After our holiday in August, we came back home and everything just looked a mess. I thought, enough is enough – I want to live in a stylish apartment, just like the one we stayed at in Hastings! I mean look at Tyler’s room – there was no storage – toys and a mattress on the floor, and his baby clothes storage unit that his clothes did not fit into anymore. Ugh!
I got up the Ikea website on my laptop, got my measuring tape out and started my giant furniture order. I ordered storage for our bedroom as well as Tyler’s, but I’ll cover our bedroom in next week’s post. I ordered as much as I could in one go so that there would be one delivery charge of £40.
For Tyler’s bedroom, I wanted to keep the seaside look so wanted white wooden furniture. So I chose a chest of drawers with 4 drawers, Kallax cube units – one with 4 cubes, one with 8 – and a white wooden double bed frame. We got Tyler a double bed as he spreads out so much at night – for a little boy, he takes up a surprising amount of space!
One week later my delivery date was here, and at 11am on Sunday, all the boxes arrived – brought up by some very friendly Ikea delivery guys 🙂
I decided to build them myself and my husband looked after Tyler so I could crack on. I started with the drawers – with a slight hitch – where was my 4-head screwdriver?! After a quick detour to Tesco, I then began. My top tip with Ikea furniture building is to read the instructions carefully and set out all the screws and pieces as per the picture. This makes it easier to follow the instructions, so you can find the pieces more easily.
I had a little helper pop in every now and then. I gave him my rubbish pink screwdriver so he could help. “I wanna do it too!” he said.
The drawers took about 4 hours to make, as it’s quite fiddly and then I couldn’t find our hammer! Plus I had a break for an hour so I could catch up on America’s Next Top Model 😉 I still had no idea where the hammer was. It was after 4pm on a Sunday when shops had shut. My husband went out, and luckily A.B. Superstores was open, so he got me a ‘Mr DIY’ hammer!
Next I made the Kallax cube storage, which took an hour. I chose Drona cubes in alternating colours of blue and red for the nautical look, along the bottom only. I wanted the top cubes for displaying toys and books, and one for Tyler’s lamp.
In the evening, we put Tyler to sleep in our bed, and then my husband and I set to making the double bed frame. This took about 2 and a half hours, with a little delay when we realised we had screwed one side back to front. But with patience we rectified that!
At 11.30pm, Tyler’s new improved bedroom was ready. Here is it:
We love his room now, it finally feels like a proper bedroom – first time since we moved here a year ago! Tyler loves it, he has been sleeping the whole night here since the makeover, and he keeps saying “What a nice big bed!” The headboard for the bed is bigger than we imagined – that’s the only thing with online shopping, you don’t really get a real-life perspective till you get it! But actually it’s perfect, Tyler loves peeking through the gaps. I love being able to keep his room tidy now – those boxes are amazing. And the drawers – soooo spacious! Now I have room to buy new clothes hee hee!
Sabrina x
Gosh what a different it makes, I bet he really loved it. We have those Kallax drawers too for all my DaisychainBaby stock, they’re invaluable X #HomeEtc
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Yes, I can’t stop looking at it. I feel so happy, I can actually tidy his toys away now! Love those Kallax cubes! xx
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I love the Ikea storage and boxes being at the level they are means independence is sure to follow. #HomeEtc
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They are brilliant, and yes hopefully he’ll keep it tidy! xx
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WOW! Look at all that storage. Perfect. Yes you can’t go wrong with Ikea for kids. Just perfect for them and their needs. Looks fab now and the colour is brilliant. Thanks for linking up and sharing, much appreciated. Great to have you. Jess xx
#HomeEtc
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It’s amazing, I’m so happy I can tidy him room up easily now! Thank you! xx
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Oh wow this is a fantastic transformation. We love Ikea and we have the Kallax storage units everywhere in our house. Love the bed and I wonder if they do it in single as my daughter is due a new bed. Off to find the Ikea catalogue now #HomeEtc
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Thank you! Those Kallax units are amazing, you can hide so much in them! The bed is huge, but we love it 🙂 I’m sure they do it in single, but if not, just get a double haha! xx
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Looks amazing, I love Ikea, we have Trofast units in both kids rooms but I’m looking at placing an order soon for some new things. x
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Thank you! There something so clean about Ikea units, instantly everything looks modern and tidy. Love it! xx
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No blooming way!!! Sabrina — it looks like a totally different room!!!! LOVE it — what a transformation!!!! I LOVE IKEA. Totally. Thanks for linking up — hope to see you next week xx #HomeEtc
Caro | http://www.thetwinklediaries.co.uk
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Haha, thank you! I love your phrases, they’re so very English! I am really pleased with how it looks now, and the best thing is, Tyler is actually sleeping in his own room now – YES! xx
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It looks absolutely amazing!! He must be thrilled with it. Both of my boys have Ikea bedrooms. The stuff’s brilliant, isn’t it? You can transform a room on a good budget.
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Thank you, yes he is – he’s actually sleeping in this room now! Ikea stuff instantly transforms a room – love it! xx
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Such a transformation! We LOVE the Kallax cubes! We have 3 sets of 8 and 2 sets of four for various places in the house. And with the different coloured boxes/cupboard door additions – they look totally different & they’re so affordable. I’m thinking of decorating the set in my craft room, just for fun 🙂
Ps – good job on your DIY. I always insist on doing it just to prove I can 🙂 x
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Thank you! Those cubes are amazing, you can hide so much in them! I like how you can change your colour scheme with them too. Ahh thank you, I always have done the diy – while my husband watches football haha! xx
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Hey Sabrina!
Thanks for the post! I was doing some research on Kallax shelves and came across your post!
I love seeing on how people use Kallax shelves differently. Your post helped me write an informative article simply explaining what Kallax shelves are.
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