B&Q unloved rooms revamp - review thread for MNers getting stuck in! NOW CLOSED

[TheOtherHelenMumsnet]

This thread is for the 20 MNers who have been chosen by B&Q to revamp an unloved room in their home.

Those selected have been sent a B&Q giftcard to buy the things they need to give their unloved room a makeover. They've undertaken to complete the makeover by 3rd June, and will be keeping us up-to-date on how their revamps are going on this thread as well as posting photos.

Please do follow their stories and add your own comments if you want to show some support!

Below are the questions we'd like testers to answer but please feel free to add your own comments too. Please give us a bit of info about the room you're revamping and what you plan to do with it in your response.

• Why is your unloved room unloved? What do you want to change about it? What has stopped you until now?
• Where did you get your inspiration for doing up the room from? What sort of style are you going for etc?
• Have you had much help along the way with the revamp? If so, who from? And what sort of help - practical or ideas-based?!
• How did you find your shopping experience at B&Q? Were the staff helpful? Did you find anything in store you maybe didn't expect to beforehand?
• Did you use any of the help and advice that B&Q offer? This includes their videos on YouTube, leaflets and classes in store etc. If so, how useful was that help and advice?
• If B&Q could do anything more to help you next time you visit, what would it be?
• Have you had any feedback on what you've done with the room from family/friends? Has the transformation had a big impact on you and/or your family?

If you're not an official tester but would like to be in with a chance of winning a £200 B&Q giftcard, please post on this thread to tell us about your own room revamp successes (or failures!) - we'd love to hear from all MNers who have a room makeover story to share!

Thanks very much
MNHQ

Now I just need another giftcard (or four) to do our other two bedroom, hallway and falling down kitchen....but we'll get there one day. :)

I had wrote a blog post on it www.etspeaksfromhome.co.uk/2013/06/b-unloved-rooms-revamp-with-mumsnet.html

Just uploading my final video - combination of crashing headache and over-running meetings yesterday meant I couldn't do it any earlier. I am thrilled with the final result - massive thank you to Mumsnet and B&Q for choosing me. I did it all myself, with the exception of moving furniture and putting up the curtain pole and I think my family is secretly impressed with me :) Damnit, I'm impressed with me!!!

Well done, everyone - the transformed rooms look amazing. I will post some pictures once I have got my video to upload.

I love the bright colours, eteo. Those lines for wallpaper were something we uncovered when we stripped off our old paper, along with arrows and notes. Someone had drawn arrows on the back of the paper, too - very thorough. Of course, the drawing on our walls was done in chinograph, which was yet something else we had to use the all purpose primer to cover!

The unloved room before

...and again

Work in progress

Stripping the fireplace - a mammoth task!

Spending our vouchers in B&Q

Testing the colours

After nearly two days of scraping

A new fireplace emerges!

The final result

The wardrobe and chest of drawers are the old ones, so I themed the room around them, aiming for a fresh, country feel

I'm especially pleased that I managed to conquer the fireplace!

Wall art - otherwise known as wallpaper samples in frames!

Varnished floorboards and repainted hearth.

Well done SweetestThing! The 'wall art' is a great idea and looks fabulous.

I'm not a tester, but v impressed with the work everyone is putting in.
Our last house had been very unloved, but the best room was the front one which in a teeny room was a symphony of gold and terracotta. Striped wallpaper below the border (patterned), marbled terracotta with gold bits above, gold architrave and huge lights which brained anyone over 6 ft. And manky 70's flooring with dark wood skirting boards, windowsills etc
It turned into a warm white with engineered oak floor and recessed lighting and looked huge in comparison. Also stopped inducing migraines.

This gives you a bit of a flavour of the finished room. The wardrobes are opposite the door so it's all a bit difficult in terms of getting a good picture....

The Banksy transfer was a devil to do....just really awkward....

And a better look at the feature wall - we used some of the fixtures and fittings that we already had (we are that type of reduce, reuse, recycle type of Good Life family )

And his reading corner.... by getting rid of the desk which sat in this corner and buying the new high riser bed, DS has a lot more space in his room which will be important as he grows taller and broader - the whole vibe of the room seems different - cosier...

Sorry, realise that the ones of the window (with new wooden venetian blinds and curtain pole) and the high riser bed (with desk underneath) haven't turned out very well so will need to take some more photos....

I usually MN on my phone so need to drag out the laptop to upload my finished pics, but I just want to say a massive thank you to MN and B&Q for selecting me for this, it has really made a massive difference to family life.

My two youngest ds's 1.5 and nearly 3 now play upstairs in the room a lot of the time as there is now space and a smaller selection of toys that they are actually able to access. Being out of the front room means that they don't want to watch tv and in fact neither of them has watched any telly since Sunday!

It also means that I can separate them so that I can get on with stuff and not worry about them fighting.

The room looks amazing and I am now determined to sort out ds1's room for him.