British Heart Foundation Makeover Challenge

There are amazing charities out there, we all know that. But the British Heart Foundation is certainly one that is, and pardon the pun, close to our hearts. We’ll come to exactly why later. For starters though, we got approached by the British Heart Foundation several months back about a really exciting project which we just couldn’t resist.

 

THE CHALLENGE

The British Heart Foundation Makeover Challenge tasked four pairs of interior designers (not that we’d call ourselves designers, but let’s just go with it for now) with creating a room set on a budget by using as many pieces from British Heart Foundation stores as possible. So, armed with our £500 budget and with styling the main bedroom as our objective, read on to find out how we went from a plain white panelled wall to a botanical boudoir.

 

THE CONCEPT 

Tasked with the bedroom we began by brainstorming a few ideas. Taking our Sissy Boy tapestry as starting inspiration and after having a quick snoop on the British Heart Foundation website, we decided that our concept would be a botanical bedroom, with splashes of seventies influences throughout.

G Plan-style wood furniture, Persian rugs, spruces of florals and, naturally, palms and plants were our main focus. We filled our moodboard with natural rattans, macramé holders and contemporary prints.

For the colour scheme, we aimed for warming tones. To complement the woods, pops of greenery would come through from the plants and brighter shades from blush pinks, ochres and oranges. It would be a textural contemporary bedroom with a nod to retro.

After creating our checklist of items, it was off shopping. Brixton and Lewisham were two of our main haunts and we had a lot of fun scouring their wares. Between us and the BHF team, we pulled together a bunch of great finds and we couldn’t wait to get going.

 

MAKEOVER DAY

We’ve got a blank space, baby and it was time to fill it. Kick-starting our day at a bleary eyed 9am, it was time to get things moving. Our original idea was to have the bed in the centre with the headboard to the back of the panelled wall, however on reflection we didn’t want to cover that lovely panelling too much and, the dressing table was such a star piece for us that we loved how that took pride of place in the back corner.

A bit of heavy lifting dragging, some makeshift ironing, some Command Strips and a few finishing touches and we were nearly there.

For a full behind-the-scenes, check out our Insta story!

 

THE FINISHED DESIGN

Voila! Our finished botanical bedroom sourced mainly from British Heart Foundation.

We’re so pleased with the finished result and how our room turned out. The challenge was certainly delving deep into the British Heart Foundation stores to find the right bits for our look but once you have found the right pieces, it’s so satisfying. There are so many hidden gems lurking in many of British Heart Foundations 180 UK stores, incredible things for such great bargains.

A few of our favourites from our room? We fell in love with the dressing table, which at £60 is a total steal. The little furry footstool and rattan chair would of course make a great addition to any bedroom and we were so impressed with the British Heart Foundations array of rugs. The most important thing to mention too is how fantastic the quality is of the furniture – pieces that will last.

Here’s a full breakdown of what we spent; Chest of drawers £40, bed £100, mirror £10, records 4 x £2.50, dressing table £60, cushion £9.99, rattan chair £20, throw £9.99, bedside table £55, furry stool £59, artwork £14, Persian-style rug £85, jug £3, ornaments £15 (total cost £490.98) all British Heart Foundation. Plants & palms and Sainsbury’s bedding all donated by the British Heart Foundation team. Botanical tapestry from Sissy Boy and orange throw from Bronte by Moon all our own.  

 

WHY THE BRITISH HEART FOUNDATION?
A cause close to our hearts; Mark’s story

In August 2017, I got the call that we all dread. My mum had suffered a cardiac arrest suddenly at home in Glasgow during the night and I’d never felt so far away from home. Dad, being a qualified first aider, administered CPR to her for a mind-bending 30 minutes before the ambulance arrived, where she was given a defibrillator at home and then rushed to the hospital. She was then immediately operated on and placed into an induced coma, with dad and my brother Chris at her side the whole way.

Flying home in record time first thing the next morning, I wasn’t sure if she was going to pull through – and if she did, there was a serious chance of brain damage. However, thanks to dad’s quick action and sheer superhuman stamina, which was no doubt adrenaline-filled, she both survived and somehow came around with no real long-term damage.

Saying it was a shock to the system and a wake-up call is an understatement. According to 2014 figures, 90% of cardiac arrests that occur outside of hospital end in a fatality. I’ll be eternally grateful to dad for his sheer heroism and to beat those odds. Having learned more about the amazing work that the British Heart Foundation do, I knew we had to get involved. 160,000 people in the UK die each year due to cardiac illness – that’s one every three minutes – so there’s so much work to be done and I’m so happy we could support this. If we can save just one more mum, we know it’ll be job well done.

If, like us, you’d like to support the British Heart Foundation, then why not set your very own makeover challenge? There are 180 home & electrical stores across the UK high-street for you to discover and re-home some fantastic wares. Whether you’re a first-time buyer, a student, simply looking to be thrifty or, like us, a renter, create a mood-board and set yourself a task to revamp a room or space.

If you’re a dab hand at D.I.Y or love to up-cycle with a lick of paint, take note from our fellow challengers…

GET THRIFTY!

Max McMurdo and assistant, Philip Ely got hacking and sawing to create their hunting lodge living room. Just showing that with a bit of imagination and elbow grease, you can transform the simplest of items and give them a new lease of life.

Sharp & Simpson‘s Micaela Sharp and design partner Beth Clancy put their upholstery skills to great use when designing their children’s bedroom with a cloud shaped headboard. Finally, design gurus, Sarah Mailer from Girl About House and Grant Pierrus from Interior Style Hunter put their interior eye to great use creating a chic dining room scheme.

 

LOTS OF FUN FOR A GREAT CAUSE

It has been such a pleasure working with the British Heart Foundation on this challenge and what a fun day it was. Well done to all our fellow designers who created amazing spaces.

Have a gander at what we all had to say about the challenge…

 

Or have a glimpse at our impressive ironing skills on London Live.

Now get going, time to set yourself a challenge!
David & Mark x