An English Country Bedroom Inspired by a Picnic

Take a tour of our picnic-inspired English country bedroom. This shared kids’ bedroom remodel is full of ideas for capturing the feel of a summer picnic in the beautiful countryside.

You know what I haven’t done in a while? Shared a bedroom makeover!

That’s because we moved into our pole barn home a few years ago and the bedroom spaces I’ve shared with you since then have all been reveals. Mr. TIDBITS and I did recently update our split bathroom, but a bedroom makeover? Those haven’t happened in a while.

So, it makes me really happy to be able to share our newest project with you – making over our shared kids’ bedroom. And let me just say that we are loving the new improvements in this room! You can click the link to see the full details of that boy and girl shared bedroom in its original form.

If you’d like to see the YouTube video I made about this bedroom makeover, click on the button below to watch!

The Original Bedroom Design

When we built our home several years ago, we planned to use the largest kid’s room as a shared bedroom for our little boy and girl. Both of these kids love nature and being outdoors, so an outdoor-themed bedroom was a natural fit.

We had originally taken advantage of our tall ceilings by constructing a loft in their bedroom to give them some extra play area on top and an area for their beds below. Mr. TIDBITS did a fantastic job on the loft construction and added a lot of fun features.

My kids loved their room with the loft! It was unique and fun, but it was also a pain to maintain. The beds were difficult to make. The loft blocked the light and made the room layout feel tighter than I wanted. It was hard to clean all of the nooks and crannies. Basically, it was just not working out the way we had imagined it would, and that’s ok!

Sometimes design ideas don’t turn out as planned and we have to make changes. It’s all part of the process so don’t be discouraged if this happens to you.

Luckily, we were able to brainstorm some ways to make better use of this shared boy and girl bedroom. Let’s take a look at what we did to remodel this shared space into a cozy bedroom that both I and my kids really love.

English Country Bedroom Design Inspiration

When we set out to remake this shared bedroom, we knew we’d be taking down the loft. I wanted to have a more open room layout that would be easy to access and maintain. What we really needed to narrow down was the color scheme and overall feel of the room.

After some discussion, we settled on the idea of an outdoor picnic as our guiding theme. My youngest boy and girl loved the nature theme of their old bedroom so doing something similar just seemed right.

We wanted to make this room feel like a cozy, cottage style bedroom from an English country house. Our plan was to keep the theme subtle, with hints of rustic charm and nods to the feel of a picnic in the countryside.

The pillow you see below was the jumping off point for our color scheme. I loved the darling image and the blend of happy colors that reminded me of my kids’ personalities. After finding that pillow, the rest of the design came together quickly.

If you are designing a space, sometimes it helps to find a theme, a piece of art, or some fabrics that you really love to inspire you.

English Country Bedroom Design and Construction Process

Before we could get to the fun part of decorating this English country bedroom, we first had to roll up our sleeves and do a bit of remodeling. You can’t make an omelette without cracking some eggs!

Starting from Scratch

Our remodeling process began with taking down the old loft. There were some wood planks that Mr. TIDBITS had installed behind the kids’ beds as a headboard. We saved those planks knowing we could use them somewhere else, and the natural materials would add the rustic style of this country home-inspired makeover.

English Country Bedroom Wallpaper from Love vs Design

Next up was wallpaper. We’d originally had an accent wall with an outdoor-themed wallpaper in this bedroom. We decided to keep the idea but switched the forest print for an adorable green gingham or buffalo check patterned wallpaper from Love vs Design.

It was so fun to use Love vs Design for our wallpaper. They have a great selection of prints to choose from and they let you customize the colors. We chose the color “Thyme” for the green in the gingham pattern.

No more loving a print but hating the color. It’s a game changer! You can also order nice big samples of your favorite wallpapers to help you narrow down your options. Trust me – it’s awesome!

The new wallpaper we selected is so cute. It’s perfectly charming for an English or French country style home.

Wallpaper is a great way to add character to a room. There are so many wallpaper options these days that it really doesn’t matter your style. Modern farmhouse, traditional, boho – there is truly something for everyone!

Wood Plank Wall with Pure and Original Paint

As the last part of our construction process, we took the salvaged wood planks from our kids’ old headboards used them to make a wall treatment. We placed the planks running vertically across the wall and added some trim pieces along the top. I think it adds a little country cottage flair to this bedroom.

For the walls, we opted to use Fresco lime wash paint from Pure & Original, in the color “coffee cream”. They have gorgeous paint colors and shades with amazing old-world texture. I reviewed Pure & Original paint after using it in this very bedroom when we first painted it. This is also the same paint we used for the white walls in our farmhouse kitchen.

If you want a simple way to add old-world charm to your home, lime wash paints are your answer!

Decorating Our English Country Bedroom

After getting the construction over with, it was onto the fun part – decorating!

Furnishings

We began with the furnishings. The old beds we had in this bedroom were no longer going to work. We found a gorgeous poster bed from Pottery Barn and bought two. They were a total splurge, but we’re hoping they last us for many years to come and through many grandkids.

I found a beautiful green rug that reminded me of grass. It’s soft and plush and feels so good under foot.

Next, I purchased a picnic-inspired basket to sit at the end of each bed. It gives the kids somewhere to stash their toys and accessories out of sight.

A cute bedside table that I found at an antique store works for a nightstand between the two beds. In place of a dresser, we have a wooden cubby shelf unit for extra storage in the bedroom.

Bed Linens

Bed linens are my favorite part of any bedroom. I loved layers of fluffy blankets and pillows to add comfort and warmth to a room.

In this English country bedroom, I layered each bed with a dreamy duvet from Beddy’s. That’s right, Beddy’s now sells zip-up duvet covers and inserts!

I used Beddy’s for our rv bunk bedding and I can tell you from experience that they are amazing quality! The new duvet inserts and covers are the best I’ve ever used. If you want to get some for yourself, you can use the code “TIDBITS” to get 20% off your order. You won’t regret it!

Along with the new duvets, I added a throw blanket for each kid. The colors match their personalities, and the gingham prints are picnic classics that add to our room theme.

A throw pillow tops off each bed. The darling chicken pillow for my son and some sweet floral prints for my daughter, both found while antiquing.

Decor and Accessories

Lamps are an important part of any bedroom, so when a found a chicken lamp, you know I had to have it! It’s the cutest little decoration for my chicken-loving kids.

In our cute wooden cubby unit we have a place for basket storage. The top can display some of their antique toys, special art and decorative accents.

My mother-in-law and I made each of my children handmade baptism and blessing outfits. Those outfits are precious keepsakes, and we like to display them. I hung these items on their walls and on a stick ladder so that we can see them any time.

Finally, I put back up a piece of artwork that reminds me of the English countryside. It’s so perfect for this bedroom and it makes me smile every time I see it. Fresh flowers on the table add the finishing touch to this picnic-inspired English country bedroom.

Other Bedroom Makeovers

It feels so good to have this bedroom makeover done. I hope you’ve been able to come away with some cottage bedroom ideas for your next project.

The only thing left to do in here is to decide what should go on the wall above our wood planks. Art? Photos? Quilts? What would you do? And should we paint, stain or seal those wood planks? Tell me below what you think!

If you’d like to see any of the products I used in this bedroom, you can find them here on my kids bedroom products page.

If you want to see some of my other bedroom makeovers, click on one the links below. See you soon!

• French Cottage Girls Bedroom Makeover
• Blue and White Girls Bedroom Makeover
• Deck Makeover Reveal Day!
• Home Office Makeover
• Master Bedroom Makeover Reveal