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I’ve been working on creating a new playroom and creative space for my daughters over the last few months. What started out as a simple task has escalated, as is always the way for me! We moved the girls from Ava’s big bedroom into Thea’s box room, with bunk beds, leaving a nice big space to play. I wanted child-friendly space-saving desks to give them an area to get creative, without taking over the whole room. Futon Company kindly sent us a pair of matching space-saving ladder desks to help bring my playroom vision alive. These ‘sister desks’ as the girls call them, fit perfectly beneath the eaves. Read on to find out why we love these space-saving ladder desks.
Why We Chose Space-Saving Desks from Futon Company
We looked at a lot of desks (you can see our other desk ideas, and some pictures of the room mid-way through the make-over on this post). We considered using a large desk for them to share, but we decided they should each have their own desk. The bamboo and MDF ladder desks from Futon Company are £75 each, which I think is very reasonable considering they have built-in shelving. These space-saving ladder desk are minimal in design, with a simple Mid-Century feel. They’ll go with any decor, however the girls choose to redecorate their playroom in the future. I love white furniture as I think it makes the space look so bright and cheerful. Bamboo is a eco-friendly choice as it’s fast growing so much more renewable than hard woods. It also has a lovely warm tone.
Space-Saving Ladder Desks Have Plenty of Room
The desk area itself is large enough to hold a laptop and a few bits and bobs, if you’re using it for a grown up or teen. There’s plenty of space for the girls to draw or paint, and will be great when they go back to school and have homework.
These space-saving desks go perfectly with the new chairs gifted from Cult Furniture, which tuck under the desks nicely when the girls want more space to play. There’s space beneath the desks for a pair of oversized gold-coloured plant pots, which they use for rubbish and recycling (start them sorting young!) I’ve added more gold touches around the room to go with the spindles on the chairs.
How I Styled Their Space-Saving Desks
Being so simple, these desks are the perfect blank canvas to personalise. The girls will no doubt fill them with Kinder Egg toys, ‘found objects’ (AKA stones and twigs) and scraps of paper, but for now, I have added the items to make nice ‘shelfies’.
Thea’s Ladder Desk
Thea has the left desk, and I’ve added an inspirational print in eco-friendly non-toxic water-based neon pink ink from Flat102. I couldn’t resist this fab neon-effect rainbow light. When it’s switched off, it’s plain white, so still looks lovely.
The cloud-shaped pencil pot is from Tiger, the fawn money box is from the Little Bird range at Mothercare (though when she was first born so not available now sadly). I sprayed the design on the IKEA coasters with Rustoleum gold spray paint using masking tape to make a design.
Ava’s Ladder Desk
I got another print for Ava’s desk, in the same neon pink. It’s hard to see, but it’s a Russian doll with “It’s what’s inside that counts” from Hazel Nicholls. I framed up one of Ava’s pictures of a daisy in a vase, as it’s too good to hide. There are a few of her favourite books, including “Pippi Longstocking” and the “What Katie Did” stories.
She has a plant in a gold IKEA pot, and a matching smaller pot for some of her many pens. I picked up the white circular storage at the Magpie sale.
Positioning the Space-Saving Desks
We had a bit of a debate about where the girls’ space-saving desks would go. The natural place is next to the window, where the ceiling slopes. But that’s where the wardrobe was. We moved it in the end, which was a real mission, but it looks so much better and really opens the space up. We also had to position the desks around the Tiger cloud shelves which we stuck up a year or two ago. I knew they’d rip off the paint if we took them down and we didn’t want to have to repaint!
I’ve repurposed half of the girls’ old cot bed, which had broken, to make an accessories organiser. You can see the indoor herb garden I made with the other half of the cot here.
I built the desks myself and they took about 20 minutes each, plus time to screw them into the wall.
You may need a spirit level for this, to make sure you have the angle correct. We just checked to see if a pen rolled off (so professional).
You can shop space saving ladder desks at the Futon Company here.
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