Review: Finding Dory Bedding from Character World

This summer, one of the big kids movie hits was Finding Dory. We’ve had a lot of chatter and excitement in our house about this forgetful fish since the film was released. Imagine his little face when I handed him some Finding Dory Bedding from Character World!

Back when I was a child there was no such thing as character bedding. My bedding was plain and fairly unexciting. Now I really love character bedding and I really enjoying picking out new sets for my son. I always think that new bedding is a quick and fairly inexpensive way to give a bedroom a fresh look.

This new Finding Dory Bedding really works well with my son’s bedroom. We painted it last year with a dark blue feature wall which we stuck glow in the dark stars on. The blue works with most things and this aquatic themed bedding is no exception.

Finding Dory Bedding

The Finding Dory Bedding is brightly coloured and good quality, the bedding feels soft, not stiff like some bedding can be when you first take it out of the packet and it is made from 100% polycotton. This bedding is also reversible so you are able to choose one of two designs to have as your bedding, which the small boy loves.

One side has got a picture of the Finding Dory characters and is mainly a blue colour. The other side of the cover is a white background with different coloured fish. I’d actually have the shoal of fish side as my bedding. It’s colourful and fun.

The pillowcase has “Making a Splash” written on it and it works with both sides of the bedding.

The boy couldn’t wait for us to make his bed up with the new bedding and got into bed as soon as he could so he could enjoy it. I was delighted with this accidental side-effect – an early night!

In addition to the Finding Dory Duvet Set, we were sent a Finding Dory Hooded Towel (which is perfect for round the swimming pool on holiday) and a lovely Finding Dory cushion to go on his bed with him.

Finding Dory Bedding

The Finding Dory bedding from Character World has been a big hit. I’ll be looking out for other character bedding from them, because the quality and colours are excellent and it washes really well. You can’t really go wrong.

Disclosure: We received the Finding Dory bedding for the purposes of writing this review, all opinions and images are our own. Contains Amazon affiliate links.

Nursery to boys bedroom – weekend makeover

In September the small boy began school, he’s growing up fast and we couldn’t be more proud of him. One thing that’s niggled us for a while had been his bedroom. When we moved into our house he was 10 months old and we didn’t have the time or money to do much with his room, other than paint it white and get new carpet laid. It was always on our to do list for the future, the list has been ignored for four years now, so it was time to do something about it.

This was his room before…

boys bedroom

With the help and advice of interior designer Joanna Thornhill and Hillary’s Blinds we identified that his room seriously lacked storage space and needed an injection of colour.

His room was a mess, without any proper storage his toys were everywhere and there wasn’t much of a theme going on. The white walls made the room bright, but it felt stark and boring.

boys bedroom

Joanna gave us some short and mid-term advice which we took on board…

1. You could add brighter tones in any accessories or wall art in tones of turquoise and green, using red in small doses as an accent. Industrial style is a big trend right now which your son might like, so perhaps you could bring in touches of this by adding a cage-style light or a grey textured rug, and updating furniture handles with vintage metal-style pulls.

2. Storage looks like it’s an issue – could you opt for a bigger bookcase and swap places with the chest of drawers? The tall mirror could maybe then move to the side of the wardrobes if the space becomes tight for it in its current spot. Invest in some storage baskets for the bottom shelves for toys, with space above for books.

3. His bed sits quite neatly into that alcove but when he moves up to a full-size single – why not look out for a daybed with hidden storage (or a spare trundle bed for sleepovers) underneath? This would fit the space well and allow his bedroom to double up as a living room all of his own. Opt for some plain bedding (denim, maybe?) then dress with fun cushions along the back.

4. Your curtains look great and seem ‘grown-up’ enough to take your little boy through to double digits at least – I’d use these as a starting point and let these influence the rest of the space. They are a greyish teal colour so perhaps you could use these to bring colour into the room, possibly opting for a lighter steel-blue on the bulk of the walls with a bolder teal making a feature somewhere (perhaps in the bed alcove?)

Using her advice we decided to paint a teal feature wall and decorate it with stars, we had a shade mixed for us at B&Q which was evocative of the night sky without it being too dark. I bought some luminous stars from my local toy shop, Giddy Goat Toys, decorated the feature wall with them and added the blue star light he’s always had. I wanted to keep things simple so we could change things up a bit as he grows.

boys bedroom

We bought some extra storage from Ikea and put the bookcase on top of the chest of drawers to make a bit more space. We also gave him a little stool to use to climb up and choose his bedtime story.

boys bedroom

His bedroom looks and feels more like a boys bedroom now and less like a cluttered nursery. There are still a few more things we need to do, but we ran out of time over the weekend. We need to sort his lighting out, put a new blind up and eventually get him a full sized single bed. Not to mention sorting through his wardrobe and clearing out his old toys.

We didn’t blow the budget on it either, the paint and the stars came in at under £30 and the storage unit with boxes was about £100 from Ikea, we bought a few other things for his room too, like a new lampshade, a blind and the footstool, but I can safely say we got change out of £200.

But what did Spider-boy think of the transformation? I think he liked it!

boys bedroom

But my favourite bit is the starry-night wall which I’m actually very tempted to recreate in my bedroom too. I think we’ve managed to makeover his room in a way which will grow with him. The stars can easily be removed and replaced by something else if he wants, the storage has already made a massive difference to his room, and it looks fantastic too.

boys bedroom

The makeover was done in conjunction with Hillary’s Blinds, you can find out more about our makeover transformation, and see how the other bloggers involved transformed their homes on the Hillary’s Blinds website.

Growing up fast – The end of Nursery

This week the small boy finishes nursery, he’s starting to not be quite so small and he’s growing up fast. Heartbreakingly fast. I know it’s all a massive cliché, but where did my baby go? Those precious few months where he was all cuddles and he smelt of milk and love have passed in the blink of an eye. I fall more in love with him every day, despite the various challenges of raising a four year old who is as stubborn and wilful as his parents.

growing up fast

In September 2014 he put on his too-big jumper and toddled off to school nursery. We didn’t know if he’d be lucky enough to get one of the 28 places available in a our local and much sought after primary school at that point, but we felt by sending him we were doing the best for him, and we were right.

He quickly made friends, partly because he knew several of the other children from various playgroups and from church, partly because he’s an easy going, friendly and caring little chap. He settled in fairly easily and his teachers quickly discovered that he has his own stubborn little personality. Whilst dealing with a stubborn person can be frustrating, I am of the opinion that stubborn is good, stubborn is what has got me through the last few years despite considerable physical hardship and pain, so stubborn will see him right, eventually.

It’s not all been plain sailing, one of the boys took against him at one point and for a week or so in the autumn he’d come home and we’d have to check him for injuries, this other child had scratched his face so badly it’s left a permanent scar. The school dealt with it well, which is all you can hope for really and there’s been no further trouble.

Despite this he has always gone to school cheerfully, he wakes up raring to go and spend the day there with his friends and his teachers. He adores them all and I spent a few days volunteering and helping out, so I know what a lovely, warm, welcoming place it is.

In April we were delighted to discover that he’d got a place at the school, so this coming September he’ll be starting in Reception. He’ll mostly have the same group of friends with him, but he won’t have the same teachers, which I think will make him sad for a little while.

He has come on in huge leaps and bounds this year, at the start he was a bit behind his peers in terms of his language development, but since he had grommets put in both ears he’s raced ahead and caught up. I’m so proud of my boy and his growing confidence. Last week he stood up in assembly and spoke confidently in front of the whole school, my eye did a little wee.

growing up fast

He is my pride and joy, the apple of his father’s eye and beyond a shadow of a doubt the very best thing to ever happen to me. This Friday will mark the end of an era, come September he’ll be a schoolboy and there full time. I will miss our afternoons together, but if the last academic year has been anything to go by, he’ll love being there and he’ll carry on loving learning too.

Goodbye Nursery

Just two weeks shy of his first birthday I returned to work and the small boy started at nursery. First in woddlers, then toddlers and he’s now in pre-school. Today is his last day, as I type this it’s his last hour there. Next week he’s moving onwards and upwards to the nursery at primary school.

Uniform has been bought, labelled, tried on and modelled. All we talk about is big school and the friends he already has in his class there. He’ll be fine, it’ll be the making of him. We’re all forward looking and we’ve barely looked back at the past (almost) three years.

Looking back, without the stability, input and love he had at nursery he would be much worse off socially and academically. During the year (ish) I was largely unable to parent him, they stepped in educated and entertained him for three days a week. They fed him, looked after him, loved him and took him out to explore the world.

Don’t get me wrong, when he first started I was, as is traditional, utterly heartbroken at leaving my baby with them, but he’s thrived under their care. When his hearing (now fixed) was holding back his development, they worked hard with us to adapt his time there so he wouldn’t fall too far behind, and he didn’t, he’s now running with the pack and you’d not know any different.

I have no regrets about sending him to nursery, other than I’d prefer that I’d had that time with him, but it was absolutely for the best, and for me wanting to keep him at home would’ve been selfish of me. We’re trying to raise a happy, independent chap and he is that. He’s full of spirit, he’s funny, lively, lovely and clever.

I hope that his new big school will recognise his character, understand his strengths, nurture his weaker areas and help him to be the best that he can be. I know that as a family we’ll look back at his time at nursery very fondly, I hope he remembers all the fun he had there, the friends he made and all the clothes he ruined during craft time.

Goodbye nursery, it’s been a blast!