In the Bedroom €¦
When Chris and I bought our cute little house, we started decorating it room by room. We’ve pretty much finished the entire house. Except for our bedroom. Or as I like to call it: No Man’s Land.
(Please disregard the small sleeping man in my bed. He insisted on being photographed. Publicity hog.)
We recently got a new bed and it reminded me that our bedroom is pretty drab. Really drab. Dreadfully drab. The furniture is alright, but the room needs paint like I need a nap.
So, whats the problem? Its basically a blank canvas. Why haven’t I started on this room yet?
Well, because of this:
The room has this funky shaped area sitting off of it. There’s the main room with the bed and then this little area that’s sort of off-set a little.
Complicating things even further is that we have several things that need to stay in this room and none of these things really fit with everything else.
Lucy’s crate is a must-stay. She has slept in it for her entire life and it has always been in my bedroom.
We also have the Bean’s rocking chair in my bedroom. It takes up a lot of room, but it is also a non-negotiable. Beanie loves rocking in his chair and I love that it is in my bedroom. When I feed Beanie in the middle of the night, Chris wakes up just enough to sort of talk to me while I sit with Beanie. I love that.
And the last thing that must stay in our room is this awkward, huge jewelry box. Chris got it for me in high school. (Weird fact: I think Chris got this from a yard sale at one of his other girlfriend’s houses in high school. So, Gigi Vassar, if you are reading this, thank you for the jewelry box and I’m sorry I was so mean to you in high school. Oh, and I hear you are engaged now. Congratulations!) (Wow. I actually feel better.)
So, those are my obstacles in this room. Oh, and the fact that Chris only wants a white comforter. Which doesn’t dictate anything for paint. Which means I have to figure it all our myself. Which means the room will probably remain untouched for another year.
Endless possibilities always make me nervous.
I’m sort of in love with this light blue toile duvet cover from Pottery Barn:
But then I also have a crush on this light blue paisley duvet cover from Pottery Barn:
Oh, I don’t know. Maybe I’ll just move.
17 Comments
Melissa N.
I also have a huge crush on the paisley patter from PB! I saw it featured on another blog, and since then put it in my oh-how-i-wish-money-grew-on-trees-list. *lol* I saw on another bloggers page though that she had a ptter similiar and it was from Home Goods I think.
Marla
Paint it light blue and get some of those paisley pattered pillows to go with your white comforter.
Jenn
you should totally send your “design dilemma” to these guys: http://www.younghouselove.com/ (it’s another blog that i read). They do lots of makeover plans for people and they are always super cute!
Katy
Looking for decorating ideas myself! For some reason, this room struck me as something you should see: http://www.coastalliving.com/homes/decorating/designer-spotlight-tracey-rapisardi-00400000051936/page13.html
Nikki
Nooo I didn’t need to see that beautiful paisely duvet…it will probably be on it’s way to Texas by the end of the day! Thanks!
Catherine
I second the Young House Love suggestion. Great site!
Katie
You don’t love me, but I love your blog, so I guess that makes me a stalker…Anyway, I had the same dog crate dilemma and thought I’d share our solution: My husband made a table to go OVER our dog’s crate, so it’s not just wasted space, but functional. You could maybe do that in the little window nook, and maybe keep some of Beanie’s stuff for midnight feedings on there…just a thought. LOVE the paisley, by the way.
Katherine
I just redid my living room after a year of doing the same thing – all beige walls, and almost zero color in the room! But I added an accent wall of yellow/gold (see blog 🙂 ) and now it looks fab, its amazing what a wall color can do. I agree w Marla – add the pillows or a throw at the end of the bed to coordinate w the color!
Casey
My room is also a no man’s land. We FINALLY hung up some pictures in there after 2 years. I am with Marla on the pillow idea on the white comforter… it would be a nice compromise!
Lori @ I Can Grow People
Same in our house. We replaced the flooring and painted our bedroom–and then we stopped. We have nothing on the walls.
I know that you have heating running under the window of that little nook in your room, but would you (um, Chris probably) be able to move the baseboard heat and make a window seat (with storage area underneath!)? We have a few window seats like this in our house and they are super cute. (Sorry, Chris, for potentially creating work for you!)
My two cents about paint color (you know, ’cause I’m a painter)– go lighter rather than darker. It will help make the room seem bigger and brighter!
Donna
You could get either of these and they would work with the hubby’s need for a white comforter. Then pull your paint from that.
I think you could paint the the little nook a shade or two lighter or darker than the rest of the room to kinda set it off.
Janet
Skip the Pottery Barn bedding!
Trust me when I tell you that you will be SO much happier with a nice duvet cover from Home Goods, Marshall’s or Ross, at a FRACTION of the price!
All of the Pottery Barn duvets and sheet sets I have ever bought, (LOTS in 25-years of marriage) have been a HUGE disappointment. So I shop Home Goods, (the best bedding can be found there for so much less!) Marshall’s or Ross for my sheet sets (usually I buy only white sheets and duvets for our bed).
If you (hubby) must have some color or a print design, you can select a nice duvet that’s white with a stripe border (which is what I have on our bed right now – from the Hotel Collection, king size, $39.99 at Home Goods) to top it off.
That’s not to say I don’t have a closet full of monogrammed pillow shams/Euro shams from Pottery Barn that I use as accent pieces, because I do. But their sheets are, (in my opinion) terribly overpriced for the poor quality that they are. Unless you live near a Pottery Barn outlet (where sheets/duvets are priced more reasonably) skip their bedding!
Go to Bed, Bath and Beyond and buy yourself a nice, neutral colored (white goes with everything!) box-pleat bedskirt and build your bed up from there.
We recently painted our bedroom a color called Summer Cottage by Waverly (through Lowe’s) and I love it. We sampled 8 different paint colors before we found it. It’s cool but warm at the same time, clean and reminds me of Tiffany & Co. teal, but blue’er. I just love it! We topped the windows with Lowe’s cornice boxes and installed 2″ wooden blinds to cover the windows. You can see my bedroom (furniture, cornice boxes and wall color) at my blog. :0)
Remember, have FUN with it! And, give yourself a break – it takes time to pull a room together properly. Even if you can afford a decorator, I believe it’s more fun to pull it together slowly and on your own.
Best to you!
Jill Smyth
Uhhh, I vote you go with Feng Shui wisdom. No tortoise for your rocking chair would make a delightful little nook for Lucy.
Get whatever bedding you want. You can totally change it – the beauty of a consumerist society, no?
Paint though? That’s a whole other category. You and Chris would have to pick a color that you will both like. If you don’t, don’t worry – you can change it! It might be a hassle, but the idea that paint colors are permanent shouldn’t stress you out.
SusanO
I agree w/Marla and Casey; paint you room the light blue color and accent the white duvet w/the throw pillows. Maybe the duvet could be a white on white (toile) design?
Like Lori, I wondered if you could move the heat so you could have a window seat. Also, Donna’s idea of painting the offset in a different tone to accent sounds great.
Would you consider moving the rocker to Beanie’s room after he no longer wakes up during the night? I had thought of a cover/skirt for Lucy’s kennel but I think “the other Katie’s” idea sounds perfect.
Whatever, whenever you decide don’t forget to have fun with it.
Danimezza
Oh I just posted about this today 🙂 I just finished our master bedroom.
http://danielleandsteve.blogspot.com/2009/08/master-bedroom-finally.html
I agree “Young House Love” is a brilliant website and if you email them photos they’ll come up with a mood board or suggestions like they did for me. Very cool people.
Schop
I would move the dog’s cage to the awkwardly shaped area, to start with, and maybe build a wide shelf over it, like a really wide window sill, where you could put some plants or something like that. You won’t need that rocking chair forever, so for now just put it where the dog’s cage is or something like that…
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