Bedroom Re-Do

Let me tell you a little story about my bedroom.

My poor, neglected bedroom.

The rest of my house is decorated.

That’s not to say that there aren’t things I’d do differently…

…or that I can see could use a few more accessories…

but for the most part, I feel like every other room in my house is basically “done”.

Well, as done as they can be with someone who changes her tastes with the seasons.

I change my mind a lot.

Sue me.

But my poor bedroom has been ignored all these years.

It was filled with a hodge podge of hand-me-down furniture.

Nothing really matched.

None of it was in particularly amazing condition.

Half of the drawer pulls were missing or broken.

And over the years, I had haphazardly pieced together accessories.

And none of it really…

gelled. (is that a word?)

It was sort of like…”we don’t have anywhere else to put that…how ’bout we put it somewhere in our room?”

The result was this:

Random.

Old, old, old furniture that had been in my mother in law’s storage unit for years.

I really like these pillows.  Made by Miss Lindsey herself years ago.  But they didn’t…I don’t know…

I was going with a lime-y green and brown theme.  With buttery yellow walls that took on a nauseating green shade in the evening lighting.

Framed prints on the wall that didn’t even match…random baby gear…a lampshade I got on clearance at Target, that while I love, didn’t make a lick of sense in our room…not to mention it was about 14 sizes too big for the tiny base…

And a really great big, sturdy armoire that I love for it’s hardiness and functionality, but maybe a bit on the dated side.

I actually liked our furniture.

It was all real wood, well made and had clean, basic lines.

But there were about 10 different wood tones in the room and the finish on the dresser and nightstands was chipping and scratched.

So I thought I’d paint the furniture and give it a second life.

While I consider myself to have decent design sense, I thought I’d bounce my super simple update idea off of Lindsey.

She has such a great eye and I would have never thought to paint a dresser yellow…but now I’m itching to find an excuse to copy it.

So I sent her an email that basically said:

“Hey, I’m gonna paint my bedroom furniture.  I’m thinking a creamy white for most of it and a blue/aqua for the armoire.  Sound good?”

Simple.

Easy.

Quick.

Just a simple question about paint choices.

I expected a one sentence reply.

“Yeah.  I think that works.”

Or even:

“How about lime for the armoire?”

But really…I should have known better.

In lieu of a confirmation on my paint choices, Lindsey (who was visiting her BFF Nicole at the time) put together a full on DESIGN BOARD for me.

Complete with links for where to buy the pieces.

Somehow, Lindsey translated my “white and blue good?” email to a full on HGTV Design Star audition.

Furniture paint colors, new WALL paint color, entirely new design palette…

I laughed to myself and took it with a grain of salt.

Off to Home Depot I went for white and blue paint.

And found myself unable to take that design board out my head.

And before I knew it, I came home with new paint for my walls too.

And suddenly, I was buying new throw pillows.

And fabric for my headboard.

And…well…

I followed Lindsey’s little design board like a perfect student.

And what was supposed to be a simple update turned into a complete bedroom make over.

She even told me where to move my furniture.

Like I said: I should have known better.

Baby furniture is gone.

As is the random art print.

Walls are a mocha-y brown (Mississippi Mud by Behr)

New lamp bases from Target.  Shades on clearance at Target for $7.49 each.

My headboard is nothing more than lumber scraps I got at Home Depot for less than a dollar with some batting and fabric stapled to it.

My “new” blue armoire….that looks just like Nester‘s although I didn’t realize that until after the fact.  :)

Ignore the bottom of the legs.

I need to prop it up onto phone books or something and paint them.

Subway art I made with some canvases I already had and white cardstock cut with my Cricut.

Creamy white furniture with new hardware.

And the mirror hung vertically instead of horizontal.

A chandelier Andy bought me when we were first married and was sitting in a closet waiting for a new home.

Coastal White by Behr.

Black hardware from Osh.  $1.49 each.

Navy blue ceramic pulls from Cost Plus World Market.

$4.99 for a pack of two.

More pulls from World Market.

$4.99 each.

Love these.

A pillow on clearance for $3.24 at Target.  (It’s technically an “outdoor” pillow.  Evs.)

THE pillow from Target with yellow flowers that I’ve been coveting since I first saw it months ago…an ugly blue pillow on clearance at Sears for $4.99 that I added ruffles to with scraps I had (it has a hideous leaf pattern on the other side of it.  Shhhh…)…and the b/w pillow is from TJMaxx.

The yellow pillow ::swoon:: and the black and white pillow are the only two items in the entire room I paid full price for.

A whopping $24.99 and $12.99 respectively.

Normally I’m waaaaaayyyy too cheap to spend $25 on a single pillow.

But have you seen it???

I couldn’t help my cheap self.

Thanks to Lindsey for her over zealous email…

my husband for just chuckling when he sees me coming home with cans of paint and yet another project on my plate…

and my little sister Marcia for spending an entire weekend sanding, painting, moving, and basically slaving away on my room while we took turns wrangling the kids.

In the end, I spent under $250 to COMPLETELY renovate my bedroom…including making it look like I had brand new furniture!!!

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jeannett

I'm a mom to four. A wife to one. I believe in story. I love telling you about mine and would love to hear yours. There's really no sense in wasting our suffering and not sharing in each other's joy. We're all in this together...even if it doesn't always feel like it.

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