Be our guest! Granddad spends £2,000 to turn room in his house into a Beauty and the Beast-themed hideaway for his graddaughter
- Robert Rideout, 49, transformed a room in his house for his granddaughter
- Read More: Interior designer reveals how you can transform ‘dull’ rooms
A granddad transformed a room in his house for his granddaughter – creating a Beauty and the Beast-themed hideaway for £2,000.
Robert Rideout, 49, from Greenock, Scotland, used his skills to transform the empty room in his home for Disney-mad granddaughter Harriet McConway, six.
The self employed joiner came up with the idea when he took Harriet to see the Beauty and the Beast musical and she couldn’t stop talking about it.
So he scoured salvage yards, Facebook Marketplace and even saved some items from a skip to make sure everything used in the room was second hand – transforming it into a magical palace fit for a princess as a surprise.
Robert lives with wife Lynn, 54, who owns a hairdressing salon, in an 1870’s villa and she helped with the soft furnishings for the bedroom.
Robert Rideout, 49, transformed a room in his house for his granddaughter, Harriet McConway, six
Robert created a Beauty and the Beast-themed hideaway for just £2,000 for Harriet
The £2,000 price tag includes all furniture, flooring, panelling and blinds, curtains, cushions and bedding too.
Robert said: ‘We had taken Harriet to see the Beauty and the Beast musical in Edinburgh and we had the idea to try and recreate something magical for her in one of our spare rooms when she comes for sleepovers.
‘She stays with us at least once a week, maybe more depending on circumstances, so we wanted to create something really special for her to remember as she loves all things Disney – especially Beauty and the Beast.
‘Everything is either second hand or salvage yard finds by myself on my travels.
‘The room is quite small but has a high ceiling height and my initial plan was to build some sort of French-looking faux window using mirrors to make the room appear larger than it actually is.
‘Part of my day job is restoration work and I frequent salvage yards and antique shops regularly.’
The Rideouts bought their home in Greenock, Inverclyde, four years ago and have also renovated the rest of the villa using Robert’s skills.
Previously the bedroom was used to store junk in their home in Greenock, Inverclyde
Robert took Harriet (pictured) to see the Beauty and the Beast musical in Edinburgh and he had the idea to try and recreate something magical for her
The room took several months to finish – with Harriet asking her grandpa why he had to make it ‘so fancy.’
The idea came to life when Robert found two matching overdoor pediments which had been removed from another old house.
They were painted a horrible brown colour and were pretty beaten up, but had beautiful detailing so he set about restoring them to add above the room’s doors.
‘I remember bringing them home and hiding them in the room so my wife wouldn’t see them, as they were in pretty bad shape and I’d paid a couple of hundred quid for them,’ he joked.
‘I just knew they would be fantastic with some TLC.’
He then made a window plinth using MDF and used two old glass doors to make a mirrored feature before adding architrave around the edges.
Robert lives with wife Lynn, 54, who owns a hairdressing salon, in an 1870’s villa and she helped with the soft furnishings for the bedroom
Robert said Harriet was amazed when she saw her new bedroom and loved her new fancy bed
‘I was really getting a feel for the room at this stage and feeling more creative the more I did,’ Robert said.
‘I had some mirror glass cut to fit in each of the apertures of the two doors and found some French-style handles to complete the look.
‘I added an old ceiling rose that was broken and rescued from a skip as I thought it would look good painted below the doors.’
He added columns either side of the doors, panelled the walls and added a pelmet above the window which he made from MDF.
‘I also installed some baroque cornice and a plaster ceiling rose and chandelier and finally I had an idea to make a French-style bed canopy by cutting the top off an old damaged cabinet and mounting it on the wall using ornate cast iron brackets.’
The overdo predicaments were painted a horrible brown colour and were beaten up, but had beautiful detailing so he set about restoring them to add above the room’s doors
The idea came to life when Robert found two matching overdoor pediments which had been removed from another old house
He then made a window plinth using MDF and used two old glass doors to make a mirrored feature before adding architrave around the edges
Robert even added some ostrich feathers to the top of the bed using the centerpiece of an old chandelier before hand painting it and adding gold leaf touches throughout the room
The couple restored and painted the door a teil green and cream colour and even added a large clunky set of keys to the door for an extra Beauty and the Beast touch
Robert even added some ostrich feathers to the top of the bed using the centerpiece of an old chandelier before hand painting it and adding gold leaf touches throughout the room.
A student artist who needed to create a painting for her coursework painted the murals on some of the walls.
All the rest of the furniture was found for free or cheaply on Facebook Marketplace and they added parquet style flooring from B&Q to replace a grotty orange carpet.
The bed was around £100, the bedside cabinets £200 and the console was £300.
A student artist who needed to create a painting for her coursework painted the murals on some of the walls
Little Harriet was over the moon with her princess inspired bedroom at her granddads house
Lynn then added blinds, curtains and bedding.
The couple even added a large clunky set of keys to the door for an extra Beauty and the Beast touch.
Robert said Harriet was amazed when she saw her new bedroom.
‘She couldn’t believe it,’ he said.
‘It was amazing to see how happy she was and worth every minute of work.’
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