Tracy's Trinkets and Treasures: Not One But Two Bedroom Makeovers.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Not One But Two Bedroom Makeovers.

I redid my room several years ago, before I found blog world. The room was a big transformation so I wanted to share about it. I only have one before photo and I wish I had more, but the one photo shows how badly the room needed a change. The walls were a dirty white flat paint when we bought the house. In the before photo I had already painted the room a wheat color. The furniture I had was pine in a box build it yourself from Sam’s Warehouse. I had it before I got married and at the time whitewashing was a big thing. So I built it and whitewashed it. Then I moved and my new master bedroom was bigger and my furniture in a box was looking more like the children’s furniture and not like grown up furniture. I tried painting it espresso brown. It helped, but it was still not right. So I splurged and bought new furniture which meant new everything else also needed to happen. I painted my old furniture in a box navy blue and it made great “new” furniture for my son’s room. I will take you through the changes. We will start with the before master bedroom photo.

The curtains were from 1970 and I only had one pine nightstand so the little round table on the other side just didn’t look right with cords hanging off the back. The not so young and hip comforter contrasted badly with the wheat walls. The cheap faux wood headboard was not working. It was white and I tried to paint it espresso brown and wheat. The good news is all of my old furniture looks awesome in my son’s room. That helped me justify the expense of my new furniture. I am so good at justifying it is ridiculous. I think it looks like Pottery Barn furniture with the navy blue paint. Here is the armoire and his bedroom makeover.

Here is my improved master bedroom.

The cornice board above the bed was the old one. I recovered it in a black and tan gingham print. I wasn’t sure if I would like it or not so I sat it up on the brackets one night without screwing it into place so I could look at if for awhile and decide…..big mistake! Apparently your home vibrates at night and that heavy wood cornice board fell right on my face while I was sleeping. It didn’t hurt me as badly as it could have but you could tell I had an accident. When it hit, I was dreaming a brick came through the windshield of my car and hit me in the face. Weird huh? The old comforter is hidden away in my $60 duvet cover. I needed some pillows to match the black accents so I sewed some king size cases to match the cornice board that yes I did decide to keep even though it assaulted me. I also made the red floral print pillows. I saw some Ralph Lauren pricey pillows and tried to copy them. Worked for me. A trick to keeping the cost even lower is I used plain red fabric on the back. You can buy a lot less of the decorative fabric this way. I used the old drapery hooks and put my new curtain rings on them so my curtains easily slide back and forth. Works like a charm. Here they are closed.

The old trunk was my mom’s and the little black chair to the left is trash to treasure. It was missing a seat and my husband nailed some fence pickets on it to make a seat. Amazing what a can of spray paint can do to make it all look like it goes together.

This is my favorite wall. I painted everything espresso brown with a rust color accent so it would go together. I have a collection of bottles on the shelf. Some were my mom’s and my son bought me the tall one for my birthday years ago. I made the “stained” glass out of plexi glass and stain glass paint. The bottom black and white photo is my son. Gerber use to do a Gerber baby photo if you sent them a photo of your baby they would send you back a Gerber baby print. Of course you had to pay for it, but I love it. The top baby photo is my husband. He had the strangest shape head for a baby. Thank goodness he has a full head of hair at 43 and it seems to be holding on.

I really love my furniture. It is distressed black with brown aged tops. This armoire is my favorite piece. The tv sits inside the left, but it still has plenty of drawer space on the right. Perfect. The chair on the left was my mom’s. Someday it will get reupholstered. I keep thinking the arms might be wood underneath the fabric. If so, maybe I can reupholster it myself. I made a valance that is clipped on with curtain clips to mimic the cornice board on the window above the bed.

This is the dresser that goes with the set. Nothing special to talk about here other than lots of drawer space and it doesn’t look like it came from a Pottery Barn kids catalog.