#DIY #Adaptions #organizing #storage #design #collections

Niki’s Room

Good evening , everyone hope your day was a great one today’s blog is all about the work we have all been doing to renovate my daughters room and make it work better for her, and to meet all her needs. I will start by saying Niki designed it herself and we stuck to most of what she wanted and asked her opinion on a few small changes we made just in terms of layout of the new furniture and she made an fantastic choice too Niki funded a lot of the work her self in the flooring and most of the new furniture and the rest we either up cycled or got for her we have created this fresh spacious calm environment we have added some great sensory things and also much needed added storage and a few little touches i will talk about later in the blog but first lets start with the 3d designs Niki created on her laptop not the real scale as she made it in her Simms game and they didn’t quite have the exact things that we used but it was a great visual template to work off and brought what she wanted to life for us to see her vision.

It was basically the desk and a few shelves we rearranged in the end because we wanted to maximize the floor space and not have any dead space areas which were not being used and just empty. We still have a few small things to do but its done and she is enjoying the space, even keeping it organized there is a place for everything, makes it easier for me to go in to do a quick clean while she is at college but actually she is starting to do more for herself now. her room was given a makeover in 2016 when she turned sixteen but she is now a young adult and her taste in things has changed.

Her room became more cluttered and less calm over time and it became increasingly a anxiety inducing thing and a point of disagreements, not really what you want for your kids the more cluttered it was the hard it was for her to start to make improvements it was frustrating for us all to be perfectly honest and overwhelming for her and it was not for want of trying to get in there to help her anxiety and depression didn’t help and lock down impacted that, because her sleep pattens were all messed up.

I had a bad habit of just cleaning it then she would get frustrated I moved things or she couldn’t find things I cant stand things being all over the floor and I remember her standing on a needle which had to be removed at A&E surprisingly I brought a sewing box for her creative outfits and Teddies she made but the needle was in the box she just trod on the sewing box which she left on the floor.

The room is 10 ft by !0ft and we actually seemed to have made it look bigger just by the layout and storage and also the colour scheme, she did have another colour choice before but we had patches on the wall for a while and she changed her mind by the time we did it. First we got rid of lots of things clothes paper work, things she wanted but didn’t want to get rid of were boxed up and put in the attic clothes are ready to give to charity when they begin taking clothes again. and the rest is bagged up ready for the tip. some things we recycled and refreshed and used in the room again

we had a few repair jobs to do and the old desk which was built when our oldest son had the room was finally being replaced with a free standing one that Niki choose and brought. another big change was the floor we have always had carpets in our house but with make up and arts and crafts they just get stained and collect so much dust no matter how much you Hoover. she choose the flooring and we went together to pick it up. A decent underlay and click and snap wood flooring in gray lifts the whole room easy to clean and given Niki’s eyesight issues when she drops things now it easy for her to find even if she hasn’t got her glasses on with out them everything is just a blur.

Our local B&Q decorating shop is where we got the flooring we purchased more than we needed and took surplus back for refund after we did the room so the initial amount of £250 for the flooring ended up being just £150 so the refund was quick and easy and the funds were back in her account a few days later. We already had the paint which we got a couple of months ago i had been collecting that a few bits each month.

First was the sanding of the wood preparing the walls removing and re-cutting the shelves where the old desk was and even using the wood from the old desk to make additional shelving painting a base coat of white and filling and preparing the ceiling. it was tough as we only had a certain amount of time the kids were out to do some of the messy jobs and had to have a room she could sleep in at the end of every day, we used to stay at dads house when work was being done on the house before but covid meant we couldn’t do that this time.

Even Emo got involved one Saturday I got to sit back for a moment after I came off a night shift I just passed tools that day my hubby did a lot of the work though with me helping when i wasn’t working or sorting the kids..

• Cheeky Elf up to mischief but always giving Mum and Dad a hand with things around the house , every one has to learn some independent skills even Elves
• The top coat of paint on the walls was baby pink we did three of the walls then left the last wall for Niki to do

She did a great job her dad was with her when she did it i already left for the night shift .

Niki gets tired easily and her hips and joins hurt her ,but she had her first pain management appointment on Friday which went really well more about that soon though maybe for another blog. We called in Grandad to help with the floor laying and actually it was an incredibly bonding and memorable experience for Niki and her grandad they worked together all day and grandad even taught her how to saw and lay flooring, moving the furniture out that day the floor was laid was the day I ended up with stitch in my arm carrying it into my room so her room was clear I cracked my elbow on the door frame, I don’t know why the funny bone was named that it didn’t make me laugh when I caught it.

They did an amazing job it took slightly longer than it would if Grandad had worked alone but he wanted to pass on some of his years of skills to Niki my dad was a carpenter and a decorator before he retired. Next was choosing furniture and Ikea was the place we went she had already looked on line but we had a mum and daughter day and went to pick up most of it and spent the day out together.

We took picture to send to Niki;s dad and we didn’t buy any thing but some of the Ikea biscuit and had lunch there we ordered online when we came home just to double check the measurements before we brought and to give her time to be 100 percent sure of the style but to be honest she wanted them the moment she saw them.

I love this shop and I will share the review I left for it. its a great shop to walk around and i could get lost in there every where you look there is something to inspire creative looks for you home, and its accessible as well which is hugely important thing it wasn’t to busy when we went , toilets were easy to get to and right near the restaurant. there food is excellent quality and super yummy.

We went to the Croydon store as it is close to Niki’s Greek Grandparents we popped in for a quick visit after and a cup of coffee before we drove home.

Me and niki didn’t tell her grandparents we were coming over instead we mischivious ly sent her a picture from Ikea in the wedding beautique you can imagine what a Greek Grandmother would think of that she was planning on phoning the whole family we waited for the call we knew would come as soon as we sent the picture only to tell her to pop the kettle on we were ten minutes from her house. We were not really shopping for wedding dresses just yet. We all had a giggle about it over coffee.

The review i left on google maps another thing i use my writing for reviews.

Ikea Croydon I Loved loved loved this place been there many times over the years the furniture is good and sturdy haven’t had to buy often because the quality and sustainability of the products are definitely the best I have ever brought there is so much choice and inspiration to draw from. This place is huge so from a disability standpoint the lifts are easy accessible from the main entrance the layout leaves enough room for wheel chair access. There is staff about if you need to ask a question. Took us two hours to get through so leave plenty of time make a day of it. Play area for the children. Parking is plentiful. They have an area you can drive too point for loading up bigger purchases. The restaurant is busy not surprising though for the size of the shop I would drive there for the well price excellent quality foods the Meatballs chips gravy and pees are the biggest slice of heaven on a plate they even top it off with a little Swedish Flag I love that little touch. But the prices in relation to the product is affordable and it us well worth saving and pay the price for the quality. The flat pack stuff comes with great instructions and I have never had a missing screw or part. The service areas are card payment 2 queues one for bags and one for trolly’s throughout the store are little computer order points so you can purchase and pick up in your way out. This is a very well deserved 5* review I am going back again this week as we ordered online and are using the click and collect so I will update review once I have use this part of the Ikea service. Continuing on from the above review, the order and pick up service was quick friendly and efficient. The Flat pack furniture came with the exact amount of screws, tools, and the instructions as always the best simple easy to follow and to the point they are actually the only have I have got instructions with things that actually work how they say they will. Just waiting for the delivery of some bigger items so you could say we used all the different ways of purchasing. The items we were waiting for were delivered on time in excellent condition the delivery service messages us when they were near and kept us informed. the packaging was minimal and all carboard so kept product protected while at the same time fully recyclable.

Next was putting things back in buiding parts and re painting old bits and bobs

An old mirror waldrobe door we attached to the wall as a dressing mirrow its a great use of older things and turned out real nice with a good sanding and a few coats of undercoat and satin wood quick drying pain we added little mirrowed srew covers it was there before so you can see it was origanlly red.

Some baby pink spray paint updated Niki’s art trolly bring it uptodate and fresh and in keeping with the room.

My hubby recycled an opld chest of drawers and cut them down from a three draw to a two draw chest to now sit in the bottom of the waldrobe to keep all Nikis Wigs in and the waldrobe had extra shelves added and we highered the hang rail slightly. He also made the draws have a cut out to match the desk draws.

Looking at it you would think its new but thats the great thing about Ikea products long lasting the old chest of draws was over 15 years old and the waldrobe.

Shellves went back up next the book shelf that only need painting but the ones above the bad and behind the door. addded extra space to display her collections .

Another thing we invested in was a new chair we didnt get the one from Ikea because we wanted one that would help with niki’s posture one that would be good for her when she is gaming and also have the added support she neede we choose an ergonomic chair we got it off amazon it was £89 and surprised her when she came home from college.

She helped put it together was a little difficult to start with but we did it together .

It has that Neck and lower back support adjustable arm rest hight and lays fuully back in reclining mode its got some wieght to it so she hasn’t fallen off it or it hasnt tipped over with her rolling about believe me we have had that many times with the kids and chairs. The leather looks hardy but thats the test we shall wieght and see if it withstands the repetertive movements, the other chairs the leather wore out with in six months which exposed the foam underneath and thats not a good thing because they will pick it apart. i am hoping it will last though i will update you on the progress when it starts to wear.

Flat pack furniture from Ikea is a dream to put together easy instruction a little kid could follow and the screws were all there too. nothing more frustraighting them missing screws.

We put the first parts we were able to pick up from store through there click and collect so she had a mini desk while we weighted for the larger things to be delivered. we have to different typs of blinds due to Niki having light sensitivity sometimes we had the in blinds we changed the dark wood one which were there for some pvc easy clean ones and added a black out roller blind on the outside of the wimdow first it has helped with her sleep and also its good when she wants a plain back drop for photo’s and Tik Tocks believe me it all in the fine details little changes can make the hugest difference from a sensory perspective. we also have a colour change Led light bulb with remote she finds the pink hue perticually good and calming for sleep time.

Niki is very perticular about things matching so we got some lovely coat hangers for her waldrobe pinkvelvet ones so her clothes don’t slip off and they had to have little heart on them was a bit hard to get as they kept running out at the local shop but £2.99 for a pack of 8 was a great deal.

It’s now a great study space and light and airy for when she feels real depressed.

Putting things back in her room and organising her collections i was on passing duties she all ready planned out what was going well, she found it a little stressful but short breaks and some food helped break it up a little.

£4.99 for a small wooden shoe rack which we painted white and put some padded feet on and some new stationary folders for her college work the finnishing touches

Niks collections they have all had alot of memories attached some she got when her anxiety was bad and she had difficult at school they were treats for simly just trying her best. some were things she has got as gifts and some were presents over the years.

By far though it’s her collection of frogs that is the larges of her collections

The transformer collection she started to collect so she had a comman collection and something to share with her boyfriend he has a massive transformer collection and he takes the most amazing photo’s of them.

The other last thing we did was put a small little hook on the side of her waldrobe so she can hanfg her walking stick and sunflower lanyard so she knows where they are every morning. all her draws are organised into there sets one for hair one for make up one for her cosplay accessories one for medicines and covid test, face masks, one for her eye washes and contacts and spare glasses.We have a draw for her sensory products one for her tools. so many draws but each filled in there uniformed way with things that go together never to be mixed mess in one draw or all over the floor.

So this they say is another job ticked off the list and my home is again calm and beginging to be organised again . We only have one thing to change which is causeing stress for her the free standing shelf for her games and dvds they dont quite fit in the standing up position and it was the only thing she didn’t like, so thats going to have to change for a different one. If your autistic you will understand these little things are not easy to cope with but she is living with it temparary till we can get a new one.

That’s it for today good night

Much love Faye xxx