bedroom refresh plans

My brain must be in hibernation mode, because I’m paying attention to my house again (beyond the weekly upkeep, I mean). Just when I thought I was content with everything (with extra touches courtesy of Hurricane Hannah), I realized our bedroom needs some love. It’s sad. Everything is mismatched due to the light blue walls I chose (too hastily) LAST November, and I never picked new bedding, curtains, etc for the winter months. The room also houses our elliptical machine (and will for a while); but I am determined to make the room feel a little cozier.

Our budget doesn’t allow a complete redo, and my husband might kill me if I say I want to paint again, so I am planning to work on creatively making our bedroom nicer over the next few months without buying much. This means mostly using what I’ve already got, possibly working with the coral-ish bedding/shams I have, as well as the bench I upholstered in a random purple pattern. I made the mock up above to tie it all together, but I’m not sure I love the color combo. Any feedback? I normally have no problems making colors “work” but that light blue is stumping me completely. I do NOT want an otherwise neutral palette just to make the wall color work. I need color! Ideas are appreciated.

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seven year switch.

Our seven year anniversary was last month, and our gift to ourselves was a new bedroom set. I really loved our mishmash of random furnishings before, but the bed was so uncomfortable we were sleeping on the couch! We finally decided to spring for the whole shebang, and I love it. It makes me feel like such a grown-up, having real furniture.

It’s a king-sized bed, so it definitely fills the space in the room much better than our previous queen. And because the furniture is black – husband’s choice, but I really like it – I went crazy with bedding options til I landed on this bedspread from Target. It’s called Persian Fan, I think. The warm color really helps make the room cozy.. all the earthy-tones weren’t working.

The captain’s bed is a really awesome feature. The drawer space is awesome. My husband keeps all of his clothes in the drawers in the bed. And I keep mine in the dresser.

It’s so spacious! I have an entire drawer just for socks and tights. See?:

Here’s the dresser top close-up and some favorite knick knacks. I got that box at the store we purchased the furniture (a local place). The lamp was my Christmas present the first Christmas we were married. The print is of a painting a local artist did that I bought at my local Art Fest a couple summers ago. And the TV… came free with the mattress purchase. I know, so random. We haven’t used it yet because we don’t have cable.

This mirror was once black but I sprayed it ivory to give it a bit more contrast on the wall. All my necklaces hang here.

Here’s a view from the other side of the room. This is a better photo to show the color of the bedspread. It’s a light reddish/coral color. It’s a weird choice with the teal wall, but I really really love it. It’s unexpected and dramatic, but still lightens up the room a bit.

I still plan to hang some more things on the wall and get a few throw pillows with teal in them to tie the bedding to the room together a little better. But for now it’s totally cozy and ready for fall. Kinda like my closet..

..which I fall-ified this afternoon {took off early from work due to feeling under the weather} in addition to finally getting around to working on pictures and a post on the new room switcharoo.

practically free friday #19 – butterfly specimen art

This was a spendy week at Casa Buelo. It wasn’t a quickly thought-out decision, but we did finally pull the trigger on a pretty big purchase – a new bedroom set! We just got it set up last night and wow.. does it ever make me feel like a grown up to have legit furniture. I felt like we were sleeping in a hotel on that bed last night! I will blog about it shortly, but there’s lots of prettifying to do before I feel like sharing it with the Internet. However, I do have a little bedroom project to share for this week’s Practically Free Friday post.

 

To make these little prints, I used some painted canvases I picked up at the stuff swap I hosted earlier in the summer. They weren’t the ugliest thing in the world, but I certainly didn’t snag them for the existing design. These are the perfect things to pick up at thrift stores, too: you can do tons of different things with canvases.

Then I found some photos of butterfly specimens online and printed them. I rounded up two scrapbook papers with pretty, subdued designs.

I simply used a mod podge medium to adhere the scrapbook paper to the canvas. While it was drying, I carefully cut out the butterflies. Then I mod podged them to the scrapbook paper. Simple.

I won’t debut the rest of the bedroom redo, but for now, here’s where the butterflies landed.. above my night stand. I really like how they turned out!

This easy project was actually 100% free since I used what I had on hand. Not bad, and much needed budget friendly wall art after our shopping spree! 🙂 Happy weekend!

redecorating the guest room

When we moved into our house last April, the guest room was the first room I painted. Kind of ass-backwards to paint the least-needed room, but it was the only one I’d decided on a paint color for, so I got to work on it one night after work. After that I put in our extra bed and some random furniture, but the room has served as basically a catch-all for random stuff ever since. Like: the closet is full of my out-of season clothing and currently unused decor items {I like to rotate things}. Around the holidays, the room served as a place to stash gifts. This spring/summer it was my sorting space for items I was going to put into the clothing/home decor stuff swap I did earlier this month {and forgot to blog about – doh!}

Anyway. This is how the room was looking this morning, with some remnants of the swap still lingering, and a random piece of driftwood on the bed..(?).. just go with it.

Here’s the other side of the room. That dresser belonged to my grandparents. I painted it and use it to store my mailing supplies, gift wrap, greeting cards and stationary {basically a mail-it/gift-it station}.

I keep the door to this room closed because it’s nothing to show off for sure.. it’s almost always in a chaos state, or at least in a really blah state like it was this morning. Time to finally make some tweaks and get a homey room together.

Did I mention I didn’t want to spend a dime?

I’m so bad about progress photo taking, so here’s the guest room after sprucing. HUGE improvement, if I do say so myself.

It’s a small room, obviously, with a closet on the wall opposite the window, so there are really only two ways to arrange the room. The bed under the window is such an upgrade. Since I’ve not gotten around to making another headboard, I thought the window would frame the bed better than a big blank wall did.

I added some more layers of pillows, and blankets at the foot of the bed. The ruffly pillow is actually a chair cushion that was once on a dining chair. They were just too poofy. But way too cute to not use somewhere.

Moving the dresser to the other side of the bed balanced the room a bit and gave me a cute nook to prettify. I just brought in random things from around the house {and the decor stash in the closet}: a couple frames, a framed butterfly print that was in the master bathroom, a leopard print headscarf, a little paper mache box, and a silk flower. Totally random.

On the far left wall, near the closet, I brought in a chair I bought and repainted a few years back, and folded and stacked some random blankets on it.

Nothing super fancy, but it’s functional and adds something to that side of the room. I love a few pieces of black furniture sitting around.

Still on the to-do list for the room {because there’s always more, is there not?}:

• Get a bold/graphic bed skirt, or make one. {Not loving the white-on-white}.
• Hang curtains.
• Hang some art.
• Organize the closet. {Seriously, it’s crazy in there.}

But for now, it’s hugely improved and for an hour of work and $0 I am really happy with it! Gotta love a project you an finish before you’ve finished your morning coffee.

practically free friday #2 – bedskirt redo

I’m a fabric dye convert. Best stuff ever. This project was so easy, I can’t believe I didn’t do it a long time ago.

Here’s the before shot of our bed:

Nothing really wrong with it – in fact against the teal walls, I like nearly everything I throw in our bedroom! It’s sooo versatile, who knew? But with the duvet, bed skirt, and headboard pretty much the same color, it was kinda sorta blah. That bed skirt was a cheapo placeholder til I found one I really liked.

Enter RIT dye. I already had 10 or so packets in my craft closet, but if you went to buy it they are about $3 each. I used 1/2 packet of royal blue and 1 packet of violet to get this funky new bed skirt:

Every photo makes it look purple, but it’s really a bright periwinkle color. Totally unique! It brings out the periwinkle color in the quilt at the foot of the bed.

In case you are nervous, let me assure you that fabric dying is super easy and worth a try. Just follow the directions on the package – if you have a top loading washing machine it’s fast and convenient and mess-free.

Cost to me: $0.

the master bedroom (so far)

We’ve actually managed to finish painting our house (amidst lots of other projects). But it takes me some time to make a room post-worthy! I can’t do one room at a time for some reason. But the Master bedroom is finally in a place where I think it’s close to show-ready. Remember I was trying to decide on a teal wall color? Welp, that we did.

I absolutely love it! It’s moody, a little gawdy, and very cozy. Everything pops against it and makes even our cheap-o furnishings and DIY headboard look a little more luxe.

I’m surprised how easy the teal is to work with. It doesn’t really clash with anything! Unlike some greens I know… I feel like this teal is flattering against everything. And the dark color didn’t close in the room at all since it’s a really large room. With the bright white ceilings, trim and curtains, it doesn’t feel cave-like.

I am loving this little corner of the room. We have such a large bathroom, I was planning to take down some mirrors, hang smaller ones, and utilize some wall space for jewelry and other girly things; a sorta-vanity, but I decided to leave the mirrors up and just utilize dresser space for the beads and bangles. They just look so pretty! {this is maybe 1/10th of the jewelry I have. The rest is hiding in that trunk in little bags and boxes.)

The master bath is newly painted, but not much else has been done yet. I am working on repurposing a little medicine cabinet that was hanging in the other bathroom when we moved in. I would like to make a small shelf out of it for the countertop to hold perfume and things.

There you have it! More house progress pictures to come!

bedroom inspiration – teal for real

Our last house was mainly greens and earth tones and white. Springy, maybe. I really liked it, and springy green is my favorite color ever. But the new house is NOT white and it’s going to necessitate venturing out to a new style of decor. How depressing is that? I joke. I AM SOOO EXCITED.

In the main living areas, everything’s pretty open and the ceilings are vaulted in places. ie, these are not rooms we are going to want to have to repaint too often. It will be an ordeal. So I’ll be sticking with a tanish hue for those areas and adding color with the accessories. The bedrooms, however, I will get to have some fun with. I wanted something new and bold in the master bedroom, because the room is quite large. Remember, here’s what we are working with:

I thought a nice, deep color would make it feel very cozy, and since everything in it is neutral, some color would really help liven up the place. I think I’m going to go with a funky teal, and have been digging up some inspiration.

I like this because it’s dramatic and trendy, but still easy and casual. Teal really looks awesome with some yellow accessories. Source.

This would take GUTS, but I love it, especially with that chock-full gallery wall and stripey bedding – so fun! Source.

This softer version might be nice. No pink, though. Source.

And of course, my favorite bloggers’ new guest room. I love the way they used bright colors to make everything really pop against the dramatic wall color. It’d be easy to switch it out on a whim. Source.

What do you guys think? Diggin the teal?

how’s it hangin’?

Here’s a fun, quick project to make organizing your necklaces a snap. It was free for me {I love free!}

One day I on a whim I decided I needed a better way to hang jewelry. The hooks in my closet were nice but everything got so tangled up:

I decided to make a jewelry hanger and I went looking for a picture frame at a couple thrift stores. I was going to stretch some canvas in it after painting the frame a fun color. I couldn’t find one that wasn’t over $20 and I am cheap.

Sooo I decided to see what I had around the house to use. I had this wall hanging we’d received for our wedding. It was forest green and had the words “Life is Wonderful” in vinyl letters on it. It just wasn’t our my style. 😛 It ended up gathering dust in a closet. {I am sentimental – ha}. Basically it was a free routered {word?}piece of wood with hanging hardware already attached – score! So, I slapped on a couple coats of white paint and modge-podged some scrapbook paper scraps and stickers. Then I hammered in some nails in a row, so it looked like so:

Might not look like much, but it’s perfect for hanging my necklaces so they don’t get all tangled up. See her in action? This is hanging behind the door in our closet:

I just love it and it cost me nothing because I used up things I already had around the house. And there’s room to pound in more nails along the bottom, but for now this is plenty.

I left to hooks up for bracelets and some of the necklaces that don’t tangle easily {like the shell leis I brought back from Hawaii}. Super fun, for about 30 minutes of my time {plus lots of drying time between coats- it’s the perfect project while working on homework!} Shyeah! ♥

master bedroom // swanky mini-makeover

As I mentioned earlier, I spent some time sprucing up the bedroom this weekend. I decided I wanted a little bit more elegance in the room and have been looking for good deals on nice-looking headboards or art to hang above the bed- something to make it look more posh {this gal’s come a long way from her days of lime green everything…}.

Here’s what I was working with before: some framed letter B’s I’d printed myself and a brown and green color scheme, more or less.

First, I convinced Jonathan to help me make our own headboard. I’ve seen about a million examples over the years on blogs and in DIY magazines claiming how easy it is. I liked this one from Ballard Designs {$619 beans!}, so I thought we could hack it ourselves.

Using some plywood we already had on hand,  Jonathan cut the shape I wanted with a jigsaw. He sanded it a bit then I upholstered it with some batting and decorator fabric. I painstakingly nailed in the tacks as straight and lined up as possible {marked a few pencil lines 2 inches from the edge to keep it straight}. It’s up on legs build by 2x4s and covered with felt to avoid gouging the wall. Here’s the result- TADA!:

Total headboard cost: $45. Happy day.

I decided to take down the green and brown mod curtain panels and replaced them with some gray suede panels from Kohl’s. They were a bargain at $20 each. I love the gray and brown together.

I also picked up that beaded pillow for $10 on clearance {marked down from $50!}. A little sparkle makes everything better. Ok, another switch- the bed skirt. I swapped out the cheapo white one for a prettier, ruffley light gray one. It is from the Shabby Chic line at Target, marked down to $11.

Here’s the final result:

I think it’s so pretty! It’s missing maybe a vase of flowers on the night-stand. 😉

And the total tally: $116 {and $50 of that was purchased with a gift card I’ve been carrying around. Making my cost only $66}.

I have two other little projects in the works for our bedroom, but I didn’t want to wait to post it all at once because I’m impatient like that!! (:

earthy bedrooms

I decided our bedroom needed a little sprucing up this long weekend {on the cheap}. Here are some photos I found while searching for inspiration. I am loving the earthy, serene colors.  I want to crawl into each one of these photos and nap.

^ via Apartment Therapy. The textures are so lovely. Love those pooling drapes.

^ via County Living. Simple furniture and bedding, made interesting with pops of color. I love that turquoise lamp.

^ Not sure the source of this one. But I’ve saved it for a while, loving the mostly-white room with bits of chartreuse. And that stripey IKEA rug looks perfect and funky there.

^ via Cococozy. This wall color is similar to a couple rooms in my house and I just love it. I want to paint the whole house in grayish/brownish tones. This looks like the perfect guest room.

^ via the Inglenook. Apparently yellow is the perfect color to go with browns and grays? I am digging this room’s tailored yet boho vibe. That headboard is fabulous. And they are rocking mismatched night stands like me!!

^ via Architectural Digest. Ahhh, holy Zen-like. I love the grayish blues with brown and black.

Happy Valentine’s Day!  ♥♥♥