have some lovely art work I picked up in Sweden a couple of years ago. I'm just looking for the perfect frames for them, and then all will be finished.

I'm really pleased with how it has all turned out, I think the room reflects our personalities well enough, and exudes an air of calm and comfort. We still need some curtains, but as it is summer and we have outside shutters it hasn't been on the list of priorities. Also, the radiator is under the window and I'm not sure how I feel about shorter curtains. The nets allow for privacy at the moment, and we may get a wooden blind or something once the winter sets in.