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About six years ago, Jen Rothbury’s two sons had a plan. Although there were five bedrooms in their Manchester home, enough for the boys to have their individual spaces, the physiotherapist and content creator remembers how excited they were to share. With their decision to leave one bedroom empty, Rothbury devised a plan of her own. “I used the spare bedroom to create my dream dressing room,” she says.
But as the years passed, this win-win solution needed to be revisited. “I initially installed IKEA wardrobes, but six years on, those were looking a bit battered,” she says. “The boys are also older and moved into separate rooms again, taking over both guest bedrooms. So I decided that the dressing room would benefit from the dual purpose of being a guest room.”
The bedroom is tucked into a tight square inside this Arts and Crafts home, with one window for natural light. Rothbury aimed to maximize space in part two of this room’s revival, and called in the professionals this time around. She hired Hello Nook to build her custom joinery, which was made offsite and then assembled over the course of a week. “I had previously worked with them to create a secret bookcase door and knew their craftsmanship was incredible,” Rothbury says.
They lined the entire room with floor-to-ceiling wardrobes outfitted with a mix of closed cabinetry and wide shelving, and put an island in the center that’s equally stocked with storage. “Hello Nook built one with hidden castors, which allows the island to be moved out of the way,” Rothbury notes. Why would the island need that option? Well, the shelving on the back wall reveals a Murphy bed behind it. The tulip Ottoline Devries wallpaper complements the “Hay” by Farrow and Ball paint job, giving all the mechanics the feminine-yet-fun feeling Rothbury was after. But since this project was completed last summer, she knows that her dream dressing room isn’t exactly the main attraction for everyone else.
“The bed has already been used over 10 times! It came into its own over Christmas, especially when we had lots of family staying over,” she says. “My children have had sleepovers and their friends love sleeping in the secret bed. It makes it feel so exciting and fun for them.” It may have started as Rothbury’s dream dressing room, but now it’s everyone’s favorite place to stay.
