Advice on furnishing DS's room (on a budget!)

[Gem13]

We have just moved into a new house and DS (18 months) is in a big room with just his cot and a chest of drawers. His changing unit is in the bathroom and his toys are in the main room.

It's pretty stark in his room, wooden floors add to the lack of cosiness and DH and I feel a bit mean puting him to bed in there; it even echoes! The lights are set into the ceiling so there's not even the option to cheery it up with a lightshade!

Having stretched ourselves financially with buying the place I need to buy things on eBay and second hand but don't know where to start. DH and I are not handy and don't have much time at the moment so DIY is out as it painting (it's just been done). Any suggestions for cheap, useful furniture?

Try IKEA, they do some cute kiddies furniture. And stick a big colourful rug on the floor-will cut down on the echoes!

Try IKEA, they do some cute kiddies furniture. And stick a big colourful rug on the floor-will cut down on the echoes!

Some shelves would be good . You can then put teddy's and pictures and nice baby bits to brighten up the room. We have used Ikeas lack shelves on the wall , as cheap and come in different wood types and bright colours. look here

A nice rug - Argos & B&Q do really good ones for little money. Have u thought of trawling round Ikeas baby bit??? Have a look on their website here

oooh think that i will have some of those shelves for my dss room...only taken me 17 months to get this sorted....

They r brilliant , have used them in our hall too as a console over the rad.

Gem 13 have a look at these rugs .

some disney stickers on the wall will brighten the place up

the best part is they just peel off and don't leave a mark when u want to change them

arogs and b&q sell them

u get about 25 stickers for £8.00

We have some of those peel and stick transfers on DD's bedroom walls and they really do brighten a room up. We were really pleased with how well they worked.

Ikea is great, they have very cheap wilton rugs (washable and more hypo-allergenic than wool), and they have some lovely -and big- lamps. There's a book by Judith Wilson you may be able to get at your local library (Children's Spaces: From Zero to Ten ), It has some great ideas.

Definitely Ikea! Cheap and cheerful. Don't forget the no- slip rug backing though if you have wooden floors.

Look in the phone book for 2nd hand furniture warehouses/ house clearance firms - the shops are often well hidden but you can get some good things. One of the charities has a chain of them but I can't for the life of me remember which one!

Thanks for the advice all, I don't feel so desperate now. I shall look at the book with interest and check out the DIY chains and charity shops. I always forget about them.

Good plan about the shelves and the rugs. That would really start to fill the room. DS might like to be involved in the sticking of the stickers too.

Unfortunately the nearest Ikea is in Croydon which is a nightmare to get to from anywhere it seems and I don't feel up to at 8 months pregnant but maybe later next year...

One of those rugs with roads and tracks on - then it's a toy and a bit of furniture and all the small boys I know seem to love them.

Gem13 - where are you? I know several good 2nd hand furniture shops in Brighton.