New Project - Bad Timing

Of course it's the busiest time of year and I have no cash, time, money or sanity left to add to all of the things I'm already doing for work and the holidays, but I have a new obsession. I'm bursting with ideas for redecorating (or decorating for the first time) our master bedroom and our guest bedroom. At this point, the guest bedroom is a room that is only used when we have overnight guests. Well that, and it houses an extra TV we have never once watched, a dog crate that is rarely used and about four trash bags full of our "Goodwill donations." I'm sure anyone who has had the pleasure of staying in that room can attest that it has zero style whatsoever. And we purposely decided to wait at least six months before we did anything major in the way of decor, so after having waited those six months, plus an extra year, I think I'm ready to tackle it.

Guest Room

For our guest room, which is now sky blue on top, sage green on bottom and circled in by a Winnie the Pooh border (NO, we are not in need of a child's room) I have the following vision. I want THIS room.

There are only two things I don't love about the picture.

1. The white paint. I love the crisp, clean feeling I have when I think of entering this room, but I actually think something needs to be done with those walls....and I'm leaning toward one wall of wallpaper. Gasp! But I think one wall of super textured paper, in creams and whites and patterns might spice it up nicely.
2. I think it needs an accent color in SMALL proportions - I would go with an Asian red color or a dark purple - like eggplant.

Okay. Don't laugh at me, but as you see I may have created a few idea boards in Microsoft Publisher, converted them to PDF files, saved them again as JPEG picture images all for the purpose of uploading them here to this blog post. I told you I'm kind of obsessed. My style savvy friend Jayme will be proud :-)

Master Bedroom

Now, for the master bedroom, I even found a website that will allow you to use their floor planning services for free - floorplan.com. FYI: The room is 12 x 15 feet and the pictures below have three doors. The door on the right wall is the entrance to the room and the others are each to a closet or bathroom.

Here's how our floor plan is arranged:

Here's how we'll rearrange furniture. You'll notice one of the dressers is now longer and thinner. We're going to donate Matt's old cardboard and plywood dresser and find a thrift store gem for more storage and DIY style.

And for decorating ideas, I have a lot. Here's a mood board with all kinds of ideas I like - although I definitely DO NOT like any of these rooms for us. They each have an element I like, for instance: Some have light fixtures I like (look for an all white chandelier). Some have upholstered headboards or headboards made out of doors. Some have a wall of curtains for height and dramatic effect (even though I don't like the pattern). Some have upholstered benches at the foot of the bed, etc.

Here's our color palate followed by my current wish list.

• I want to keep the buttery beige walls we already have on three sides.
• Behind the bed, I want to paint a bluish gray. That will be the curtain wall, but the curtains will not go all the way across. Maybe they'll be sheer so they don't weigh the room down? Maybe they'll be patterned?They'll stop at the bed, leaving a space for our "headboard" and a rockin' art piece.
• The bedding? Crisp white, with some accent pillows and maybe a throw blanket. We already have the white sheets and bedskirt, so we just need to replace our duvet to make that happen.
• We'll keep our two matching craftsman-styled lamps.
• We'll also keep the old world map, but we'll change the frame from a dark wood to a lighter, possibly brushed gold paint.
• I want to paint all of the existing furniture. Right now the night stands and chest match, but they are a fake rosy maple color that I just don't dig. I've seen some really cool things done with metallic neutrals for small pieces of furniture so I'm leaning toward a pewter or steel color for the night stands and maybe something like a pale blue (not metallic!) for the chest (although this will surely depend on what I choose for the next bullet).
• I want to upholster the top of the chest to create another layer of texture and extra seating.
• If we decide to go with an upholstered headboard, I want to pick a patterned material that isn't too busy or trendy, but that will lend added texture to the room.
• Our white trim and white tab curtains on the windows will stay.
• The two dressers - the one we're keeping and the one we're acquiring - will probably be painted a cream/white color. I actually found a chest of drawers today at a store called The Attic. It's 25% off it's original $150 price tag and it appears to be solid wood. I has sleek brushed brass hardware that I think would look beautiful if the wood was painted a rich cream color. We're going back tomorrow to look at it.
• I want to GET RID of the terrible, faux wood ceiling fan and replace it with a beautiful light fixture or chandelier.
• And my final wish will never happen, but I'd love, love love to get rid of the carpet. I just feel cleaner in a room with hard floors. But I think we'll leave the carpet for Matt's cold feet and because I think I might be alone with my hard floor love. As far as future potential buyers go, I think they'd prefer carpet in the master bedroom.

So. I have new projects. As soon as I find the aforementioned time, cash, sanity, etc., I will post "before" pics and update as we go along. And maybe I'll even post some pictures of the rest of the house as it is today. It has changed a little since we moved in and it feels like it's much more us. For now, I'll dream about a wall of curtains and a swanky upholstered headboard :-)