A mini master makeover (bedding & curtains in the master bedroom)

04/22/2013 10:17 pm by 19 Comments

Do you ever go through phases with decorating or crafting or whatever? It’s like I get tunnel vision or something. I’ll get on a DIY tangent, or a crafting tangent, or a decorating tangent. Lately I’ve been on a curtains tangent. And a sprucing-up-the-place tangent. I haven’t done many huge DIY projects or crafting lately. I’ve been focusing on just tying up loose ends and sprucing up the place so it feels more cohesive and livable.

I just blew through a master bedroom tangent, in part thanks to my blogging-turned-in-real-life friend Jenn. Jenn is literally the bomb dot com. She texted me a few weeks ago and said she bought a Nate Berkus king sized comforter and shams and didn’t like how they looked in her room and wanted to know if I wanted them.

Um, hello? Seriously, this chick is just so awesome. Love her! So of course I said, “hellz ya!”

I’ve been sporting an 11 year old comforter (don’t tell anyone I said that, mmkay?) and in addition to needing a new comforter, this one is Nate-freaking-Berkus so of course I want it.

Now, back in 2011 I found a fab white duvet from Target for supeh cheap and I blogged about it. Turns out it didn’t really fit the bed very well, so I didn’t keep it for long, but just in case you have been reading for that long and have the worlds best memory, I thought I’d throw that in. Here was my laughable “after” picture with the new duvet.

Yikes. With a double ikes. Seriously. I was going to say my room had seen better days, but unfortunately this was actually an improvement. My poor room is the most neglected in the house. But not anymore! I’m no where near finished at.all. but the bedding did light a fire under me to purchase some sheets that match, grab a few king-sized pillows, and pick up those jumbo shag pillows from the ol’ costco. I also even added some new curtains.

So, let’s talk about the curtains for a minute. Why did I wait so long to put up curtains? Curtains can be inexpensive and will spruce up a room quicker than anything. I should have done this the day we moved in, not three years later. Eye roll.

I found some pretty white nubby curtains from ikea…

…and paired them with two sets of my famous (or are they infamous? wink) DIY curtain rods that I spray painted silver. All in all? Less than thirty bucks. Wham bam thank you ma’am.

And just because I cleaned the heck out of this room and it might be the only time that it will ever be this clean, here’s the rest of the room. It’s coming along. Baby steps, people.

See those dressers? I inherited them from my late grandparents who purchased them in the 1950s. Heirloom, baby. Except back in 2002 when I had no clue what I was doing, I stripped and re-stained them. And they look terrible. They are officially on the to-do list. I can’t justify painting some antique solid-wood mid century furniture though so they will be getting stripped and re-stained again.

Finally I’m no longer embarrassed to leave my door open when we have company over. And I’m still shocked at how much of a difference some curtains, new bedding, and a better furniture arrangement can make in a room.

What’s more fun than an old fashioned before and after comparison? Um, nothing.

And on a side note, last weekend I attended the SNAP blog conference. It was so fun, but for all you non-blogger readers out there who really could care less about reading a blog conference recap post, I’m saving you the torture by not posting one. You are welcome. If you really want to see some pictures from my weekend getaway with my blogging friends, where we played way more than we actually learned, you can visit my instagram feed.


     

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Two hacks in one post (curtains for my boy’s room)

04/02/2013 9:28 pm by 20 Comments

Hiah my friends! I have been doing a little bit of tweaking in my son’s room this past week and am very excited to show you! His poor room has been virtually neglected the past almost-3-years that we’ve lived here. Thank goodness he is a typical boy who could care less what his room looks like. As long as he has his legos and DS, he is a happy camper.

Okay, so his room started like this:

First off, I ditched the shelf below his window almost immediately. It’s now on the other side of the room. And just for a refresher, here’s the post I wrote about all his bedding.

I’ll just go ahead and start with the “after” and then share the deets. I hung some curtains in his room and I still can’t believe what a huge difference it made.

I’ll let you do a quick double-take now. Yes, I am just as shocked with the before and after.


I didn’t even paint his walls or anything. Just curtains. And the room looks like 10 thousand percent better. Wow.

I love with a capital L these curtains. They are actually navy/white pinstripe twin bedsheets that I found at Target in the clearance section a few weeks ago. All I did was add a 1″ wide orange grosgrain piece of ribbon down the inner edge of either panel.

The stripe compliments the stripe on the bedding, but because it’s such a narrow pinstripe it doesn’t compete with the bedding. To turn the flat sheet into a curtain I sewed the orange ribbon down the side and stuck a curtain rod through the top of the sheet (I had to seam rip some stitching to open it up on either side).

Then I just hung the rod so that the curtain would barely touch the floor – no hemming or anything. So easy!

Now for the really fun part! I totally did an ikea hack to hang the curtan. I was going to make another one of my custom $2 curtain rods but as luck would have it I came across two ikea “bygel” kitchen rails in my stash. I had them in my office before Ben and I did one of our many office flip-flops.

The wheels started turning and I thought to myself, “Self, these look like they could be awesome cheap curtain rods!” I tested them out and sure enough, they were long enough and the fabric fit on them.

All I had to do was screw them into the wall with the curtain already attached, and voila! instant curtain rods.

I am just giddy at how well they worked. And if you can even believe it, they are only $2.99 at ikea and come in two different lengths (these are the shorter 21″ length).

I guess you’d say this post is a double hack. I hacked some twin bedsheets into curtains, and I hacked two kitchen storage rails into curtain rods. I’m sexy thrifty and I know it.


And for your pinning pleasure:


I have been working like crazy on this house lately and I can’t wait to get down to business and show you everything I’ve done! If you’ve done any crazy ikea hacks lately or have made some curtains, share your post with us in the comments section!


     

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Check out the kids’ teal and grass green bathroom makeover

02/12/2013 10:58 pm by 24 Comments

Guess what? I am done.

D-O-N-E with the kids’ gender-neutral bathroom makeover! Well, done enough. I still need some art for a wall or two, but for now, I’m calling it.

I stayed pretty true to my original plan, but I did change a few things which I’ll get to in a minute.

Before-and-Afters are my favorite, so let’s just start off there. No point in dragging it out and keeping you in suspense. You are welcome. I am super obnoxious and labeled each before and after photo just in case any of them pop up on pinterest.

I am so stoked with how this room turned out. And I’m even more stoked that I was able to pull this room together in about a week. Fastest makeover ever. Pat on the back to me.

So, what the heck did I do? First off, I painted the walls a Martha Stewart color called Heavy Goose. It’s the same gray that I painted our office. I chose this color because it’s a really light gray and I already had some in my garage. Win/win. Double prizes! I also hung all the beadboard and framed out the mirror.

I started with the shower curtain as my main color pallet and inspiration for the room. It’s hard to find a curtain that is gender-neutral that isn’t too boyish or girlish. Fortunately my daughter is crushing on blue at the moment, so she loved the curtain.

On my original inspiration board I chose some teal towels from ikea, but after I stumbled on these two-tone blue and green towels at Target, I quickly snagged them instead. Now the kids each have their own color of towel which is great for me because now I know who to yell at when I find a wet towel on the carpet. :)

I found the wooden block letters at least a year ago either at Target Dollar Spot or HobLob. I can’t remember. Eventually I’ll paint them some fun bright colors, but they are cute none the less sitting on the little ledge. Great easy way to label who’s towel is who’s.

And I’m still geeking out over the robe hooks. I just love the little white beads on them. They go so well with the beadboard.

I added a bit of moulding around the window above the tub just to frame it out and make it more finished. I don’t plan to put a curtain on this little window, but the moulding really helps to make it pop.

I still can’t get over how much of a difference this mirror frame has made. And it was such a simple DIY project.

The white frame and white beadboard and white counter look so crisp and fresh against the pale gray wall with the pops of teal and grass green.

The room is such a fun space now, especially considering how much of a dungeon it looked like before. It was dark and boring and depressing, but with a little color it’s now fun and ready for kids to splash around in.

The toilet area is still a bit unfinished. I was going to hang some rustic floating shelves above the toilet, but the more I think about it, the more I feel I should hang a cabinet with doors. As the kids get older they will need somewhere to store all the toilet paper and hygiene products. I don’t want them to feel embarrassed by having personal stuff like that sitting out. Getting a cabinet is now on my to-do list.

As for all the posts leading up to this, and all the stuff purchased for the room…

Original mood and inspiration board for the room.
Hanging beadboard and trim tutorial.
How to frame out a mirror.
Painting beadboard and a hardware source list.

Shower Curtain: Target
Fluffy two-tone towels: Target
Teal towel in shower: ikea
robe hooks: Home Depot
Rug: ikea
metal shelf: ikea
light blue jugs: ikea
silver and blue bead box: husband purchased in India
plant and case: ikea
soap pump: Target
Hardware: Home Depot
clock: ikea
wooden K and T: craft store?
basket on toilet: Marshall’s
Trash can: Target

And just because I’m so dang proud of this room, here are the before and after pictures again! Yippie!

I hope you enjoyed this little makeover. If you have any questions ask in the comments and I’ll answer them in the comments section as well.


     
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