Starting with a rich green and lilac palette, Bee Holmes transformed a bland bedroom into a cosy retreat, with everything hidden away in DIY built-in storage
Feature & styling Maxine Brady Photos Bee Holmes
While this Victorian terrace had been maintained regularly by its previous owners, this also gave Bee and her partner Adam years’ worth of paint and décor to strip away. ‘Our home belonged to an elderly couple who had won the lottery! With their winnings, they paid decorators to paint the interior beige each summer for years,’ Bee explains. ‘When we moved in, every room, including our main bedroom, was covered in thick layers of emulsion. The woodwork was unsalvageable, and we had to replace it.’
THE PROJECT
The bedroom was dated and plain, so Bee desperately wanted to inject character and colour. ‘My aim was to turn this bland room into an inviting and relaxing space,’ she says. She began by choosing the wall paint, building the rest of the scheme around it. ‘I chose dark forest green as my starting point because I find this colour very calming, so it’s perfect for my bedroom.’
WHAT WE DID
Before they could get started on redecorating, the couple needed to strip everything out so they could start from scratch. ‘First thing to go was the woodchip wallpaper, then our pockmarked walls and bumpy ceiling were plastered smooth,’ says Bee.
As Bee wanted the space to feel calm and uncluttered, storage was a priority for the couple. So, Adam, who’s a carpenter, spent his weekends and evenings making the fitted wardrobes. ‘Once installed, I painted the walls, woodwork and wardrobes all in the same shade of green for a coordinated look,’ Bee says.
HIGHS AND LOWS
Bee struggled to find bedside tables she liked, but luckily Adam was able to make bespoke ones to fit the scheme, based on Bee’s sketch, which then gave them extra budget to spend elsewhere. ‘Because we saved money by making lots of the furniture ourselves, we could afford to splash out new carpets,’ says Bee, ‘as well as made-to-measure blinds and a king size ottoman bed.’
THE FINAL DETAILS
All that was left to do was style the space, and Bee contrasted th
