Resolving (?) problems in the bedroom and The Blank Wall of Doom

You have seen my post back in April about Problems in the bedroom. I managed to paint 1 1/2 walls before Baby B made his appearance but that left us with the problem of three walls a different colour (and probably mouldy).

Luckily, SBB came to my rescue and set to work with his usual gusto and the walls were treated and painted with 3 layers of insulating paint and 2 top layers of Dulux.

Whilst we had the curtains down he also decided to remove the window trim to go in search of the awful draught around the window. As it happens, the cavity around the windows, which apparently should have been sealed/packed was just empty so he filled it with expanding foam and reattached the trim. Goodbye draught, hello slightly warmer room!

I'm not yet sure if the Thermalmix will do the job - I'll be keeping an eye out for any hint of mould! Temperature wise there seems to be a 6 degree difference between our video monitor next to the door and the Gro-egg in the far corner of the room (dropping to a chilly 15 degrees!). I'm not sure if it's really made a difference to maintaining room temperature as we didn't have the thermometers we have now, but with Baby B sleeping in with us, we've got an extra heater to try and keep it at a steady temperature.

Progress photos:

(Please excuse the mess!! We had to empty out the furniture before moving it)

Finished walls:

This does, however, leave me with a problem. Did you spot it?

I've come to think of it as The Blank Wall of Doom....

....Possibly a little over-dramatically, I'll admit.

I want to fill it with some pictures, but not sure how. I seem to be a persistent procrastinator when it comes to 'dressing' walls. I have a 'art wall' planned for the hallway which has over the last 5 years steamed ahead with the grand total of 1 picture.

So here are the options I'm thinking of (please excuse my terrible photo-shop skills):

The 'H' option

The 'M' option.

This is actually my preferred option, I quite like the idea of the pictures 'draping' across the wall, however I also know I'm a fan of straight lines so the 'H' option appeals to me too. One thing I'm really keen on is to have a mirror over the headboard - this is also partly why the 'M' option appeals because I think an oval mirror or other unusual shape would look really good here, particularly if it was a really old one with the stippling effect that old mirrors have.

Having discussed it with SBB, his preferred option is this: 

One large picture or mirror over the headboard. The simplicity - and minimum of effort - also appeals but I think it might look a little.... boring.

Perhaps it's just because I need another wall to procrastinate over.

Do you have any suggestions, or any favourite options? Let me know! I'm rather stuck... 

Problems in the bedroom

I don't know what you're thinking that titles means, particularly after admitting about cheating recently but I'm talking about mould.

Yes folks, we have a mouldy bedroom. We noticed it the first winter after we moved in and I became very familiar with the use of Ronseal's Mould Remover. However, it always seemed to come back. We'd been thinking about redecorating with some bathroom anti-mould paint but never quite seemed to get round to it.

Then, after the success with the Thermalmix in the nursery we decided it would be a good idea to paint the walls with the insulation paint before doing a top coat of bathroom paint.

The job had been lingering on my 'to do' list for a while until one day I bought the Thermalmix on Amazon and trundled off to B&Q to buy paint, because what else do you really want to be doing when you're 35 weeks pregnant other than squeezing behind the bed to strip and paint the bedroom wall?

I practically soaked the wall with mould remover before setting to work with the insulating paint.

I'd painted almost all of the wall when I noticed a tiny little flake in the last unpainted corner. I picked at it.

So, yeah. I ended up peeling off quite a bit of the old paint I'd just painted over. I was a little afraid of what SBB would say, but he didn't seem to mind too much. The good thing about peeling off the old paint was that it showed that it was riddled with mould - which could have meant regrowth - but the plaster itself was mould-free. So it turned out to be a good thing!

I ended up doing three coats. The instructions call for two but I wanted to be sure the wall was completely covered and covered well.

When it came to choosing colour I was struck with a small problem. I wanted to buy the Dulux bathroom paint as it came with a 5 year anti-mould guarantee, but they didn't have any in a similar sunny shade of yellow that I'd painted the room previously. They did have a yellow in the B&Q 'every room' paint - suitable for kitchens and bathrooms - but I wasn't sure about the anti-mould properties. I went with 'magnolia' in the Dulux bathroom paint. On the walls it looks more peach than magnolia, but I don't really mind. The room feels lovely and bright, so I'd call it a success!

Painting the nursery

I know this may seem a little premature as we haven't had the scan yet but it was a job that had been on the cards for a while.
Years ago when we moved in we painted the back bedroom a lovely apricot, thinking that it was a gender neutral colour that would suit whatever type of nursery we eventually ended up with. The colour was fine and in fact I think we would have kept it if not for one crucial problem; the texture was awful. Every time I reached in to turn on the light and missed, it was like running my fingertips over a blackboard *shudders*. SBB agreed and so it had to go.
We have a bit of a condensation problem in our house. The exterior walls are freezing - SBB is thinking about taking down the exterior brickwork and fitting some insulating board - but until that happens I've done some research into thermal paint additive. As we needed to redo the back bedroom it presented a perfect opportunity to experiment.

Before

Before

Before

I bought some Thermalmix paint additive, the instructions for which said it leaves a slight texture to the paint when dry - which, given the fact that we were repainting due to a texture problem, was a bit of a red flag. However, it also said that the thermal properties were still effective under a coat of normal emulsion. Perfect.
We went to B&Q picked up some basic white paint to mix it in to and also picked up some coloured emulsion for the top coat. We picked 'Custard Cream' - sounds deliciously edible and is such a lovely colour. There was only one pot on the shelf so I snagged it and carried it around the store, jealously guarding it.

I mixed the Thermalmix into the white paint - people on the reviews had suggested using a drill attachment to mix it but I did it by hand and it was surprisingly easy. I'm not sure if it was the additive or the paint already on the walls, but my 5 litre tub of white paint only just managed to cover the two walls - considering it was supposed to cover about 20 square metres - and you're supposed to do two coats - it was a little surprising and I had expected it to go further without watering it down.
When I'd painted one wall with two coats I tested the temperature and I thought the one painted with Thermalmix felt warmer. SBB wasn't convinced, but we'll see.

I painted the two exterior walls with a slight overlap on the interior walls to make sure the corners stay warmer and condensation free.

I painted them over two evenings and then tackled the top coat over the weekend.

After

After

The long exterior wall (the one without the window) didn't need to be painted with emulsion as I plan to paint a woodland mural on it. I've not settled on a design yet but I've been looking around the internet for inspiration.

Now that room's done I'm planning on tackling our bedroom and the living room - but as we're going to have to ensure everything at the flat's finished first I'm not sure if I'll get round to it before the baby arrives.
However, I picked up a paint chart in B&Q which has got me thinking about new colours....