Bedroom Makeover Ideas

Thanks to Camille, I was able to round up a few more inspiration photos for my bedroom makeover.   

I do love this headboard.   And aren't the flags are cool?

This room is a little too rustic

but I do love a nice graphic quilt or blanket on a bed.

Remember Tommy Smythe's chevron quilt in the Black Walls post?

Another nice masculine bedroom.  I love a headboard that has a fun shape.

Like this...

...antique headboard I saw at an online auction.

Aren't the turnings and headboard shapes wonderful?

Do you remember Furlow Gatewood's bedroom from Veranda?  I love the warm gray walls with white trim and brown wood pieces.  I think this gray-brown-cream color palette is my favorite color palette.

Did you notice the floors are painted white?  Love them!

It's a little too fancy for my house and my taste but I love this room.

I love a nice iron bed too.

Here's another favorite room, again with white or ivory painted floors.

Swap out the wall color for a gray and it's a more

casual version of the Furlow Gatewood room.

Every time I redo a room and think about painting the walls, my mind goes back to the walls of John Derian's house in Provincetown.  These look like old horsehair plaster that were perhaps painted white one time and then had layers and layers of wallpaper over them for year

This is another one of my favorite images where the crusty plaster walls are left exposed.

I wonder if there's anyway I could recreate this look by applying wet brown paper of some kind that stains the surface of the wall.

Or maybe some kind of paint technique that looks like raw plaster.

Maybe applying paint with a trowel?

Or maybe dark walls with lots of graphic black and white artwork to break it up.

Too many ideas; too few rooms. 

Window Week

There's something in the stars about windows for me this week.   I got a call from Sam over the weekend that my other new windows were being delivered on Monday.  These new windows are for the front of the house and the garden side where the picket fence and arbor are.  

This is my guest bedroom that faces the street.  The new porch roof is just outside these windows.  

And by the time I got home on Monday night, all of the windows on the front of the house had been installed!  There's just something about six-over-six windows that instantly feels historical...and going from vinyl windows to wood really makes the room feel classier.

Now, if you've been following my blog for a while, you may remember this photo of this same bedroom from when I bought the house which leads me to what will most likely be my next project.  

I recently started following the blog of Carol Beck at Sofas and Sage.  Carol has 13 years of experience in the industry and had her own window treatment and decorating business and is trying to make the world a better place one window at a time.  Carol loves to share her knowledge on her blog and her joy in doing so really makes her blog a pleasure to read.  When Carol announced her new Window Wednesdays series, offering to help with window treatment dilemmas, I was quick to send her photos of my dilemma.

You'll notice that these upstairs windows are very low on the wall and the curtains were hung right on the window casing.  

When I did my facelift of the guest bedroom...

...I moved the curtain rods off the window casings and put them up by the ceiling.  It really helped to lift your eyes up in the room and made it feel much taller...

...but I was really unhappy with the big gap between the window casing and curtain rod.  I love the amount of light the sheers let in, but they didn't help conceal my dirty little secret:  that big gap.

I e-mailed some of these photos to Carol and she graciously tackled my window treatment dilemma in her first installment.

See Carol's explanation of the solution here and while you're there, leave her a comment to let her know what you think of her ideas. 

You'll see that one element of the solution Carol offered was to have the curtains stack at the side of the windows...

...and you can see that just that one simple change adds a stronger vertical element that creates an illusion of height.

I've wanted to make some changes to this room and I can't wait to see how Carol's further recommendations enhance the space.

If you have a window treatment dilemma, why not become a follower of Carol's blog, send her some photos and maybe she'll address your situation in an upcoming Window Wednesday installment.

Facelift: Master Bedroom

Even though there is major work to be done inside, I've decided to live with what I have for awhile to make an major decisions about ripping out walls, moving bathrooms, etc. That being said, I didn't want to live with things they were either. I decided that I would go through each room and do a quick makeover, a "facelift," until more major renovations will happen.

There were a few things I had to get done before I moved in: 1) Rip out all of the wall-to-wall green shag carpeting 2) refinish the white oak hardwood floors I found underneath and 3) strip as much wallpaper as possible. My mom was coming for a visit about a month after I was to move in so I also wanted to get a comfortable place away from all the mess for her to be comfortable. I set my sights on the master bedroom with a goal of spending as little money as possible.

Here's a picture from inside the master bedroom looking toward the front of the house. On the right, you can see the greet carpeting in upstairs hallway as it goes down the stairs to the front door. On the left, you can see through the middle bedroom and into the front bedroom in the distance. The brown door on the right goes out to the upstairs porch.

Below is a picture looking out toward the upstairs deck into a closet which is fairly large for a house of this age. The door to the very right of the photo is the door to the bathroom.
Here's a shot of the other corner of the room. This is a great shot of the wallpaper, the pink curtains, the pumpkin-colored floor and the ceiling fan. I love painted floors but this color didn't work for me.
And here's an after shot. After peeling off the wallpaper, the walls were in rough shape so I decided to wallpaper with a light gray damask print I found for $7.99 per roll. All of the trim is painted Benjamin Moore's "Decorator's White" semi gloss. I also added a new white ceiling fan from Home Depot. The duvet cover is Pottery Barn purchased on eBay and the bedskirt is also a Pottery Barn ticking print found on eBay. And the vintage braided rug, also eBay.
Here's another shot looking toward those same windows overlooking the porch. I bought bamboo blinds from Home Depot and white sheer curtains from eBay that were $5 per pair. This better shows the floors which I repainted in Benjamin Moore's "Calypso Blue." It may seem a bold choice but I took my inspiration from cottages I've seen in Provincetown on Cape Cod where they used leftover marine paint to paint their floors. The oriental throw rug is one I had and just seemed like a nice complement to the other colors and patterns. I believe the entire makeover cost less than $400.

This room is ready for mom to visit!
You're also getting a quick peek of the master bathroom. This room also received a quick makeover and will be subject of another post. It's a museum to 1940!