Our master bedroom has taken a backseat to many other projects.
We bought nightstands, organized the closet, hung an awkward curvy headboard under the window and pretty much lived with it like that for the past year. But I finally said to HH, “Enough is enough! Time to make this a room we want to sleep in every night.” I’ve slowly been acquiring pieces over the past six months and recently repainted. This past weekend we got around to hanging window treatments and installing new lighting. We’re not done with the room just yet but take a peek.
Clearly, I am still in the process of fine tuning the details {nightstand styling, hemming curtains, adding accessories, etc.} but I am already in love with this room.
It’s so weird. I had envisioned a dark and moody bedroom but somehow I ended up with a calm and airy one. If it had been totally up to me, I would have gone for those dark walls but HH was leery and told me more than once he didn’t want to feel like he was sleeping in a cave. So we went lighter and I’m surprised by how much I like it! The wall color {Benjamin Moore half moon crest} reminds me of a light gray-blue oxford shirt and it’s growing on me. Big time.
We hung a curtain rod above the closet and added four floor-to-ceiling curtains. It’s so nice not to see our jumble of clothes from bed.
The panels easily slide over to give us access to the closet. We thought doors would have been too cumbersome and we like how the curtains balance out the window on the other side of the room. And hanging the curtains high on the wall go a long way in making the room feel bigger.
We hung woven blinds and curtains on the window opposite the closet. The plan is to embellish the plain white curtains {maybe on the closet too?} with ribbon or something. And hem them. Obviously. I always like to wash, dry, iron and hang curtains BEFORE I hem them so I know they aren’t going to shrink up on me.
Ideally, I wouldn’t put my bed under a window unless it was architecturally interesting but we don’t really have a choice in this room. I tried to make the most of it. I looked at a bunch of pictures online of beds in front of windows. Many of them showed curtains falling behind the headboard but they were a little too fussy for me. The images I liked most were of simply dressed windows. So we just hung some woven blinds and called it a day. I like the texture and laid back feel of the shade.
We also switched out the curvy headboard for a straighter one to help the bed “fit” under the window better. I made sure to find one that wouldn’t overlap with the window. We love the original slate windowsills and like showing them off.
Our bedroom receives very little natural light. To keep it bright, good artificial lighting is a must. We added a new ceiling fixture, a table lamp on a dresser on the other side of the room and two swing arm lamps flanking the bed. The swing arm lamps are my favorite pieces in the room and are super functional for two like-to-read-in-bed kinda people. I actually ordered the wall lamps back in January and they’ve been sitting boxed on our dresser up until a few days ago. I was waiting to paint and receive our new headboard before we hung them. There has been a running joke in our bedroom for the past several months…
HH, trying to read his Handyman magazine by the light of a lone lightbulb on the ceiling: Boy, it sure would be nice to have some reading lights in here.
Me: Technically, we do have reading lights in here. They’re just in boxes.
The lamps support up to 75W which is more than enough for nighttime reading. The arm and shade are adjustable but I need to WD40 them. They’re a little stiff. I was this close to ordering the lamps in silver. That was my initial safe choice. But I am so glad I went for the antique brass. They feel so grown up. And I do turn 35 this year. Now if I could only keep my teenaged inappropriate humor under wraps…NAH. Borrrrrrrrring. {In my defense, I did just quell the urge to throw in a “that’s not the only stiff thing in the bedroom” joke. So sorry.}
The room is narrow so I thought horizontal striped bedding would make it feel wider. Plus, I never met a stripe I didn’t like.
I know you guys probably have a bunch of questions about where I got what but, if you don’t mind, I’d rather address those in a true “after” post. Especially since I’ll be adding in more accessories. But if there is something you are just itching to get your hands on, ask in the comments and I’ll be sure to source it for you. I just couldn’t wait any longer to share how things are looking.
In the meantime, I’ll be hanging out in my bedroom tweaking ’til my heart’s content. It’s funny. I used to blaze through this room on the way to the bathroom {the other bathroom is still gutted} and do my nighttime reading in the living room on the sofa but, now, I want to be in this room all. the. time. And it’s not even done.
images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking
DIY, interior design