Bedroom Remodel

Not the expert photographer here, but I wanted to share all we've done to our bedroom! We started changing things a bit at the beginning of March and finished things with the dresser. It took about two months to add things here and there. We love it! Our goal was to upgrade to a more hotel chic space, but somewhat on the cheap because we have been working and plan to work on more house projects that were going to cost plenty. But we really needed a haven of our own and now we definitely feel like that goal was accomplished.

As you head upstairs, you see our bedroom. The left shows the canvas we were working with when we moved in 3 years ago. That's their furniture and horrid wallpaper! We stripped the wallpaper our first summer here and the right is what you see now.

We may have stripped the wallpaper, but we didn't do much decorating or matching. We moved in with early marriage furniture (aka: college furniture) but upgraded to a King for our enormous master bedroom. Except, it was just a bed frame. Embarrassing to admit it, but our mattress and box spring were on the floor for many months! Getting a cheap metal bedframe was an upgrade, sadly.

This is from the former owners on the left and what it looked like when we moved in and removed the wallpaper on the right. Neither are up to the times. I was halfway through my pregnancy with Andrew on the right, hence the teddy bear and baby swing.

The old office and the new office. Well, hardly new as the furniture in there remained the same. The desk is Pottery Barn and the chairs, Ikea. Lamp is Pier 1 and the big chair, Target. But since none of these were part of the remodel, I won't go into price details on those...

Standing from the office, you see the bedroom from another view. And a closeup of our upholstered headboard.

More headboard love. It's such great quality. We paid less than $300 for it, delivered!

Nightstands are from World Market and the inspiration for our dresser. They have a mostly classic, but slight Mid-Century Modern feel to them. I was stressing about having to pay shipping for these and then it dawned on me... um... call the store! Our local one had 4 in stock and we drove on over and picked these bad boys up. No shipping costs and they were on sale! Lamps are from Ikea, as are the lampshades. Those are Benjamin's sleepsacks under there because we dress him in our bedroom at night. And, a big ol' bottle of hand sanitizer from his newborn days...

More views of the whole bed area... and while we're here, I'll mention the new duvet and faux down comforter we bought for our bed. I feel like the comforter is a bit short for a King, but it is comfortable. Faux because my husband is allergic to everything animal pretty much. True story: When we met, he would always tell me he had huge sneeze attacks when he'd wake up in the morning. When I tried to crack the code, I discovered he had a down comforter, yet he was allergic to cats. While not the same thing, one thing should be a somewhat indicator of the other that you might have a teensy intolerance to pet furs and feathers. Gone was the comforter and gone were the sneezes! Also, that brown comforter from way above? Yeah, that was the replacement. Let's just say DKNY made it look way nicer about SIX years ago. Way past its prime and we even used that thing as a wrap for our items in the cross-country move! Needed to be retired BIG time. {embarrassing}

The canvases were made after our wedding and are not part of the remodel, but they did get switched around.

Our curtain story is rather interesting. We have narrow, tall windows and normal panels are far too much fabric for us to use both panels. I got the idea to cut each panel in half and no-sew (though I briefly considered a sewing machine purchase) hem them. I also had to trim the bottom because they were too long, which resulted in a lot of ironing and curtain work. We planned to buy two packs (4 panels) but as it was, we only needed 3 panels if I planned to cut and use only one panel per window. each set is $50, so it would have set us back $100. Not bad considering the quality and darkness of these curtains, but we'd have so much leftover fabric we paid for and didn't use. We resigned to being fine with that, but our Ikea has an "as-is" area near the checkout with a large textiles pile you can rummage through. And whatdoyouknow! We found a single panel for just $10 of the exact same curtain. So instead of two packages for $100, we paid $60 for the three panels we needed. Score. Savings, 40%. I bought three sets of curtain holdbacks and we had the look we wanted.

Little "helper"

These frames are Pottery Barn circa 2004 or something. Since we were dating, I had the same pictures and cards in them! We've been married almost 5 years, folks. Time for a switcheroo. After spending what felt like hours and hours on Etsy and Art.com, I followed my husband's lead and found two pictures we took and printed them. I used mpix because they have both great quality, and would print a 10x10 square like I wanted. Originally I wanted to select art and nothing related to our kids, but I kept coming back to this photos of Andrew's bulb we planted with a friend just after his first birthday and just before Benjamin's arrival. It sprouted for the first time that spring, just after Benjamin was born. I chose that picture to represent Andrew and the bottom picture of Benjamin touching the Pacific Ocean for the first time to represent him. If we have another child, the top picture will remain and we'll find another photo of Benjamin and that sibling to add to the frame and replace the beach one.

A local Kmart was going out of business, so I ended up heading in to see if I could snag a deal on holdbacks. They had some, but the deals weren't to be had. However, I did pick up a Bali brown blind to replace a PINK light-filtering shade that was previously there for three years. So. much. better.

Back to the dresser which I detailed in a previous post. All in, the cost was about $200. 

African man found a new home upstairs now that Benjamin can reach him. We bought $1 sticky felt and attached it to the bottom of the dish, wood boxes, and African man's feet so they wouldn't scratch up the nice surface on our new dresser. Note to anyone interested in refinishing furniture dark and using a high gloss finish. Don't. Dust can be seen much easier.

Cost:

Chambery Upholstered Headboard from Wayfair: About $280 (though now the price has increased!)

Werna Ikea Curtains: $50 + $10 panel from the As-Is area = $60
Ikea curtain rods, brackets, and finials: $9 per window

No-Sew Heat Bond Tape: $3

Going out of Business Kmart Bathroom Bali Blinds: $13
World Market Nightstands: $99 each, sale
Bran Lamp Bases from Ikea: $18 each
Jara Lamp Shades from Ikea: $15 each
Ivory Duvet & pillowcases from Overstock: Can't find it... but I think it was around $70
Down Alternative Comforter from Overstock: $40
Two King Size Beautyrest Pillows from Walmart: $15 each
Holdbacks from Menards: $8 each pair
Two 10x10 photos printed from mpix: $16 shipped
Sticky felt from Michaels: $1 each
Craigslist Dresser from my DIY refinishing project: $200

Total cost of remodel: $1,032 (though, prices above don't include taxes), so probably a bit more.