I mostly finished the dressing room about 2 years ago but already I’m itching to make a few changes. I know, I know, I always have like 16 projects on the go at any one time and as a reader, it must be frustrating as hell for you (try living with me, right Wayne?). For that, I can only apologise. But no matter what room in my home that I’m in, my brain automatically starts thinking about improving it – what can be updated, what’s not working for me any more, little jobs that still need finishing, intentions of projects to start or ideas that are floating around in my head. It’s not that I don’t love my home or that I’m not satisfied, it’s just that I like keeping things fresh. I find it energising and invigorating. I like that my home is always evolving.

Anyway, despite my ADD in terms of project focus, one of the changes is actually rather necessary. Ya see, a certain little mischievous cat was hanging out on top of my chest of drawers recently without my knowledge and knocked over a bottle of clear nail polish. Okay, so I do take some blame in this one – I might have left it with the top unscrewed (whoops). The stuff sat there solidifying on my dressing table ALL DAY in the heat and so when I got back home from work, it had eaten right through the paint.

Truth be told, the chest was painted nearly 3 years ago now and it’s looking a bit tired so this incident is just forcing me to give it the refresh it needs. In fact, it’s forcing me to refresh the whole room. Lately, I’ve not been feeling all the turquoise in here and so I’m considering a slightly different direction.

Don’t get me wrong – I have loved the girlie look of this room and I’ve loved it since it was (mostly) completed. But I just think it’s time to take it from girlie to a little more sophisticated which means a few small changes. This is a refresh after all and not necessarily a full blown makeover.

So first up, that chest of drawers.

Option 1 is to just repaint it.  A few different colours have been considered, keeping in mind the colours of the wallpaper – pink (dismissed for being too girlie and I’m trying to go more grown up in here), a deep turquoise/jade (too close to what I had already and I want to get away from all the turquoise in here), an emerald green (afraid it may be too ‘heavy’ in such a small room) and finally a pale minty green. The mint is my favourite option at the moment because I think it’ll recede into the wall and in my head, make the room feel a little bigger.

Option 2 is to strip it/sand it/refinish it back to the natural wood. As I had to strip the paint from the dresser top anyway, this is what it’s currently looking like. This option would be a lot more work, however, and bearing in mind the dresser only cost me £30 originally, I’m not sure it’s worth the effort.

I haven’t decided yet.

Second mini-project is the shelving units.

As much as I would love built-ins in this room, I know this is not our forever home so the expense is not really worth it for me. The good news is that my little Billy bookcases fit the space really well.  But let’s face it, they look a bit cheap (probably because they are cheap… funny how that works sometimes). So I want Wayne to add some moulding and trim around the top and bottom and along the sides to beef them up a little. Once that’s done, I want to repaint them. “Ikea white” tends to yellow a bit with age and so priming and repainting is probably my best bet (I’ve painted laminate furniture in the past with pretty decent success – it’s all in the primer). What colour paint? Probably the mint green that I (might) use for the chest of drawers, again to make them blend and recede into the wallpaper, softening the room a little and allowing the items on the shelves stand out a bit.

Now, I’ve always loved the look of leopard print in this room (I know, that’s not really surprising to anyone right?). I’m not sure why but it seems to work really well with the colours and the wallpaper so I’m going to explore that a little bit by backing the shelving units with what I am hoping will be inexpensive leopard print wall paper. Can I find really nice inexpensive leopard print wallpaper? I’ll be honest, I thought it’d be easy. Oh no, I can tell you it is not.

I’m waiting on samples for all of the options below which range in price from £72/roll (Wild Card by House of Hackney and of course at this moment, my favourite) and £11 (Fierce Natural from Arthouse), my least favourite but the most in line with my budget. Always the freaking way.

Everything that’s cheap tends to look REALLY cheap and then you end up having to look at high end wallpapers that are REALLY expensive. There doesn’t appear to be very much in the way of a nice mid-range paper. Dammit. I’m torn between making these shelves look amazing and not spending more money on them than they are actually worth. I’m hoping once the samples come in, I can make a decision on that one.

Thirdly, I’m considering changing out the lighting. 

I love the big pink chandelier but I’m thinking something a little more sophisticated is in order. It was really quite inexpensive anyway so I don’t feel too bad about replacing it. Replace with what exactly? Another tough question. I find it really difficult to find light fixtures that I love that aren’t ridiculously expensive (champagne taste, cava budget). If money were no object, this would be my pick:

Or maybe this one (although to be honest, it’s so spectacular, I’d probably want it in the living room)…

Do I have £600 to spend on lighting? No, no I do not. But there just doesn’t seem to be much mid-range fixtures that are really my bag. RETAILERS, ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME? YOU ARE MISSING A TRICK. PLEASE TRY TO MAKE SOME BEAUTIFUL AFFORDABLE LIGHTING IN BRASS THAT ISN’T INDUSTRIAL OR TRADITIONAL IN STYLE. THANK YOU.

*ahem*

Saying all that, I am considering this one and just spray painting it gold. Maybe.

Fourth, it’s time for the Roman blind to go.

I’ve had that thing up in here for I think 4 years now and it’s looking very tired (apologies for it being crooked in that picture, does it all the time and I’m sick of it). It’s time for a change. I’m thinking of a wood slat blind with some kind of pelmet maybe.

Oh and finally, I want to rethink the little vanity shelf. 

I use it every single day but it’s tiny and I just need a surface area that’s slightly larger than a postage stamp! Not sure what I’ll do there. Wider surface, new skirt for the vanity I reckon. Haven’t quite decided that yet either.

Anyway, just a few little ideas in my head and while the leopard print wallpaper, the lighting and the chest of drawers will probably be done sooner rather than later, the rest of it will just be done as I can get on with it!

Do you forever tweak your home? Or do you redecorate and happily leave it at that? I’d love to know if I’m alone in this weird compulsion!