Once upon a time our bedroom was a very scary place.

From what we can discern, the previous owner used it as a painting studio. The room was home to dozens of canvases and numerous dressers holding art supplies when we first toured the house. The green shag carpet was horribly stained. One corner of the room showed signs of water damage. (We later learned from neighbors that a tree fell and damaged that corner of the house when Hurricane Ike barreled through in 2008.)

The room faces northeast and receives the least amount of natural light of all the rooms in the house. In the summer (shown here and in the “afters” below), the room takes on an eerie green glow.

An adjoining bathroom – albeit small – was the only thing this room had going for it. Please notice the dark trail from the hallway to the bathroom. (!) I don’t even want to know. Let’s hope it was paint.

We added foam insulation to the exterior walls, ripped up the carpet, sprung for new windows, laid engineered hardwood flooring, installed chunky new baseboards and had the electrical upgraded to include a ceiling fixture. Among other things. Choosing a paint color for this room proved difficult. Before moving in, we painted it the same color as the main living space but the light hue looked very dingy in this room. I repainted the walls a warm gray with green-blue undertones that play nicely in the dim light. Sometimes it looks gray. Sometimes it looks green. Sometimes it looks blue. But it always feels calm and soothing – even under artificial lighting at night.

Placing the bed under the eastern window was our only viable option in this room. I initially bought a curved headboard but the lines were all wrong under the squarish window. I switched it out for the straight, upholstered one seen here.

In each of the bedrooms, we ditched the closet doors in favor of curtain panels hung high and wide. For us, it’s easier to access the closet contents this way. The panels make it feel a little like a dressing experience, too, if that makes any sense. Most of the time, I stand inside the closet to dress. Hanging the curtains outside of the frame gave us a good 6″ of extra closet depth. All of Steve’s and my clothing is in this modest closet. Everything is organized with off-the-shelf wire racks and drawers. We were even able to incorporate two pull-out hampers (one for darks, one for lights) in the closet design. Shoes currently not in rotation are stored in the slim wall cabinet to the right of the closet.

We’ve been pleasantly surprised by how wonderful it is to have a pared down closet. Steve and I both enjoy expressing our styles via our wardrobes and, before living in this house, we were accustomed to large, walk-in closets. What we’ve found though is that we are much more focused on quality vs. quantity when it comes to buying clothing now. We’re spending less money on clothing by buying more long-haul pieces. Since space is limited (we have a set number of hangers and shelves) we subscribe to the “one thing in, one thing out” policy. And the closet is always tidy! Don’t let anyone fool you into believing you need a walk-in closet to be happy.

Matching sconces and nightstands flank the bed. Framed prints bridge the gap between the sconces and the top of the nightstands. We don’t keep too much bedside but I love having greenery (I clip it from the backyard) and a stack of books nearby.

For cohesion, we hung the same woven shades found throughout the house. For privacy, we installed blackout roller shades within each window frame. They aren’t visible until we pull them down at night. A nubby jute rug picks up on the woven blinds.

I tried to keep the bedding gender neutral with a striped duvet and embroidered hemp pillow. IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: I like stripes and natural textures.

A vintage dresser sits opposite the bed. I think it’s my favorite craigslist find of all time. The black and white abstract art was painted by the previous owner. I leaned it against the wall to “try it out” nearly two years ago and liked the casual look so much I left it that way.

We rigged the top dresser drawer so that it’s hinged and can be used as a keyboard pull-out. It’s lined with cork so no mouse pad is needed. The “dresker” is the perfect place for Steve to take evening conference calls or work from home when necessary. I keep a wool blanket in the second drawer for freezing winter nights but the bottom two drawers are empty!

This is the view looking into the bedroom from the doorway. You can barely see the door frame to the bathroom on the left. The large canvas was a controversial DIY. (You can read more about it via a link near the end of this post. There’s an interesting discussion in the comments section.) I love it nonetheless.

It took us every bit of two years to get our bedroom just right. I can still remember the nights of insomnia staring at the ceiling contemplating this room. My goal was to create a peaceful place to retreat at the end of every busy day. I can’t say I won’t tweak things in here ever again but it does offer the calming respite I was hoping for. We sleep well.

UPDATE: I added DIY leather pulls to the shoe cabinet and switched out the rectangular mirror for a round one. You can read about that project here. I also refreshed our bed with a new mattress, linens and pillows. You can find the bedroom refresh here.

Resources of note:

wall paint – Benjamin Moore half moon crest
trim paint – Benjamin Moore white dove
flooring – Jasper engineered hardwood handscraped birch in Texas brown via Build Direct
ceiling fixture – Robert Abbey axis aged brass ceiling light
woven shades – petite rustique from Overstock
blackout roller shades – Levolor from Lowe’s
curtain panels – Ikea
curtain rods – Target
closet organization – ClosetMaid
bed – West Elm (discontinued)
headboard – West Elm nailhead upholstered headboard in brushed heather cotton, gray haze
duvet – DwellStudio draper stripe
white blanket – Target
embroidered pillow – OrientalTribe11 on etsy
sconces – House of Troy addison swing arm lamp in antique brass
nightstands – Vilas one-drawer nightstand from Overstock (I spray painted the knobs gold.)
wood frames – Target
art prints – printwork on etsy
yarn-wrapped gazelle – Target
Barcelona bench – Rove Concepts in palermo caramel leather
sheepskin – Ikea
9′ x 12′ jute rug – Overstock
shoe cabinet – Ikea (I spray painted the knobs gold.)
mirror – RSI from Wayfair
desk chair – West Elm saddle office chair
kilim pillow – Sukan on etsy
chevron art – DIY
dresser – vintage Willett via craigslist
lamp – Robert Abbey delta table lamp
black and white abstract art – estate sale
faux antlers – One Kings Lane
driftwood sculpture – thrifted

If you’re interested in seeing how this room evolved, here are a slew of bedroom-related links:

FURNITURE

*https://www.housetweaking.com/2012/08/10/recent-purchases-3/

*https://www.housetweaking.com/2013/06/11/i-like-to-move-it-move-it/

*https://www.housetweaking.com/2013/06/17/wayfair-in-the-house-lets-talk-about-my-bed/

*https://www.housetweaking.com/2013/09/06/a-desk-disguised-as-a-dresser-a-k-a-the-dresker/

*https://www.housetweaking.com/2014/02/17/a-bench-in-the-bedroom/

*https://www.housetweaking.com/2016/02/15/diy-leather-pulls-from-a-0-99-belt/

DECOR

*https://www.housetweaking.com/2012/03/29/looking-for-a-bedroom-light/

*https://www.housetweaking.com/2012/08/31/the-pursuit-of-a-casual-bedroom/

*https://www.housetweaking.com/2013/02/27/wayfair-in-the-house-swing-arm-wall-lamp/

*https://www.housetweaking.com/2013/06/05/i-dont-want-to-leave-my-bedroom/

*https://www.housetweaking.com/2013/06/17/wayfair-in-the-house-lets-talk-about-my-bed/

*https://www.housetweaking.com/2013/06/21/our-bedroom-window-treatments/

*https://www.housetweaking.com/2013/07/11/his-hers-nightstands/

*https://www.housetweaking.com/2013/08/01/wayfair-in-the-house-a-bedroom-mirror/

*https://www.housetweaking.com/2014/02/12/the-fruits-of-my-antiquing-adventure/

*https://www.housetweaking.com/2015/12/30/thoughts-on-bedside-sconces/

*https://www.housetweaking.com/2016/02/15/diy-leather-pulls-from-a-0-99-belt/

*https://www.housetweaking.com/2016/03/25/bedroom-refresh/

ORGANIZATION

*https://www.housetweaking.com/2012/06/14/closetsmaid-right/

*https://www.housetweaking.com/2013/10/25/making-the-most-of-small-closets-master-bedroom/

*https://www.housetweaking.com/2016/02/15/diy-leather-pulls-from-a-0-99-belt/

DIY

*https://www.housetweaking.com/2012/07/05/hold-the-door/

*https://www.housetweaking.com/2013/09/04/diy-hinged-drawer/

*https://www.housetweaking.com/2013/10/09/one-ticket-to-hell-please/

*https://www.housetweaking.com/2013/10/15/a-date-with-my-doors/

*https://www.housetweaking.com/2016/02/15/diy-leather-pulls-from-a-0-99-belt/

You can access this master bedroom tour along with a general house tour and individual room tours under the “See My House” tab in the side bar. Thanks for reading!

images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

*THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.*

Congrats to Vicki and Maria! I hope they enjoy the book as much as I do.

It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of Remodelista. The site is a constant source of inspiration and the book (by the same name) offers pages of eye candy along with healthy doses of useful information. It’s a winning combination of beauty + brains. The book made my good reads list last year and I included it in my gift of favorite things earlier this year. I’ve read it all the way through several times and find myself picking it up and leafing through the pages on a regular basis. If you don’t own a copy already, I would strongly suggest adding it to your design book arsenal.

Luckily, Remodelista is going to hook up two lucky readers with a signed copy of the book! See entry details below.

PRIZE: a signed copy of Remodelista (There will be TWO winners.)

RULES: You must be at least 18 years old and have a shipping address (no P.O. boxes please) within the U.S., UK or Canada (excluding Quebec) to enter. One entry per email address.

TO ENTER: Leave a comment on this post proclaiming “REMODELISTA ME!”

DEADLINE: Enter before Sunday, August 3rd at 9:00 p.m. EST. Two random winners will be announced Monday, August 4th.

WHILE YOU’RE AT IT: If you have a minute, check out the 2014 Remodelista Considered Design Awards. They feature both professional and amateur projects in various categories. Find inspiration and vote for your favorite!

BUT, WAIT!, THERE’S MORE: Our kitchen is featured in the Remodelista Rehab Diary series today! It’s a synopsis of the renovation so if you’ve followed along here, you might not learn anything new but it’s kinda cool to see three years of work condensed into one article written by someone other than me. If you would have told me three years ago that our Underdog would be featured on Remodelista one day, I would have laughed in your face. This s#!% is BANANAS. I’m honored…in the most self-deprecating way possible.

Good luck!

images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking