master bedroom before, to-do list, & inspiration

Probably no one but me remembers that when it comes to decorating our house I was intending to work on one space at a time. The last time I talked about this was in May and I was going to tackle the buffet area. Well nothing has been done in that arena but I do have some ideas that shouldn’t be too hard to implement and I’ll definitely update when I get around to it. However right now I have a different area in mind:

I am so excited to work on our bedroom!! Even though everyone says it should be the first room you set up in a new place, we definitely fell into the temptation of letting it slide since no one but us sees it. Now we’ve been here five years and it is pathetically neglected. No longer, I say!

So, I can hardly believe I’m doing this but I’m going to share some before pictures with you. I almost couldn’t stand to do this without an after, so I’m compromising by sharing some “in progress” photos because recently we painted the walls & ceiling (yay)!

Here is our room in all its neglected glory. Our mattress is amazing and the room is a great size with a big window, but the rest is kind of hideous. The walls are powder blue and the trim is a dirty cream color. We painted the trim in the rest of the house white but I lost momentum when it came to our room so it’s stayed. We have hardly any furniture and nothing on the walls.

The double doors lead to Meredith’s room/the nursery and thankfully they’ve already been painted white. The knobs are roped together with fabric to keep the dogs from getting in. You can see here where portions of the carpet have been torn up by our dogs.

This is my side of the bed. I threw a quilt down on the ground because underneath the carpet is torn all the way to the sub floor. I didn’t bother to remove the other random pillows and blankets that I left there. It’s a true before, okay?

Here’s my night stand with random stuff. I love that oval box and I might keep the branches too. Definitely want to upgrade from the cheapest IKEA lamp there was. The point is it needs some thought and styling.

This is opposite the bed. The carpet…ugh. The TV needs to go because we never watch it and it’s huge. We just had it leftover from David’s bachelor days. The dresser is his old one too. I want to get a long, low one that won’t block the window. This window is also the last one that we haven’t upgraded the blinds on, and we’ve been hanging a sheet up for curtains. Really classy.

This is a little built-in bookshelf that needs styling.

This is the view straight on from the door, and I want to show how there is no door to our bathroom. My plan is to put up a curtain.

Last weekend we painted, and now the room looks like this!

Ahh blank slate.

In a couple of weeks there will be beautiful new carpet in there too. I can’t wait.

Now, on to the to-do list for the room…

• Paint the walls and ceiling
• Replace the carpet
• Replace the blinds
• Change out the light switch plates & electrical outlets for white ones
• Add curtains
• Hang a curtain in front of the bathroom door
• New blanket & extra pillows for the bed (My dream is to make a blanket like this but I know it’ll take forever, especially since I don’t yet know how to crochet. So I’ll be on the lookout in thrift stores.)
• Some kind of headboard
• Bedside table for David (maybe try and build one like this?)
• Replace the knobs on my bedside table
• Add lamps
• A bench or seating for the foot of the bed
• New dresser
• Lose the giant TV
• Hanging plants in front of the window (kind of like this)
• Art for the walls
• Styling for the tables, dresser, and built-in bookshelf

And who doesn’t love some inspiration photos?

Source.

I love this for the bench at the foot of the bed, the shelf as a kind of headboard, the lived-in feel, and the mismatched bedside tables that aren’t actually tables.

Source.

Why not do curtains as a headboard? Or hang a tapestry? We have a pretty big wall to fill so it could work. Also, a wind chime to hang in the bedroom is like a grown-up mobile. Love it. :)

Source.

A bench with storage at the end of the bed would be fantastic. And bookshelves as a bedside table! We could so make that work.

All of these photos (and more of my favorites) have white walls which is why I decided to go that direction. It’s so calming and lets all the natural textures and colors be the focus. I can’t wait to start decorating for real.