Master Bedroom Remodel Progress

For those of you who have been following since the beginning, you know that our master bedroom was the room that absolutely sold us on the house.  Ok, I'm lying - it was pretty awful.  We endearingly gave it the name master cave since it was covered top to bottom in faux wood paneling and extremely small - the majority of the world would not call this bedroom a master of anything.  We have not been able to change the size of the room but we have however given this room a lot of upgrades to make the room feel larger and also feel comfortable and relaxing.  Today we are taking a little trip down memory lane and looking at the progress we have made on this room so far.

Master cave beginnings - 

First thing we did was paint the walls (or paneling) a soft gray and the trim white.  We used Olympic no VOC paint in Secret Passage for the walls and Olympic no VOC paint in just plain old off the shelf white for the trim - both in eggshell finish.  For detailed instructions on how we painted our paneling check here.  Right off the bat this was a huuuuuge improvement and we loved it.  Painting this room immediately brought in light, made the room feel larger and offered a calm and relaxing feeling.

We didn't like our doorway at all - call us claustrophobic; so we took off the door and created a new fabric doorway - you can see how we used a table cloth from Target to do that here.  We actually really love not having a door here that is always banging on the wall and other doors and love the added color and the bright pattern the curtain brought in.

Next we hung our dramatic curtains - high and wide.  Instant sophistication.  Hanging your curtains higher and wider than your small little window will help bring your eye up and create a larger looking space -  check it out here!  

We also have brought in a rug for a little texture and pattern action to help pull the whole dramatic curtain thing together.  Rug is from Ikea ($19.99!)

I think our most favorite update is the new chandelier light fixture, this is definitely our main focal piece in the room.  It's amazing what a new light will do to a space.  If you don't do anything else - update your lighting, it takes years off of your old house and it's really easy, see how we did it here.  We found this chandelier at Ikea as well for $39.99 - a steal for an awesome light.

Finally we grabbed these side table chests, painted them (here) and found cute lighting to put on top.  Both from Ikea - Ikea Rast Drawer Chest - $29.99 and Table Lamp $16.99!  We love the added storage, balance and function these chests provide.  

This part of the room really hasn't changed much.  Our space is really small so we don't want to add any furniture until we find something we love and that is appropriately scaled for this little space.

Just a few shots, I love the lighting, can you tell?

I'm really wanting to add some pretty pillows for some much needed style to this bed - It's a comin'.

And, the final before and after (so far) - for a dramatic effect.

Some things on our list to do - pillows, artwork, shelving and maybe even a sitting chair - if we can work a small one in.  We love our room now, it's relaxing, inviting and feels like a little retreat (a grown-up space since our house is now a giant playroom for King Silas).  Thanks for being a part of our journey so far!  

The Verdict is Still Out

We have been working on a few things that have been lingering around and waiting for completion.  One of those things happens to be hanging curtains in our family room.  After we decided on the bamboo roman shades for the windows we didn't want to add a heavy or competing curtain since we like them so much.  So we immediately decided on finding a billowy, white, light and airy curtain.  Something that would add a finished look but without taking away our natural light and weighing down the space.  We purposefully hung the shades higher and a little wider in anticipation of adding curtains to help our room look higher and larger.  After looking around at a few places we determined that Ikea had the most affordable options so we went with the Wilma curtains -only $9.99 a pair!  They are white, billowish (yes, I just made that up) and light and airy - just what we were looking for.  I couldn't wait to see them up -- until they were up.  Now, to be honest we aren't so sure.  I don't know if it's because we have gone so long without curtains that it just seems weird to have them up now or if we just don't like them because we just don't like them.  Since we have had them up for a few days I can say that I am liking them a lot better and also after looking at the before and after shots.  So, we need your help - what do you think?  Curtains or no curtains?

I'm almost thinking that stretching out the curtain rods a little more and widening the curtain space would be better, maybe it just feels too scrunched?  I know that's what Justin wants to hear since he already re-hung them twice because I didn't like them the first time.  I know he has to love me to just sweetly smile and redo them for me, especially since he has told me several times that hanging curtains is not his favorite thing.

One of my issues is the way the sofas press up against the curtains.  I know we can move them out further and that will help so that should be an easy fix.  Also, there is no way to center these monster couches so the off-centeredness drives me a little crazy but it's not the end of the world for me.

Leave a comment and share what you think!  To keep or not to keep?  Also don't forget we have a giveaway going on Here!  

Drama Anyone?

We are adding some drama in our bedroom today in the form of bold flowing curtains.  At first, we totally were not planning on going with such a bold choice, we really were thinking white all the way.  But then we were wooed by these lovelies at Ikea and our plans changed.  Ikea really has great affordable curtain options that are easily customizable to your desired length, we love the way they turned out and can't wait to hang the rest of our curtains now.  Here's a round up of the process and result.

We first decided where we wanted to hang the curtains and measured appropriately.  We wanted to make the window to appear larger than it is and add height to the room as well so we hung the curtains high and wide over our window.

One of Justin's favorite tools is this laser level.  We actually just recently purchased it and it has been worth every penny (we actually bought the cheapest one we could find).  I know, how could we go nine years without ever owning one of these?  

So, I mentioned above that the curtains we bought were easy to customize.  They come in longer than you need lengths (for the most part) and packaged with fusible tape.  You just measure where you want your hem, and fold your curtain to the appropriate length.  Then you need to iron out your fold first.  This creates a nice crisp fold to follow.

Then simply place your tape along the crease of the fold and iron together.

You will now have a new nice hem with no sewing!  The tape is also washable.  You either need to wash your curtains ahead of time to allow for shrinkage or plan on increasing your length a little for future washing and shrinking.  The last thing I needed to do was cut off the extra fabric and voila!  Perfect length curtains.

Just a reminder of our bedroom before -

And after - we also paired the slate gray drapes with these light and airy curtains to add softness.  We love it.  It is also very difficult to take good pictures at night of dark curtains but I think you can get an idea of how they look.  The color does look a little lighter in person.

Just adding the curtains and hanging them high and wide really make this room appear larger and the ceiling higher.  We love increasing our square footage without having to build a thing.

Giveaway tomorrow!  Check back to enter for a chance to win a lovely handmade item!

Blog Hopping Today: The Thrifty Side