Ready? Before...
Needless to say, the room isn't quite done. The lava lamp doesn't really work for the space does it? I'll be sharing a tutorial on the herringbone accent walls soon.
and after!
Again! Before...
and after!
I am so excited to share this room with you all. This is the first room in our house that I have been able to redo from top to bottom. Every surface had to be repainted/rewired/torn out all together. I am so happy with the results. I must put in a disclaimer though...all photography in this blog has been produced by an iphone 4s/5s camera, so the colors are a lot more subdued in real life than they look in these photos. You get the basic idea though. Anyways... ONWARD!
One of my favorite things about this bedroom update is the ceiling fan. It took me forever to find the one I wanted, but even more frustrating was the installation. This room previously had knob and tube wiring. This project was way beyond my know-how, so I asked by dad (who pretty much knows everything) to 'help me out'. And when I say 'help me out' I really mean have him do all the hard stuff and I can hand him tools or something. I can't thank my dad enough for his hard work, its perfect.
My second favorite feature of the new bedroom is the herringbone accent on the walls. I've always thought of herringbone as chevron's cool older cousin. I painted this using painters tape, keeping the pattern loose and fun (perfection is my enemy).
Besides retouching the ceiling, walls and trim, this room also gave me my first opportunity to experiment with painting floors. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I would love to someday refinish all of the floors in our home, but right now is just not the time. These floors have been damaged pretty badly over the last century and my skill level/budget isn't were it should be for a project of that magnitude. So I painted. It wasn't all that difficult, but definitely time consuming as I chose to sand and paint by hand (no rollers here!).
So far its holding up nicely, with the exception of one bad scratch from trying to move furniture by myself. Not very bright of me. Fortunately floor paint goes a long way and I still have almost have half a gallon left for repairs and starting in on the next room.
Because this was my first time decorating a room from top to bottom, I wanted to avoid setting a budget for myself. Instead I took my time and purchased things like paint on a week to week basis as the project progressed. Because I saved money on simple things like spray painting the old floor grate and borrowing items from other rooms, I was able to spend a little more on decorative items that really make the room shine.
Save:
Rather than replacing hodgepodge closet shelving, I pulled off the mismatched contact paper, cleaned the boards thoroughly and then covered them with a coat of paint that unified the whole closet. The full length mirror was leftover from my dorm room days. I gave the cheap mirror a coat of spray paint and now it doesn't look so bad.
Splurge:
Mounted antler necklace holder. How could I resist. (From Marshall's. I don't feel that guilty)
BTW, this phoot is more representative of the paint color in real life. Hosta, Martha Stewart.
Save:
Runner to cover damaged floors. Nuff said.
Splurge:
The bedding. Yes, I knowingly bought an egregiously overpriced bedding set from Target. But I love it. And doesn't true love conquer all? I just hope it holds up in the wash.
Save:
Pretty much everything else. Furniture is all hand-me-down. I broke the mirror on the dresser trying to move it by myself (hence the only scratch on the newly painted floors), but besides replacing that, they were completely free. Half of the artwork was thrifted/gifted. The beautiful watercolor prints were purchased several years ago at Art on the Green in Coeur d 'Alene and are by Dean Crouser from Mt. Hood.
