By TEE LIN DEE | June 2011
Bedroom makeover for mama
The bedroom is of utmost importance to me. It is where I relax, reflect and do all the things I love. That would include reading books, staring at myself in the mirror and reorganising my wardrobe. Well, we all have our quirks, don’t we?
And so, I couldn’t quite understand how my mama could stand having a room that was incomplete. Mama comes to KL every few weeks and stays for a week or two.
Her room is generally a work in progress. It has a lovely queen-size bed, two bedside tables and everything else are loose items.
The walls are white – still the same colour decided by the developer when the house was handed over. It’s a big room with a walk-in wardrobe with huge decorative potential to be unleashed. That’s why I wanted so badly to do something for her room.
Mama is quite conservative about buying accessories and painting it over. She always feels it’s unnecessary, but I think change is necessary. It keeps things interesting. No change, no gain. And since mama wasn’t keen on the hassle, I thought, why not I do it.
And so, with the help of my two sisters, we decided to surprise mama with a new colour scheme for her room. A newly painted room is the quickest way to transform it.
Walls determine the ambience and since I did not want to break my bank account, a makeover project with paint seemed like the smartest and most economical idea.
Odour-less paint
Mama hates dark colours. When I casually asked what colour she fanced in a bedroom, she replied pointedly, “No Bollywood colours.” Typical of mama. Sure we can go with soothing colours; it being the bedroom, but I wanted cool colours for style.
On top of that, I’m big on health and wanted the best quality paint for mama. So, I chose the Nippon premium range - Nippon Odourless AirCare.
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From left to right: Mama’s room was stark and plain before the makeover; We started out painting by lining the borders; I applied two coats of premium nippon Odour-less airCare paint for the best results.
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This product range is low in odour and harmful chemicals. The painted surface even helps to clean the air by absorbing formaldehyde. It’s simply a paint that is greener and safer for health.
We opted for a greyish lavender colour called Heatherstone 4164T. That would be for the feature wall, while the surrounding walls would be coated in a lovely shade of grey called Mt Smokey 4165T. We decided to stencil a motif of butterflies on the feature wall.
Excited, I made my way to the Nippon paint store while my two sisters proceeded to cut out butterfly forms.
So that Saturday, I woke up at 9am and rolled up my sleeves. We removed the curtains, heaved aside the furniture. It was a good thing mama didn’t have many things in the bedroom.
The first step was to prepare the walls to ensure that the wall surface was clean, dry and smoothed out. Some of the walls were a little damaged from excess moisture from the bathroom. I had to ensure that those walls were wiped clean and dry. I sanded off the rough spots. For flaking paint, I used a scraper to scrape them away and sanded down the edges.
To ensure the best results for my imperfect wall, a wall sealer was used. It is the first coat to go on the wall, to ensure that the walls had a good base. It also helps promote better adhesion for the top coat colours. After the wall sealer dried, along with my sisters I applied two coats of premium Nippon Odourless AirCare paint.
Wall art
A few days earlier, I learnt how to apply wall art motifs. My sisters and I aren’t born with dexterous fingers. So, I had two creative friends over who are great at this stuff. I could not risk having jagged, one-winged butterflies in my mama’s room.
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Mama loves the butterflies on the feature wall. Made her feel a little ethereal. (left); Ben and anuar my buddies hard at work creating lovely “fluttering” creatures on my mama’s wall. (right)
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My buddies, Ben and Anuar, helped stencil a spray of butterflies across the feature wall. The results were so pretty.
We finished everything by 4pm. Not too bad. And what a fun day it had been.
As we stood back to admire our handiwork, I have to say the results were outstanding. Colour really makes a huge difference. Before that, the white walls were stark and far from modern. Now, it looked cozy, romantic and definitely contemporary.
Loved it. I snapped pictures on my iPhone and send them to a bunch of my friends, all of whom had great things to say. But would mama?
“Yoohoo, I have a surprise!” I crowed to mama on the phone that night. “Oh no, what did you do?” was her response. “Well I did something to your room, so come down next week and see what your beloved daughters have done.”
Lovely lavender
Knowing mama, she would assume I painted her room in garish green (which is what I did to our living room the last time) and she probably had a deja vu feeling.
Well, the next week rolled by too slowly but of course, mama arrived with Bisky, our beloved Jack Russel bounding behind.
I hurried mama upstairs and with great fanfare, threw open the door. My sisters looked at her expectantly. Mama kept quiet as she examined the walls. “Well,” she said, after a pause, “I must say it’s a very lovely lavender.”
I knew she loved it. For her to call the scheme “lovely” meant we had hit a home run. Choosing a beautiful hue does wonders in achieving a beautiful effect. Nippon has a lovely range of colours that go a long way in letting loose your wildest imagination and creativity.
Mama spends more time in her room now. She sits there for hours at night, surfing her Netbook and reading her Bible.
She didn’t use to do that. I guess she loves being in her room. Funny, how a little colour goes a long way….
• If you are interested in wall art, get the necessary knowhow from nipponpaint.com.my. Nippon Odour-less AirCare is low in odour and volatile organic compounds. It is anti-bacterial, has superior washability and scrub resistance and comes in a smooth eggshell finish.
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