Day Dreaming About Bedtime

The only thing I knew I for sure wanted for the direction of our bedroom was that it had to be visually uncluttered. With the busyness of life and all the toys and random stuff that comes with kids, I want a place of visual calm to go to at the end of the day.

After pouring over pinned images of bedrooms that I love I narrowed it down to my two favorites (neither of which are as visually calming as I had in mind for our room)...

Guest Bedroom by Emily Henderson

Master Bedroom by Emma Reddington

 They both have quite different vibes. The guest room designed by Emily Henderson is preppier, more tailored, and to me has a younger feel. Emma Reddington's master bedroom (the designer behind The Marion House Book) is more casual and rustic and travelled. I love both a million times over but how, with such completely different feels-and neither of the them being the more minimal look I'm after- does that help me figure out the direction I want to go in my room? Well,  for all their differences they do have a number of shared qualities. Neither space is matchy matchy, they both mix many different textiles, colors and patterns. Both have a heavy dose of inky blues and both rooms are light and airy with the exception of the bedding. This last point was probably the most important for me to realize because I have always LOVED white bedding. I have had white bedding for at least the last 15 years. Nothing feels as clean and fresh, and just makes me want to fall into it, than a bed with fluffy clean white bedding bathed in sunlight. However now with three kids I spend very little daylight hours in my room. A cozy bed layered with moodier colors in a mixture of textures and pattern now makes so much sense to me.  Against a white/cream/light grey backdrop I think the room will still have the calming quality I'm after while the bed will be a cozy corner to crawl into at the end of the day.

This is what's on my radar right now.

1. Ikea BJORNLOKA LINJE Curtains- 2. West Elm Linen Cotton Duvet Cover- 3. Dell Shop Etsy vintage textile-
4. West Elm Organic Lattice Sheet Set- 5. Pottery Barn Valencia Tall Dresser- 6. Jessica Rae Sommer Portrait-
7. CB2 Satellite Pendant Lamp

1. The curtains are a sure thing. I bought them on an Ikea run this weekend. It's hard to tell from this picture but they have thin black stitched stripes running vertically down the otherwise white cotton panel. They are light and airy and won't compete with the dark bedding but because of the black stitching will still tie in.

2. The grey west elm duvet cover will be on my bed hopefully by the end of next month. It's back ordered right now but I ordered it this weekend while they were having a 30% off sale. It's a linen cotton blend so it will be soft and slubby and hopefully give my bed the causal laid back vibe I'm after. Everything else is still up in the air.

3. The blue vintage textile is an Etsy find that I think would make some great accent pillows. There are so many gorgeous vintage pieces on etsy. I also really love the colors in this one...

The Little Grass Hut Etsy shop

...but it looks like it has dead fish on it and dead fish on my bed somehow doesn't scream "come cuddle" - but maybe that's just  me?

4. These sheets are still a maybe. I love the way the golden yellow will look with the charcoal grey duvet and inky blue pillows and I like the subtle pattern. I've spent enough money on this room for this month though so we'll see if I still want them after my bank account has had some time to breathe.

5. The dresser in the picture is purely for inspiration. Trent and I are keeping our eyes out on Kijiji for a tall wood dresser that is either already a nice warm wood tone- to complement the leather bench- or can be refinished in one. We want something tall to help replace some of the drawers lost after switching from two dressers to one.

6. The portrait is by super talented artist Jessica Rae Sommer, and I love her work! This piece is a favorite. I think it would fit in nicely with a couple other black and white photos and maybe a more masculine art piece for Trent, over the dresser. Trent thinks a picture of a stranger drinking wine in our bedroom is weird. I'm pretending she's drinking coke because that's my favorite after a long day (yup, I'm super classy/healthy like that). As for the stranger danger thing I think he just needs to get over it. Besides, she's looking down so it's not like we'll see her staring at us while we're changing or during other private moments.

7. I'm also hoping to DIY something similar to the CB2 light fixture. I Think it will be a great sculptural piece to balance all the layers of fabric in the room.

As for a headboard I want something comfortable to lean against so something upholstered will happen somewhere down the line. Both Trent and I love this one...

simplyseductive.blogspot.ca 

We're thinking we will try to DIY a simpler version of this, not as tall and less tufting with no wrap around but something similar to this color. Our room still has a long way to go and will evolve over the course of the next few months but I'll keep you posted as things happen along the way.

P.S. I always love to hear from you! What's your opinion on "strangers" in the bedroom? If you could add/replace one thing in your room what would it be?

The Little Bench That Could

Posting these next few photos is not the easiest thing to do. Kinda embarrassing. My master bedroom is the most neglected area in our home. Our door is always firmly closed when people come to visit and I go in there only to sleep. It hasn't really changed at all since the day Trent and I moved in three years ago...

We plunked down our king sized bed centered on the biggest wall in the room. We placed a couple of cheapy Ikea MALM dressers along the one side and Trent cut a piece of white laminate to go across the top so the dressers could act as a vanity. Not a lot of thought went into it but we just needed to get it up and functional. Over the course of the last few years I would lay in bed at night staring at the closet and bathroom door, on the opposite side of the room, and try to think of what I wanted to see happen in this space. Let me tell you, bathroom doors and closets are not a very inspiring view. A complete decorating block.

Enter the little bench that could. My mom found this great vintage leather bench at an auction and walked away with it for $5.00. It has a small split in the stitching but other than that it's in great shape. She was hoping she could flip it online. When I saw it in her living room last weekend I knew Trent would love it and thought maybe it could work at the end of our bed. After some tough negotiating my mom said I could have it for $10.00. Win win- I still got a great deal and my mom made %100 on her investment. As expected Trent was pretty excited when I lugged it into the house at 11:00 at night. 

However it didn't work with the height of our bed and even if we lowered the bed there wasn't much room left between the bench and the closet doors. 

There really was nowhere else in the house it could go  other than our bedroom (with only 1100 square feet and 3 kids space fills up fast) and I wasn't ready to give it up just yet.

This little bench has completely unblocked me. My dreaming went a little like this- wouldn't the bench look great under the windows... if only the bed wasn't in the way... where else could the bed possibly go?... It would fit along the walls where the dressers are, but then there is no where for both dressers... wait a minute? Haven't the dressers only really served as a place for piles of junk that need to be sorted and it's always so covered in crap that you can't do your makeup there anyway? (did I mention a whole lot of stuff got shovelled into the closet before we snapped these pics)... Why yes that is very true Cory... light bulb moment. So the dressers have been separated and one moved out, the bed now faces the windows and the bench is in it's rightful place under them. I can't get enough of the new layout, the room feels so much bigger, and the new view out the south facing windows is much more inspiring. Now my brain is going crazy with decorating ideas and I'll give you a rundown on a few of them next week, once I've had time to organize my thoughts. I think it's safe to say that this room can only get better.

It's amazing how one little item and some furniture shifting can really inspire you. So if you're stuck in a similar place feeling like nothing is really working then try moveing some pieces around and reevaluate what really needs to stay, and see if that gets things going.  

Picture Frame Headboard Reveal

Better late than never? Sorry for the delay friends.

As everyone knows, all great makeover posts start with a super pretty before photo. Check it out...

When my sister (Erin) and her fiance (Alex) moved into their home just over two years ago they painted the whole house grey and wanted a punch of color in the bedroom to go with their all white bedding. They chose this pretty blue- young and fun. After hearing there bedroom was painted blue Alex's Grandma made them this beautiful quilt in shades of blue. Unfortunately the wall color and the quilt were just not getting a long. Once Erin and I had decided a headboard makeover was in the works for the Winter Pinterest Challenge it just seemed like the perfect time to repaint. We knew we needed something that wouldn't compete with the quilt and Erin wanted something light and airy so we chose Benjamin Moore Dune White. It's a creamy white with a slightly greyish undertone.

We bought Benjamin Moore's Aura paint because I have never ever needed more than two coats to cover even the darkest color and we knew we wouldn't have time to get up more than two for what was supposed to be our one day project. Of course things can't ever go completely to plan- That lovely blue ended up needing FOUR coats to cover! Even with that curve ball, the one hour drying time between coats and my awesome husband jumping into help paint made it possible to finish in one (slightly later than expected) evening. If you haven't used the Aura paint I would highly recommend it. It is pricey but it goes a long way. Four coats (and seriously that is so rare) only took one gallon of paint to paint a master bedroom.

This is how things are looking today with the black and white photo's Alex took of his and Erin's trip to Europe. The room feels really calming and more grown up now. The color is beautiful. I love it so much I'm thinking of using it in my master. It's nice and warm and yet still fresh and clean.

To create the headboard we used the RIBBA frames from Ikea in the dark glossy gray finish. We chose a dark frame for the pictures to help balance the visual weight of the quilt. Something heavy/dark on the bottom needs something heavy/dark up top to balance it. It's kinda like Kim Kardashian. She has a beautiful body and she can pull off that curvy butt because she's also blessed up top. Without that balance I'm going to guess there would be no Kardashian empire.

While we were at Ikea we also picked up (honestly, is it possible to go there and only come out with the one thing you went in for?)  three large throw pillows with the AKERKULLA pillow covers to act as a buffer between the frames and the back of Erin and Alex's head when they are sitting up in bed. 

The reason we didn't hang the frames high enough to clear their heads is because it would have looked way to tall and the dead space between the bed and the photos would have been awkward and we would have lost the headboard effect.

I really love the way it turned out, the frames have such an big impact. I also love that they're so versatile. If Erin and Alex end up getting a real headboard or moving someday then the frames can be split up or rehung above the guest bed.

And for once all the photos in this post are my own. Moving up in the world. Still a lot to learn but making progress. Check back tomorrow to see what's inspiring me to finally tackle my master bedroom.