I’m sure we all have a story about a time a shelf fell down in the middle of the night or the multiple holes in the wall trying to find the perfect spot for a picture or noisy neighbours or kids – right? Well, last week I went to a really fun event in the Shangri-La hotel in The Shard to find solutions to all of these problems. The event was held by British Gypsum (been making plasterboard for years and years) for their new Rooms Made For You range. Along with a group of lovely blogger pals, we had a great time trying out the products, whilst enjoying the amazing views from The Shard, which I hadn’t been inside yet even though I live within walking distance. I was very pleased to see there was a ticket for the viewing platform in my goody bag so I will take some proper photos when I go back and share them with you here. Anyhoo, back to the products in hand…
Magnetic plaster
What would you say holds you back most from personalising your home and decorating it in the way you want to (apart from money, obvs)? If your answer is not feeling confident about hanging things on the walls then magnetic plaster is the answer to all your problems. Forget magnetic paint (I’m sorry, but it really doesn’t work very well), magnetic plaster looks no different, is no more difficult to apply and is only slightly more expensive. Yet, depending on the strength of your magnet, you can hang even a huge TV on this plaster. No holes, no drilling, no putting up pictures in the wrong position and having to do it all over again. You can buy self adhesive magnetic strips that you can apply to picture frames, mirrors, hooks – anything that you would normally have to hang using a nail or screw and the best bit is you can move them around as your needs change.
Imagine how easy it would be to create a gallery wall like this if all these picture frames were magnetic and you could try out as many formations as you wanted with no need for holes in the wall. Image: My Scandinavian Home
Your home office noticeboard could be as large as you needed it to be with magnetic plaster. All that paper work that normally piles up on your desk could be attached to the wall if needs be. Image: My Scandinavian Home
Attach magnets to clipboards and move these around as and when needed with magnetic plaster. Image: Decor8
Magnetic plaster is perfect for children’s rooms and you could use chalkboard paint to create a writing wall that could also have their pictures stuck to it with magnets, pots with magnets for chalk that could be attached to the board. Elsewhere in the room you could have lots of hooks with magnets on the back so that they could be moved around the room and used for hanging clothes, toys, fancy-dress costumes, bags – the possibilities are endless. Image: Petit and Small
Hang storage boxes on the wall just using strong magnets. They can be moved around the room according to different needs and change the height of the boxes as children get taller. Image: Ferm Living
Lifestyle Wall
I used to own a studio flat in Borough, which meant sleeping and living in the same space. It was a new build, which meant stud walls galore and if you’ve ever tried screwing into plasterboard, you will know that it doesn’t take much to rip it out. Anyhow, I called round my Dad, as you do, to put up a shelf for me in my new studio flat. Up it went. I filled it with books, bottles of wine and a radio. A few nights later, I was sound asleep when I awoke to an almighty crash and thought I was dead and the world had ended; never before has my heart beat that fast. The shelf had fallen down, the wine was smashed, it was the most horrendous sight. The lesson learnt from that experience? You can’t just stick normal screws into plasterboard (why didn’t you know that, Dad?!). Since that moment, I have always used specialist fixings in my walls, which is fine although they do create much larger holes and they can be tricky to use.
Lifestyle Wall is a new type of plasterboard that enables you to fix shelves, TV’s, curtain poles directly into the wall – no need to find the joist, use specialist fixings or even use power tools. We had a little competition on the day to see who could get the most screws, with just a screwdriver, into the plasterboard as they could in 1 minute. I managed four, I think. The point being that I could fix a shelf, that would be strong enough to hold all of my glasses, crockery and cookware (the type of shelf you would NOT want to fall down in the middle of the night) by myself, with no power tools, no specialist fixings. I like the sound of that.
This type of shelf could be fixed directly into the wall with single screws and no need for a drill. Image: Shoot Factory
I would love the flexibility of being able to put up a shelf without needing power tools or having to find the joist wherever I wanted, being safe in the knowledge that it won’t fall down in the middle of the night. Image: My Scandinavian Home
Silent Floor
The last product that we learnt about is Silent Floor. Lucky for me, new builds have concrete floors and we hear virtually nothing of our neighbours. However, having lived in a period home with my family and as a student, I know only too well how sound travels around a house and between houses and it can be a nightmare. Silent Floor can be fitted to a ceiling or a floor to insulate a room from sound. We were able to listen to how much sound the floor cuts out and it’s quite amazing. So, whether you want to insulate your bedroom from your living room, your bedroom from your kids’ bedrooms or your flat from your neighbour’s flat, this is a great solution.
Which of these products speaks to you the most? I love the magnetic plaster idea and the possibilities for being more creative in the way that we live and decorate our homes.
Katy x
Disclosure: This post was written in collaboration with Rooms Made For You but the opinions and views are my own.
Interesting – could be very useful for my craft studio, when we eventually get around to doing it up. Did they give you any idea about the cost compared to ordinary plasterboard? Although I guess that I could just do one or two panels in this and the rest in ordinary plasterboard. Thank you.
A bag of the magnetic plaster costs £96 and that covers 5 square metres and it’s available here: http://www.wickes.co.uk/Thistle-Magnetic-Plaster-25kg/p/120200 The Lifestyle Wall plasterboard isn’t available quite yet but they assured us that it isn’t much more expensive than normal plasterboard. You can always drop them email to ask more specific questions: questions@rmfy.co.uk Hope that helps, Louise x
Incredible…such a great post, thank you Katy! We’re building a garden room in the summer which will be a multi-functional office/gym space. The magnetic plaster is a must for our walls, so its fantastic to hear you’ve witnessed such great results. x
It would be such a great addition, especially to a room like that! Exciting! x