Dulux have a fantastic new concept in home decorating, the Bedroom-in-a-Box. We were sent one to use in Freddy's bedroom, as part of a fantastic Avengers themed makeover. The Bedroom-in-a-Box contains the matte emulsion paint for the walls, the quick dry satinwood paint for the woodwork, wallpaper adhesive and a wallpaper mural. You just need the brushes and you are good to go!
The mural consists of 12 panels of top quality, thick, glossy paper, that is hung to create an amazing Avengers themed feature wall, transforming a bedroom into something really special.
Freddy is a huge superhero fan. He loves dressing up as a superhero, playing with superhero toys, playing Marvel games on the XBox and watching his favourite superhero movies. So I was in no doubt at all that this bedroom makeover would make him happy!
We set aside a weekend to do the work and Ian and I double-teamed it to get the job done. The painting was easy as the walls were a very similar shade of light blue, but a quick coat freshened them up. We were impressed that the satinwood paint was water soluble so was easy to wash from the brush. Gloss paint that has to be cleaned using turps was always such a pain to use. Satinwood is a much nicer way to paint the skirting boards and windowsills.
The mural hanging was something very new to us, as we have never used wallpaper in our decorating. But working together we were able to piece the panels together and trim the excess from the bottom edge quite successfully. The Maximum Strength Wallpaper Adhesive was easy to make up and held the paper to the walls really well. It was sticky enough to stop it from slipping, but had enough give in it to slide the pieces to match the pattern. Using a step ladder to hang the top half of the mural and using a soft cloth to gently work out any air bubbles and creases, we managed to achieve a smooth, crinkle-free end result, with the pattern pretty well aligned. We were impressed with the markings on each of the panels that made lining the pieces up much easier. As total wallpaper beginners, I think we did a great job and we had a lot of fun working together!
As with most houses, our walls and ceilings are not 100% straight and perpendicular to each other, which meant we had to trim some edges to make the mural fit at the corner of the room and this resulted in a very slight discrepancy when it came to aligning the last two panels, meaning Captain America's leg is not 100% lined up. But it is very slight and doesn't show unless you look for it. It is only the perfectionist in me that notices it. However, the overall quality and the finish of the mural looks amazing and it was very straightforward to do as a two man job.
The finished mural is vibrantly coloured and features Thor, Iron man, the Hulk, Captain America, Hawk Eye and the Falcon. Unfortunately as Freddy's walls were a bit too small, we lost the Black Widow and Samuel L. Jackson's character who appear on the final piece of the mural, but that didn't distract from the finished wall at all.
With the addition of a new Avengers duvet cover and with the placement of some of Freddy's superhero toys and books, we themed the room to match the mural and it looked brilliant. The life size characters bursting into Freddy's room look so impressive. Everyone who has seen it has thought it is brilliant! It's a big improvement on his old room, which was looking a bit tired and a bit babyish for Freddy.
As for Freddy he was over the moon and used words such as 'awesome' and 'I love it'. The design features in imaginative games and he loves making up stories with his favourite characters in. He knows who they all are and Captain America is his favourite. It is lovely for him to have a proper 'big boy's bedroom' in time for his 5th birthday.
Here is our video review of the Dulux Avengers Bedroom-in-a-Box featuring before and after scenes, tips on hanging the mural and Freddy's reaction to seeing his new room. He was a little bit subdued, as he is ofetn is when confronted with something new, but ironically once the camera was switched off, he started jumping on the bed, cheering and shouting about how awesome his new room was. (As you can see in the comic strip picture above!)
