The eagle-eyed or more analytical amongst you may have noticed that a lot of my home updates or interiors project have something in common. Have you ever thought about it or spotted it? Do you want to take a guess? Or should I simply tell you?
To be honest, it's something that has snuck up on me ... I've been doing it while not actually realising that I'm doing it. That possibly doesn't make a lot of sense. So let me explain.
We initially bought our house to rent out while we lived in Switzerland. We didn't actually plan to move in to it ourselves. And yet we did. Four years ago. It's a nice house. But it has never really felt like our house.
We live in it, and it's a lovely family home, but I still haven't got over the feeling that it's a stop gap. Somewhere that we live just until we find our proper home. One which we'll buy because we love it and not because it's a sound investment.
And so I decorate or add character to rooms with a little voice in my head saying, 'It's temporary.' I don't spend too much and I don't go too crazy, always being mindful of having to undo things or convince potential buyers that they've always wanted a massive dose of fuchsia in their home.
Our taste can be seen in the colourful accessories, our personality in the little touches. The walls and floors couldn't be more neutral. Give me half a day to empty our possessions and you'd be left with absolutely no clue as to the family who once lived here.
However, just because I have one eye permanently fixed upon the pages of RightMove, I've never wanted the boys to feel like this house is anything but a home for them. I'm always tinkering with their rooms and adding little touches depending on their latest interests and whims.
Command strips are my favourite thing, removable wall stickers are loved, and quirky, colourful bedding has the boys thinking that their rooms are themed even when their walls are ninety percent pure brilliant white.
For my moon, stars and space-obsessed children, the brand new Christy Junior Infinity and Beyond bedding collection has completely blown them away. Me too, to be honest. When it arrived, I was choked. It's gorgeous. It has made their bedrooms really come alive.
The range is so beautifully designed and manages to mix nostalgia and whimsy with a modern day look and feel. It's themed bedding at it's best, basically - it harks back to the playful bedding that I remember as a child while being current and appealing to my four and seven year olds.
Here's what the boys love most about their new Christy Junior bedding:
1. They're quite imaginative children anyway, but the Cosmos cushion and quilt has transformed their bed in to a space rocket flying through the night sky. They don't have to wait until it goes dark to indulge in a bit of star spotting. Combined with the cute constellation stickers I found on Etsy, they can look for Orion whenever they want.
2. They love trying to name all of the planets on the Galaxy duvet set. Obviously, the metallic gold spots are the most interesting ones ... and are best viewed through binoculars, of course.
3. As its name suggests, The Ticket to the Moon cushion can be used as both a ticket and a cushion. And you definitely can't ride on the space rocket bed unless you have a ticket to do so. Don't even think about trying as you'll be asked to disembark immediately. No stowaways allowed!
4. This is quite a strange one for two little boys to pick up on but they really like the reversible textures on the duvet set. They're slightly different fabrics. The teal side is cooler and the star side is softer. They like to sleep on the teal side but if they're snuggling in bed reading a book, will often lie on the star side.
5. The boys love covering their bedroom floor with the Cosmos quilt and pretending that they're walking amongst the stars. Their cute jetpack backpacks go so well with the Infinity and Beyond set. They look like little spacemen off to land on the moon.
And here's what has struck me about the Infinity and Beyond range:
1. The colours are gorgeous. Teal is a favourite of mine and it looks amazing mixed with navy and gold. Each individual piece works really well alone but when layered one on top of another, you get the most perfectly made children's bed.
2. Oh my goodness, the speckles sheets and pillowcases make all the difference. ALL the difference. I've never bought sheets as part of a range before, always opting for plain white but that hint of a pattern really adds a touch of wow factor. They're so eye-catching and I'm a big fan of the cotton jersey material.
3. It truly is a super cute range that looks amazing, feels great and has the potential to spark imaginations. AND, if something on RightMove does eventually take my fancy, it will be so easy to pack everything up and create a character-filled, galaxy-inspired bedroom elsewhere.
What do you think of the new Christy Junior range? Do you have a space-obsessed child that would love it? And how do you add character to your children's rooms? In moderation like me, or do you go all out? Let me know in the comments!
This post was joyfully and intergalactically written in collaboration with Christy.