This mini-makeover in my daughter’s room is a classic tale of ‘mom-guilt’. We all know it and I am sure many can relate. Kaitlyn has been patiently asking me for a desk in her room since before Christmas and I have repeatedly promised her that I will get around to it ‘soon’. And to be fair, I had every intention to do this for her as soon as I found the proverbial ‘gap’. But the year got super busy, no gaps appeared, and the next thing I knew, her July birthday was approaching and her Christmas wish list had been deferred to her birthday list instead. Something had to be done! Needless to say, thanks to a healthy dose of mom-guilt, what could have been a simple desk addition to her room evolved into a (make-up-for-it) makeover.

I decided to surprise her with her the long-awaited desk on her birthday and thought it would be nice to elevate the big desk reveal to ‘makeover’ status for maximum effect. That said, I’m using the word makeover rather liberally because all we really did was add the desk, a new wall colour and change a few small accessories. But let’s face it – it’s that colour block on the wall that makes all the difference in what’s she’s now calling her ‘new’ room.

We’ve used Jotun’s Minty Breezev in a few client projects over the last year and we love it more every time we use it, so I couldn’t wait to try it in Kaitlyn’s room. With not a single spec of green in there, it felt like a risky move, but the result is pure magic. The greyish green colour has given new life to her pale blush bed frame and the beloved Mrs Mighetto prints (that I wasn’t ready to get rid of but was also a little worried about as they have lots of blue tones) just seem to work so well.

The IKEA MICKE desk is a great fit in her room. It’s compact and super practical with both drawer and cupboard space so my little crafting queen has ample room to store her vast collection of papers, pens, tapes and other stationery paraphernalia. We added some vertical storage and display space with a DIY-block-colour SKADIS combination set, also from IKEA.

Aside from the desk addition, we enhanced the room with two new cushions for her bed and we changed the draped lamp at her bedside to something we sourced at Dragonmart for an absolute steal. We removed a small area of wallpaper from her wall and painted the book ledges that were already there in the same Minty Breeze colour as the wall. I absolutely love the fabulously vibrant storage baskets and the adorable animal ornaments (seen on the book ledge) that we sourced from local online store, Hopeless Wanderer. Given her South African heritage, my little miss has fallen in love with the wooden animal accessories that sit on her shelf and I think it’s pretty special to be able to source such authentic African pieces right here in Dubai.

Kaitlyn’s birthday surprise was a huge success and it’s been a struggle to get her away from that desk since she laid eyes on it!

GIVEAWAY

Ending this post with some exciting news – the team at Hopeless Wanderer have kindly offered a store credit of AED 300 as a giveaway for UAE-based House of Hawkes readers – you can visit my Instagram feed to enter.