Before/After: Bedroom Makeover

The experts say that on the Stress Scale of Life, moving is just as traumatic as a loved one's death. That seems a tad bit dramatic to me. Moving is a death-- a death of the ugly crap you've accumulated over the years-- and a birth, a birth of buying new, shiny, beautiful, wonderful things to fill the empty hole of ugly that you recently rid yourself of in a garage sale right before you moved. And we've all been there. Living in the Craigslist fantasy: that your Vunderschlen couch from Ikea will fetch $550 in a bidding war between your neighbors and the next thing you know, you're $5,000 deep, reaping your garage sale rewards, and cashing it in on some pretty fab stuff. But then reality hits, and your actually $5,000 deep in the red after the Uhaul is returned and all is said and done. So what's a girl to do with that? Cheer herself up and redecorate!

I knew it was time to hit the reset button on my bedroom after my recent move from Denver to Nashville. When I saw the pictures of the house I was moving into, my room was white and entirely beadboard. In my head, I was planning on doing something a little more glam-- Celerie Kembel and Ruthie Sommers were coming to mind as my inspiration. But with the beadboard, I knew that my new look still needed to make sense with that as the backdrop. So, instead of going for a bold wall color, I kept it simple and left the walls as is. PFJ (Prize from Jesus), because after a cross country move, the last thing you want to do is start painting. I couldn't totally resist, so I did paint the ceiling this really great grey/blue (Farrow & Ball Skylight). I like to think of it as Overcast Blue. It's the exact color when a thin layer of clouds roll in right before a storm. Enough of me rambling. Here are the pics. I'll breakdown the changes I made, below. 

before

The light fixture was one of the first things that I knew was getting the axe. My two favorite affordable lighting sources are: Shades of Light (millllllions to choose from-- and not just lighting) and Pottery Barn Teen and Baby/Kids. Seriously, it's way better than regular PB because it's not so suburban/catalogue-y. And way more affordable. I ended up finding my Ro Sham Beaux knock-off (wish I could have afforded the real thing) at PB Baby Child (ON SALE FOR $118!!!). Can't beat that. 

I don't know if you can tell, but the window isn't centered on the wall. And it kept throwing me off. I wasn't sure what to do. So, I ended up hanging curtain panels to distract from the window. I wanted to add woven jute roman shades but at a certain point, I needed to draw the line. And that's where I drew it. So, I'm happy with my Lowe's blinds. They were free. And that's always enough to make me happy.

This became the office nook. Initially, I was toying with the idea of making that a super cozy bedroom nook with a daybed and installing fun reading sconces, then making the main room a sitting area and office. I'm glad I went with the main room being my bedroom. If you missed my blog post on the office nook makeover, here it is. 

after

Voila! This room makes me so happy!! The biggest impact new additions are: pink lampshades (more on that below), silk curtain panels, pink pillows, wooden beaded chandelier, and pink cabana stripe rug. For the curtain panels, I ordered the double length and hand-sewed double pinch pleats for a more feminine, finished look. I tried triple pleats, got about half way through, and realized that I was going to be wayyyy short on fabric. I highly recommend sewing your own pleats. You save tons of cashola. I learned by watching this YouTube video. But just make sure you have adequate yardage. Curtain rod and rings are from Restoration Hardware. 

This is what my room used to look like. And I loved it then. And I love it now. However, those you of you who work at a magazine might be able to relate to this... When I worked at Coastal Living, I was the very lucky guinea pig recipient of a bedroom makeover story. And at the time, I was living in a constant stream of beach bliss. My dreams were dancing with shells and starfish instead of sugar plum fairies. Once I left the magazine, I was able to tap into my personal aesthetic, which is more colorful and vibrant than your typical beach look of breezy neutrals and sea glass hues of blues and greens. So, I knew I wanted to de-beach my room a bit by adding pink. 

Mission De-Beach Pink started with my lampshades. Emily Henderson did an awesome blog post about custom lamp shades on the cheap. It's a must read. She recommended Replacement Shades for great, semi-custom shades. Three yards of coral silk shantung later, and these babies were perched like proud little pink peacocks on the top of my gourd lamps. For about $170 (including fabric). 

I was a little nervous about this rug. But once I got all of the furniture in my room, I absolutely LOVED it. Admittedly, this is definitely best as a low-traffic area rug. Perfect for a guest room. The white stripes are the bane of my existence. I am now a pro at vacuuming just the white stripes. Every Sunday. And I'm also a pro at walking the plank of pink stripes. Basically, I'm a double threat: one part Jack Nicholson a la As Good As It Gets with an OCD of not walking on cracks, one part Dominque Daws with beam crushing gymnastic abilities. 

Fabric time. No one tells you how FREAKING OVERWHELMING picking fabric can be. And I'm a super decisive shopper. I don't need to see every option to feel confident that I've picked the best thing. But you walk in a fabric store and there are more swatches than grains of sand in the ocean. And most of them are either 5 yd minimums or hideous. Because I already had two prints going on with my pillows, I was initially hunting for a solid pink velvet. Never found the right color. So, I had it narrowed down to this watermelon colored linen and juicy vine/leaf print from Magnolia-- it was around $20 a yd. Sold! I also added tassels to the ends of the pillows. Why? Because when does a tassel not make things better? I ordered it through the Fabric House in Brentwood.

A friend of mine was taking a load of Hermes scarves to Goodwill-- I know, don't even get me started. She had them piled in Rubbermaid bins and garbage bags as though they were nothing more than pit-stained gym clothes or old sorority tees. I stole one before the rest were sent to slaughter charity and had it framed. I wanted the edges to show through the glass but the framing peeps messed it up. I still love it though.

And if you missed the nook, this is it. And Fleur lucked out because I had three pillows made for my bed but it looked best with two, so Miss Fleurita got a dog bed.

Other sources:

Headboard, Lexington Furniture (no longer available). For a similar look, try this. Chevron Pillows, Tashkent in Camel by Quadrille. Lumbar pillow fabric, Kusum by Peter Fasano. Sheets, Matouk.