Kirkby
Published: Wednesday, 2 April 2008, 3:45PM
17/04/2008
Peter and Mandy live in a four-bedroom detached house and it was bursting at the seams. They have five children – three of whom are triplets! The three babies were premature by 36 days and Mandy and her new arrivals were in hospital for three weeks after birth, so it was a very traumatic period for the family.
Having such a large family has meant that the couple's finances have been put into supporting the children and their plans for decorating the house have taken a back seat.
Mandy doesn’t let managing the children take over her life. She is currently going to college part time to study, holds down a part-time job and takes part in lots of charity events for good causes.
The designer: Derek Taylor
Derek had a massive task on his hands – the biggest difficulty was going to be creating more space in a house already packed with children and children’s toys. He couldn't do any structural work so had to make the most of the small amount of space available.
Living & dining Room
This room was lacking in character (if not magnolia). The layout was split into two spaces; a living room and a children’s play area. The living space was set up more like an alleyway with two old leather sofa’s facing each other and no focal point for the family to enjoy. The rear part of the living room was a dumping ground for the children’s toys and there was a computer and computer desk which Mandy uses for work.
One wall was papered with sand effect wallpaper and the other with bamboo style wallpaper. Through adding large textured rugs, Derek warmed up the room and made the space inviting and homely. Extra seating in the shape of two new sofas from Furniture4Flats also helped change with the configuration of the room.
Mandy had always wanted a dining room so Derek introduced a new space for the family to share mealtimes together. Derek decided to mix styles of furniture to create an eclectic look. A range of furnishings from Watsons On The Web helped to achieve this look.
Conservatory
This room had no purpose. It was used as a passageway to the garden and had become a dumping ground. Derek wanted to utilise the space to give the large family some extra room.
The exposed brick walls made the room feel cold and external. Derek opted to paint the bricks cream to make it feel like an extension of the house and a living space. He introduced a collection of modern rattan furniture and lightened up the room with a large lamp. Finally, he added photo artwork of the children in the room by CanvasRus.
Macy's room
Macy’s room was decorated in princess pink. It was a lovely room for a young girl but the challenge for Derek was to change this space and make it suitable for both seven-year-old Macy and one of the triplets. He decided to base the theme of the room around the nursery rhyme 'Mary Mary Quite Contrary' - going for a garden-inspired room with window boxes as storage spaces.
He used photo-printed grass floor tiles from Harvey Maria to cover the kids' floors - great news, as they're easy to clean and practically indestructible. The biggest impact in this fantasy room is the sky-themed wallpaper from Anna French. Derek decided to use it on the ceiling, creating an endless skyline so when the girls wake up they can see a cloud filled sky with bumble bees, dragonflies and butterflies hanging overhead.
Main bedroom
Before the makeover, the main bedroom was far from relaxing. It was a lilac disaster and Mandy had gone off the colour years ago. There were serious storage problems and the room was housing the triplets' wardrobe.
Derek wanted to create a 'hotel look' for the bedroom and achieved this through adding statement pieces of furniture and a fantastic four-poster bed from The Four Poster Bed Company.
He added two feature wallpapers, one of which was a leather effect, to give the room a luxury feel.
Before and After
The Reveal
See the transformation of this tired house into a vibrant family home...
