Changing ROOMS

Catherine Vickers shows us how to achieve pastel perfection on a small budget and some DIY know-how

When I came to view this property I was actually renting a flat five doors down the road,’ says Catherine. ‘I did want to buy my own place one day but wasn’t seriously thinking of moving. But since this was so close I thought I may as well take a look. When I walked in I just fell in love with it.

It’s a ground floor flat with a garden, which was on my wish list, but it also has beautiful high ceilings, huge sash windows and lovely original features, such as the ceiling mouldings and the fireplace in the living room. The layout suited me, too, with the kitchen and living room next to each other at the front and the bedroom at the back, rather than on the noisy roadside. And it was big for a flat, as developers hadn’t chopped it up to try and squeeze in an extra bedroom.

Paint perfect

I’m a primary school teacher, so I spent my holidays decorating every day, moving from room to room. First, I painted the bedroom in Watery Green, mixed by Valspar, which was the perfect colour to complement the view of the garden through the French doors. I made a mistake by painting the undercoat with a silk finish, though, which I had to sand back before I could paint over it.

Clever fix

The kitchen was the only room I wasn’t really sure about when I first viewed the flat. The island cut into the room and it was hard to fit a dining table into the remaining space. So I decided to move the formal dining table into the living room and got a carpenter to extend the island into a breakfast bar. He used two pieces of fairly cheap wood and some brackets and simply attached it like a shelf so that it’ll be easy to remove in future. The back of the island was originally a strange mirrored metallic material and I wasn’t sure what to do about it initially. I toyed with the idea of covering it in vinyl but in the end I used metal primer and painted it the same blue as the doors.

Helping hand

When I moved on to decorating the living room I decided to remove a shelf from the alcove, as I thought it might impact the dining table, but the entire wall practically came off with the shelf and the plaster crumbled back to breeze block. Thankfully, I managed to find a plasterer to fix it, and while he was here he mentioned he also did decorating. By this point, I was back at school and was getting a bit stressed about doing the room myself, as the ceilings were so high, the mouldings were really intricate, and I also had to do a mist coat on the plaster which I’d never done before. So I asked him to apply the white base coat and then I finished the room myself with pink and blue gloss.

While I decorated the rest of the house the bathroom became a dumping ground as I had expected to refurbish it at some point in the future. I couldn’t choose new furniture or get any quotes for the work due to lockdown, so I decided to do a refresh instead. I painted the tiles and floor white, added pink vinyl to the side of the bath, then painted the ceiling yellow, which was a real game changer. And it worked out for the best, as I don’t see this as a forever home, and not fitting a new bathroom gave me extra funds to buy furniture and accessories that will stay with me.

Outdoor revamp

Luckily for me, when I turned my mind to the outside space the weather was beautiful, though the side return wasn’t! It was an ugly red brick passage with a brown fence. But I’d seen people transform their patios using stencils, so I decided to give it a go. First I painted it all white then did the stencil in black and finally sealed it all. It took a while to get a good system going and took three long days to do, and only time will tell how it survives over winter. But for now, I love it: the whole flat is more than I ever imagined and knowing I’ve done most of it myself makes me so proud.’

GO WITH THE FLOW ‘I’ve learnt that I don’t need to have every detail planned out. For instance, I wasn’t necessarily going to paint the doors pink but the idea evolved after I moved in.’

SLEEP EASY ‘The soft green teamed with pink accessories makes this room a soothing place to relax.’

CHILD’S PLAY ‘My mum says the woodwork paint reminds her of a baby’s nursery but I love the scheme.’

SUNNY OUTLOOK ‘I’m not much of a cook but I do love to sit here with the doors open looking out at the garden.’

COLOUR SPLASH ‘I decided to paint the door and radiator to match the wall to gave the room a really up-to-date look.’

GREAT FIND ‘I have a love affair with rattan, so I was pleased when I found this John Lewis oak bed.’

ROOM PLAN ‘This room is so big that it was easy to make space for a dining table. The matching multicoloured chairs, from Maisons Du Monde, sit in my favourite corner.’

FURNITURE POP ‘The white backdrop shows off my colourful pieces, like this pink velvet Slow-mo sofa, from Loaf, and the rug from Anthropologie.’

PRETTY POSY ‘The dried flowers, from Mamiepeaches on Etsy, reflect my love of all things pastel.’

TIDY TIME ‘I painted the hallway white, then added the brass hooks and rattan shoe storage, both from Made.’

PERFECT PATIO ‘I drew up a plan of the garden and then got a carpenter to build the decking.’

BATH BEAUTY ‘I kept the tiles white but the shower curtain, from Fy, gives an extra splash of bold colour.’

BORDER PATROL ‘To avoid paint seeping through to the neighbours’ side of the fence I had new panels attached, which I painted in Coastal Mist from Cuprinol.’