Fox Manor

The First Floor - The Gent's Bedroom

Hi everyone, thank you to all for your kind comments on my blog, I really do appreciate each and every one and a big welcome to my new followers!

The Gent's Bedroom is situated directly above the dining room.  This room was just not big enough for me, lol what's new!  I initially wanted a washing area as well as an arch through to a dressing room.  But this is what I ended up with...

I ended up putting in an en suite into the bedroom area, and made a false door to go into my gent's dressing room......ok then, my imaginary dressing room lol.  The door to the right leads to the hall at the back of the study, as described in my Gent's Study last time.

I know I wanted to squeeze a lot in here, but you have to draw a line.  Too much looks wrong and cluttered, and too little can look boxy and plain.  I hope I have struck the right balance.

I painted the ceiling and back wall in Aubusson Blue an Annie Sloan Chalk paint.  It was an absolute nightmare to work with - a gorgeous shade (just what I wanted), but a nightmare none the less.  Maybe it's just me, I don't know.  When I finally got the finish just perfect, I installed the ceiling piece for the three rooms, then started to seal my MDF.  I know, I know, I should have done that first...lesson learnt!  It japped, and I didn't notice until the next day when I was sitting at my work table, a huge cluster of splatter dots across my lovely ceiling.  I could have cried.  The patch job is passable, but I'm so disappointed in it.  I'm hoping it'll be mostly hidden behind the wall....:(

I made the floor in the little en suite from cardboard tiled with the 'marble' tiles, just as I did in the halls previously.  I have used black/grey with white/black/blue.  They look lovely against the blue of the paint.  I also glued a white ceiling in here made from thick cardboard, the same size as the floor, so the walls will have a 'square' guide to help keep it glued in place.

I glued down my toilet and papered the back wall with St. George by Brodnax.  Even though you won't even see the toilet, I know it's there :)  I also papered both sides of the arched wall, again I want any reflection from the mirror to be true; and I lined the raw edges of the arch with plain paper and painted it with the dreaded blue...

I fitted the walls around the en suite and papered the rest of the room in Irise by Brodnax.  The colours are the same as the St. George in the en suite.  You can see the little plug hanging on the door - this was put into the skirting board behind the bedside locker so I can put a little lamp there.

I made the flooring.  I had black walnut plank flooring I had bought on ebay some time ago, and, true to form, there wasn't quite enough to do the room, so I edged the floor in walnut parquet squares and then I had to glue the plank flooring to paper to raise it up to match the border edging.  With that all glued down and waxed, I put the back door in place. 

I painted the back door, mouldings, ceiling rose and skirting board in a slight cream white for the Gent's Bedroom.  I didn't want stark white in here, I wanted a gentler tone.  Sounds a bit of a contradiction for a man's room, but there you go :)

The door was going to be on the plain painted wall, so I papered it with the same paper as the en suite. 

 

Now I was into unchartered territory - what's new there lol :)  I wanted to make a curtain to drape over the en suite arch.  I firstly made a pelmet from mountboard, glued on a couple of brass stampings and painted it the dreaded blue...I'm a glutton for punishment, I know :)  I wanted the look of wooden mouldings on the pelmet.  But when I made the curtain, it didn't feel right, (plain curtain, plain pelmet) so I sanded back the painted stampings a little and highlighted them in old gold paint.  Yes, out came my lovely gold paint again....:)

The curtain is made from silk muslin.  Boy, the trouble I had trying to use my pretty pleater (for the first time, I might add).  The fabric just keep jumping out of it, it was dreadful, so I resorted to pinning down a piece of squared paper to foamboard and pinning the fabric to it.  Not an easy task.  Maybe it gets easier with the more curtains you make?  Eventually, I got the soft draping look I was after and sprayed the fabric with my Moroccan Oil hairspray.  I have the loveliest smelling curtain in the country lol :)  Being my first curtain, I'm so glad I opted for one and not a pair!

I made the tieback for here as well.  I chose a deep red colour.  There is a hint of red in the wallpaper.  This was fun.

I scrapped this idea for the tieback loops....I couldn't get this cord I made through the hole in the beads :(

 Once I settled on the little beads etc that I wanted to use, I cut a length of silk embroidery thread and folded it about five times or so and then took a separate piece and tied it together in the centre.

I made a little wire loop to help pull the cord through the beads I glued together.

 



I threaded that up through the bead and glued it in place.  I made the top of the tie back by looping it up and through the other bead.  The pictures are better at describing what I did than me :)

 

 Pulled through and trimmed..

 

 



Looping the cord back on itself to form the two holders. 

I put a little hairspray on the loops to keep them in place.

 

I glued the tieback in place....this baby is going nowhere :)

 

 

The lights in the en suite are casting a lovely diffused light in here.

I installed the fireplace and put the light for it under the skirting board.



I love the way I have the curtain draping softly.



A lovely space I think :)



Some of the border in the floor seems very light...but it's not, it must be my dire photography..again!

 

You can see the hall door from here, and walk through to the Games Room from here too.....very important!



This room has quite dark furnishings....in fact this whole floor; the Games Room, the Gent's Study and the Gent's Bedroom I have now called the Gentleman's Floor; and has a quite subdued and, I hope, moody and masculine feel to it.

Again, I have a few more nik naks to gather for in here, but I'll get there in the end :)

 

Well folks, I hope you enjoyed the making of my Gent's Bedroom.  I am thoroughly enjoying all the challenges I set myself for each room.  I do try to stretch my abilities into trying something different.

All the best and take care for now.

Vivian

PS I forgot to mention that the bed has still to be dressed!  I'm thinking maybe a deep red silk eiderdown type of bedding, well see.....