The Room That's Waiting
What if a spare room could change everything?
A partnership concept for Barnardo's and IKEA built on one truth: homes transform lives. And spare rooms are waiting.
The Challenge
The UK is facing a fostering crisis. Children enter care every 20 minutes. Potential foster carers don't take the first step — not because they don't care, but because they don't feel ready.
Role
Creative & Concept Lead
Partnership
Barnardo's x IKEA
Timeline
Early strategy through creative development
My Role
- Led partnership from strategy through concept development
- Identified the "spare room" as a key barrier to fostering
- Developed "The Room That's Waiting" concept and messaging
- Worked with designer to bring visual concepts to life
The Big Idea
"Imagine this held everything you own."
Children in foster care carry their lives in black bin bags. Meanwhile, thousands of people have a spare room sitting empty.
The campaign doesn't ask people to become foster carers. It starts smaller. It asks them to see their spare room differently — as a place where a child could finally unpack.
IKEA transforms spaces. Together with Barnardo's, we made fostering feel achievable.
Highlights
OOH
Billboards showing rooms transformed from empty to welcoming.
Retail
Limited Edition IKEA Black Bag sold in-store as a donation mechanism.
Social
"A spare room to you... could be everything to a child in care."
Tangible Metaphor
The black bag makes the invisible crisis visible and actionable.
Behaviour Change
Shifts "I'm not ready" to "Maybe I could start here."
Scalable Platform
Built for multi-year partnership growth and expansion.
Where It Appeared
OOH
Billboards and bus stop displays across target locations
Retail
IKEA stores — Limited Edition Black Bag as donation mechanism
Social & Digital
Instagram, Facebook — before/after room transformations
Content
Stories from foster carers about how their spare room changed a life
The Concept
The Insight
Foster children carry their lives in black bin bags. Meanwhile, potential foster carers feel "not ready enough." Both truths pointed to the same solution: make the spare room the starting point.
The Shift
Transform the bin bag into something durable and intentional. A Limited Edition IKEA bag that asks one simple question: "Imagine this held everything you own."
Why It Works
Tangible
Makes the crisis visible. People can hold it.
Actionable
Buy the bag. Support the cause. Start a conversation.
IKEA-Perfect
Durable. Reusable. Practical. On-brand.
Scalable
Works across retail, OOH, social, and content.
Impact
A concept built to shift perception and drive action. The campaign invites people to see their spare room as possibility, not just space.
Because no child should carry the weight of having nowhere to go.