Merry Christmas!

The Evolution of Our Bedroom

You've met before here, but it was only very brief. So come on in and meet our master bedroom. It started out as this--floral paper with floral border and bright blue trim and doors. Cute. Oh, and those awesome curtains. I'm glad I took pictures of the room when we first bought our house because I really don't remember it being this bad...

And then one morning I woke up after living in the house for about 2 months and starting to pick at the wallpaper, which turned into full wallpaper removal. Thankfully, Stuart's mom and 3 sisters came to help and it took all 6 of us working together a full afternoon to remove the wallpaper and prep the walls for paint.

After removing the wallpaper we primed and patched for paint.

And here is the only picture I can find to show what our roomed looked after the paint but before anything else (sike, you know I just wanted to show a pic of how I used to be able to hold Smyth on my hip like a baby). Our bed was against the right wall of our bedroom under the sconces (see picture above--hard to see sconces in picture below) and other than a dresser across from the bed, we just had that little MDF bedside table with that tiny lamp! Roughing it, but we didn't know it.

So without further ado, here is our bedroom now after nearly 2 years of evolving to become what it is today. Our bed is now centered under that large window instead of under the sconces. This girl couldn't take any more jumping across Stuart to get to my side of the bed. It makes much more sense to have the bed this way and it has better flow--it's no longer cutting the room in half when you walk in, if that makes sense.

And here is a shot from the opposite corner. That mirrored door is our closet (which is still bright blue inside--yikes!). The only items in this entire room that we had when we moved in were that cream chair, that lamp on the dresser, and the taller 5 drawer dresser 2 pictures below. Every.single.other.piece. (down to our mattress pad) was acquired after we moved in!

Here is a shot taken with my back to our bedroom door.

And another.

A little closer...

Facing our bed head--on.

And a shot taken with my back to the other window and chair.

And now for some close-ups. Stuart and I just made these bedside tables and are loving them! Full post coming up next on how we did it.

This is Stuart's side of the bed. He's a simple guy--just needs his alarm clock and a lamp, really. He would be fine with nothing else, but I added a picture of us and this tiny porcelain dog. The dog has special meaning--my great great grandparents' (I think that's right) house burned to the ground many years ago and that little dog is the only thing they found in the remains. Stuart was a little nervous to be responsible for the pup after I told him that story!

And welcome to my side of the bed.

We just got these butterfly prints at a wonderful, local store here in Hickory owned by our good friends. I've painted one of the frames gold, but plan to gold leaf both of the frames and paint the matte white. I love the octagonal shape!

And on my bedside table I've got 2 little porcelain birds, a blue bowl that holds my dental floss, nail clippers, and hair ties (the essentials, people), and that red plate.

And for another close-up, this is Stuart's dresser. It was the first piece of furniture my parents ever bought after they were married :).

And hanging over the dresser is one of our favorite things! My brother commissioned our good friend to paint this portrait of our house as a wedding gift. 

And here is a close-up of our beaded molding. My dad hung this for us as a gift for Christmas 2010. It's still hanging, Dad!

We've still got lots of plans for this room, including DIYing an upholstered headboard and making pillows for the bed. Here is a sneak peek at some of the fabrics.

The large oak that sits in front of our house is directly outside our bedroom window. My mom always says she feels like she is in a treehouse when she sits in our room--I would have to agree!

And I would be lying if I told you that we only have one bed in our room...this little lady sleeps every night on her Serta dog mattress at the foot of our bed!

Here is the skinny on what else we'd still like to do in here:

-install bamboo blinds on the 3 windows

-buy a white coverlet (instead of using a down insert at the foot of our bed)

-make pillows (already have the inserts + fabric, just need to get sewing!)

-DIY an upholstered headboard

-relocate sconces, possibly to either side of the long dresser opposite the bed

-find 3 large, square frames for the long wall (currently w/ the sconces) on Stuart's side of the bed to balance the room out

-paint the ceiling (white, it just needs a fresh coat)

-frame the house painting

-possibly make runners for our bedside tables

-gold leaf the frames and paint the mattes of our butterly prints

And here is a source list for anyone wondering where we got our stuff:

-rug: Pottery Barn Outlet

-bedding (duvet + bedskirt): Pottery Barn

-curtain fabric: purchased @ Martha's Fabrics in SC (sorry, not sure the name of the fabric but I do know they also have it @ Mary Jo's in Gastonia, NC)

-chair + lamp on longer dresser: IKEA

-5 drawer dresser: handed down by my parents

-longer dresser + bedside lamps: Habitat

-bedside tables: IKEA Rast tables (although very much enhanced--post to come!)

-butterfly prints: The Hickory Tree

-picture frames + blue bowl on my bedside table: TJ Maxx

-red plate on my bedisde table: Target

-ceramic birds on my bedside table: Jenny's in Hickory

-clock on Stuart's bedside table: IKEA

-Smyth's bed (it really is a Serta--who knew?): Sam's Club

-curtain rods: Amazon

See something I missed? Any questions? Leave me a comment!

And so you don't have to scroll back up to get one last before and after--our room when we bought the house:

And (nearly) the same vantage point today:

Dollar Finds

Just wanted to pop in with some things I found at Dollar Tree yesterday--hard to pass things up when they only cost $1!

 

First up are these silver trays that came in these three different styles. I have been trying to find similar trays at our Habitat store but had only found one so far. I only got these three, but I might have to go back and get some more!

 

Close up.

 

I've got plans for these--involving chalkboard paint.

 

 

source

 

 

Next up are these small wire baskets. They had these in a variety of sizes, including trashcans. I thought they could be cute in really any room and would be easy to spraypaint for a different look.

 

Close up.

 

And lastly are these dish towels. With no holidays coming up any time soon, I was needing something to replace my 4th of July towels. Wa-lah! Some good finds for a grand total of $7. Happy Monday, everyone!

 

 

Fun Finds As Of Late

Seems like lately I have been finding lots of great accessories for our house. Before we bought our house and got married, I really couldn't afford to be building up an accessory stockpile. My roommates and I were on a hotdog and mac + cheese budget for the most part, if you know what I mean (which, admittedly, I still eat sometimes because it's just so darn good)! So as of late I've slowly started to fill our home with things we love and move towards making each space have its own personal touch. Here are a few things that I've picked up lately...

This basketweave rug for the front door. It's great because it hides dirt, especially from puppy paws.

(Tuesday Morning: $14.99)

This hyacinth basket, which will hold pieces of wood by our fireplace once the chilly season rolls back around. (TJ Maxx: $19.99 --very similar to the Beachcomber extra large round basket at Pottery Barn for a cool $129)

 

This sweet tray with caning and chicken wire. I've been using it on the luggage rack at the foot of our twin beds.

(Tuesday Morning: $19.99)

This Robert Abbey lamp, with floral detail. Robert Abbey (well known lamp designer) has a warehouse in Hickory and several weeks ago they had a huge lamp sale. This girl (me!) actually got to go to the sale a day early for the "Friends and Family" day because my boss was invited and sent me in her place. The sale is AMAZING. There are people loading up entire pallets of lamps for extremely low prices. This lamp was $5 and retails at $200+!

(Robert Abbey: $5)

Close up detail of the floral wraparound (note: the color on the lamp is solid black--not sure why it looks like there are specks here--does not look that way at all in person!)

(source: http://www.hometone.com/ceramic-table-lamps-10-beautiful.html)

These lamps come in all different colors and my ultimate plan is to spraypaint mine, as I don't love the black. I think white would look so sweet in a little girl's room!

(source: http://www.neenaslighting.com/product.aspx?model=1821-07-00146)

I also love this blue-gray--we'll see what color it ends up!

 

This plate with the fun design. I think it's intended to be a salad plate but I use mine as a plate to hold various items on my bedside table.

(Target: $2.99 I think!)

This wicker wastebasket for our gray guest bedroom--another precious purchase :) I love the scalloped look at the top.

(Tuesday Morning: $17.99)

These capiz frames that are on either side of our bed. I love that they tie in to one another with their capiz-i-ness, but have very different designs.

(TJ Maxx: $6ish each)

Another find from the Robert Abbey lamp sale. This lamp will be for our desk once we get it set up in the gray guest bedroom. It retails for $190+, but I got it at the sale for $15.

(Robert Abbey: $15)

I'm a fan of its industrial look--and you can adjust the bulb up or down with these little knobs. It's a nice masculine lamp compared to the uber-feminine floral lamp that we got at the sale.

This hyacinth wastebasket for our master bedroom (I'm kind of into hyacinth + wastebaskets right now, if you can't tell...the place where you put your trash is so much better when it's attractive!)

(Pier 1: $19.99)

And this tiny hyacinth basket (told you I was into it right now), which holds my makeup on top of our vanity.

(Pier 1: $2.99ish)

This antique clock and oval frame (frame to be painted and flowers removed!).

(Gas station/antiques near our house in Blowing Rock: $5 total)

And lastly, this sweet pottery bowl with a wavy edge that we picked up a few weekends ago at an art festival in Hickory.

(Outlaw Pottery: $10)

So that about wraps up my accessory hunting as of late. I may be new to the hunt, but I can already tell it's going to take many years (my whole life?) to finish out all of our spaces. I like that.

And this pretty much sums up how Louise feels about most everything, and especially my accessory photoshoot. Happy Thursday everyone!