So for the last week or two, as I revealed in my last post, I have been excitedly preparing for the arrival of the Heart Home Magazine shoot, cleaning, zhushing and purchasing bits and pieces for the house so the place looked worthy of the beautiful interiors found in their digital pages.

The shoot went really well and I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute!  It was very relaxed and the ladies of Heart Home were warm and enthusiastic and a lot of fun.  Getting the shot – an adjustment here and there, from this angle and that – was incredibly interesting and something I’ve never been witness to before.  Seeing your home through someone else’s eyes (and lens) was a truly fascinating experience.

My only regret is that I was so caught up in the action that I didn’t take a single photograph of the day itself!  I know, I know, I’m a TERRIBLE blogger but you’ll have to forgive me as I was just so chuffed and excited that all logic had gone out of my brain.

They seemed to genuinely love the house (oh god the relief!) and I was told they got some great shots!  It’ll appear in the next issue in early December and you can be sure I’ll let you know when it ‘hits the newstand’ – or rather the ‘internet’ ;)  I couldn’t be more excited!

I wanted to share the bedroom as it looks today – the day after the shoot – because it’s been cleaned and prepped within an inch of it’s life and why waste the opportunity? Ha!

I’ve been looking for ages for a nice warm wood dresser for this space and when I stumbled upon this one on eBay for £100 in my local area at the weekend, I knew I had to snap it up.  It fit the space in the alcove perfectly and is in beautiful condition.

There are times to paint wood furniture and there are times to leave it as nature intended.   I couldn’t imagine covering all that lovely detail with paint and I love that the finish has a beautiful worn patina.

Check out the octagon handles as well.  I wonder how many people in the past 80 years have clutched these lovely pulls?  I love thinking about the history of vintage pieces, it just makes them even more special.

I really wanted a piece that I didn’t have to do anything to that would ground the space and balance out the sunny yellow headboard.  This vintage dresser ticked all the boxes.

I have to say, I am so pleased with the way the vignette turned out.

As a side note, I was amazed that they didn’t feel the need to really style the place – they liked what I’d done ahead of time and very little was changed.  They brought nothing with them in terms of styling and just used what I already had.  I may actually be slowing learning the art of the vignette here which I’ve always struggled with so that made me feel pretty damn good.

The only recent purchase here was the white horse figure (TK Maxx).  The framed photos are from W’s travels in South America (the Ikea frames were sprayed with gold spray paint), the little chest was a gift from my brother and the vintage chinoiserie lamp and foo dog I had already, both from eBay.

I really REALLY don’t want to change it to put the television back.  Any idea how to convince my other half that I shouldn’t have to?  Snuggling up in bed to watch a bit of telly in winter is lovely but we probably only do it a couple times a month.  The problem is the television cable is against this wall so it makes sense to put the TV there.  I need to figure out an alternative!  Suggestions on how to approach this welcome.

Moving on…

After my debacle of choosing really colourful bedding, I decided to play it a bit safe and purchased this white bedding from John Lewis.  I desperately needed to replace the old bedding and I do love it’s beautiful crisp clean look against the black backdrop.   On the bottom of the bed are these lovely slate, grey and gold embroidered budded stems that seem to be swaying in the breeze.  I love the soft movement and metallic sheen.

To pull more colour in the bedding, I added this sweet little hand painted cushion.  I’d originally spotted this pretty pinwheel cushion on Hollie’s blog where it looked absolutely perfect in her beautiful bedroom (the rest of her place is pretty fab as well, go and pay a visit and tell her I sent you).  I’ve been lusting after it forever and discovered it was available in the UK on My Deco.

Finally, I’ve been keeping an eye out for a light fixture for this room for some time.  I hated the pendant I had in here and had been thinking of a retro style sputnik lamp for the space but hadn’t found anything I really liked within my budget.

That all changed when I spotted the clean modern lines of this barrel shade pendant whilst picking up a few bits at my local B&Q.  It’s a great size and comes with a diffuser and while I’d originally thought it would be a temporary fix, I actually really love it in here.  It’s difficult to see in the picture but the shade is a lovely woven rattan which adds a bit of texture to the space.

Isn’t it funny how you can have something very specific in mind for your space and then find something completely different that works just as well?  I think staying flexible in your approach to decorating is really important.  I hadn’t planned on white bedding or a barrel shade but I have to say, I love both.

So those are all my recent changes in the bedroom and while the bedroom has really come together over the last few months, there’s still plenty to come!

First of all, as you already know, I can’t bear the bedside tables and I am still considering my own Ikea Rast hack as they are small enough to fit the space perfectly and there’s lots of inspiration out there.

Secondly, there’s also my dark, dirty secret in this bedroom.  Now, get your mind out of the gutter, there’s no weird swings or hidden hand cuffs (not that I’m going to show you anyway ;))…

It’s the other side of the room, never before revealed in full on the blog.

Now, there is a very good reason for this.  It’s EFFING HORRIBLE.  Yes, I said it.  The wardrobes are old and are a combination of my old pieces and W’s old wardrobe.  We need a better solution for this clearly.

The chest and small wardrobe house linens and the 3 door wardrobe contains all of W’s clothes.  We’ve got plenty of space in this room as you can see so I need to properly consider whether I want something freestanding or something built in.

Yeah, let’s stop looking at that monstrosity and look at the pretty side of the room!  LOOK! A KITTY!!

And here’s another I took when the fur throw was on the bed…  I call it ‘Kitties In Repose’.

Right, now that I’ve thoroughly distracted you from the ugly side of the room, what do you think of the changes?  Anything you would have done differently?  Make a U-turn on a decorating decision recently? How do you feel about painting or not painting wood furniture?  I’m all ears.