Bedroom Makeover - Final

At long last, the bedroom makeover is finished. Well, for now, at least! Here's what I started with:

Pretty sad, right? And after a little painting, some sewing, some more sewing, and a few more tweaks, here's how it looks today:

Ahh, that's better!  My goal was to make the bedroom a calm and relaxing 'nest' with shades of grey and mauve.  I tried to use enough layers and textures to keep it cozy and interesting.
 
The most recent additions are the light fixture, which went from this old-fashioned 'beauty'

to this simple drum pendant

and the purple paint on the wall behind the bed.

I felt like the bed looked odd floating against the white ceiling/wall, and the room was just lacking somehow.  A bit of painters' tape and a sample-sized can of 'Grey Amethyst' were just what it needed to wake things up!

My vintage white bookshelf headboard virtually disappears behind the pillows, so the purple on the wall acts as a sort of painted headboard, giving the bed more presence.  It also addresses the whole 'can't paint the wall because it's actually the ceiling' dilemma.

And it looks good with the grey and white 'Moroccan' cotton rug I found at the grocery store (of all places!)

Finally, what girl can resist a few feminine details like sequins and fresh flowers? :)

So there you have it.  My complete bedroom makeover on the (very, very) cheap!  Actual spend, after using various gift cards I'd hoarded(!), was right around $100.

What do you think?  My favourite part, impact-wise, is the purple wall.  How about you?  What would you do differently?

Happy House-iversary

O happy day, today marks my first house-iversary - I officially became a homeowner one year ago today.  I thought I would invite you to take a little sentimental journey with me, to a year ago, to tell you about how my house and I first got to know each other.  I'll warn you: I'm not known for being particularly brief, but I think it's worth sharing.  :)

Thirteen months ago, I (for unexciting reasons I won't get into here) found myself needing to find a house relatively quickly.  A friend recommended a realtor, I told him what I was looking for, and asked to see whatever was available in my (admittedly low) price range.  (As a first-timer, I wanted a good sense of what that would buy me in my area, so I would know a good house when I saw it) Anyway, as it turned out, the search wouldn't take long - there were only about three.  And this is not because I was being picky.  Unless you consider 'unwilling to spend more than the bank would allow' or 'unwilling to buy an uninhabitable house' being picky.  Anyway, lucky for me, this house was number three (of three!), and I knew right away that it was 'The One'.  What was REALLY lucky for me was that I didn't feel like I was forced to 'settle' for this house.  I love it.  I loved it right from the start.

What followed was a crazy hectic two weeks - yep, closing day was a mere two weeks after the day I first laid eyes on my house, and only twelve days after my offer was officially accepted (these things are possible if (a) you are certifiably insane, and (b) the house is vacant).

A year ago today, I woke up super-early in the morning, super-duper excited.  It was CLOSING DAY.  I couldn't get that song 'Closing Time' out of my head.  Not that the rest of the lyrics are relevant, but who cares?!  I was excited.

All through the previous, hectic days, through all the lawyer and bank appointments, the house inspection, etc., I kept waiting for it all to feel 'real'.  Everything was happening so fast, reality hadn't caught up with me yet.  But I figured that once I held that key in my hand, that would be the moment.

I went to the house that morning for the final walkthrough with my realtor.  Luckily, he'd arrived first, because what greeted us was a bit of a shocker (major understatement).  The night before, hoodlums had thrown rocks through five of the house's (brand new) windows, kicked in the basement door, and left the other doors swinging in the wind.

We surveyed the damage, and before getting on the phone to start handling things, my realtor handed me the key, saying "here, I guess this is yours". So much for my 'moment'.

Now, in hindsight, it could've been worse, right?  They couldn've set fire to the place, or kicked holes in the walls or something.  Or hey, they could've done it the next day, after I took possession, and my insurance would've been responsible for the damage.  But nevertheless, it was still pretty darn traumatic.

The rest of the day was an emotional rollercoaster, but I was determined that this house was mine, and I wasn't letting some stupid hoodlums ruin MY day.  This was my eventual decision, anyway, after multiple phone conversations, freak outs, and a lot of tears!  (I live alone here, people, and the house is well back from the street.  I think my fear was justified!)

The previous owner called some idiots to come clean up all the glass, board up the windows and secure the doors (I say idiots because they drove massive screws through the solid wood door with the ONLY working lock - you know, the one my key was for? - and left one window uncovered with rain blowing in, and the basement door wide open - yeah, that'd be the one the massive screws should've been used for.  Come on morons, the house is pretty small.  How'd you manage to screw that up???)

Since my moving 'crew' (thanks, guys!) was scheduled for the next day, that night I just moved a few things in with my dad's help.  Included in that first load was a bed, because there was no way I was leaving my house a vacant target for the hoodlums that night.  It was mine, dammit!  

I spent the first night on a mattress on the floor (oops, forgot the bedrails in all the 'excitement'!), with a hammer by my pillow (hey, it was all I had!), and every light in the place blazing.  A memorable day right to the end, though not in the way I'd hoped.

 no, this is not a crack house

Anyway, so I moved in, life started to fall into a routine, etc. etc.  Until, a week later, the hoodlums came back while I was at work and smashed another window and kicked in the basement door, this time tearing it completely off its hinges.  Yeah, that day kind of freaked me out, too.  Welcome to the neighbourhood!  (I should probably clarify at this point that despite how this sounds, I DO NOT live in the ghetto.  This is an otherwise pretty quiet suburban street.  Any neighbours I've talked to haven't heard of anything else like this happening around here.)

So yeah, this time it was on me to replace the window and door.  Again, I'm grateful that it wasn't worse.  The laptop I'm typing on right now?  Was totally sitting out on the dining room table when they broke in the second time.  But nothing was taken, and I don't even think they came upstairs.  Still freaked me out, though!

I spent my entire first month of home-ownership living in a dark, boarded up house, with the wind whistling through the broken windows.  As soon as the final window was replaced, I had the alarm system installed (the first of many unplanned-for expenses, I've learned).  I now sleep much better, and the hammer is back in the tool box where it belongs!

one of many boxes of glass

It was more than six months before I felt like I could safely walk around inside without shoes on because of all the glass (apologies again to the guests I 'yelled' at to keep their shoes on!).  I still occasionally find the odd shard.  And I'm not sure I'll ever want to walk in the yard barefoot, because it's a lot harder to spot it out there!

The hoodlums are still around, but haven't caused any more trouble that I know of.  They still occasionally run through my yard (and yes, at least one time the police were in pursuit...), but I make sure to let them know I'm here, and that I'm watching. Turns out, we homeowners are a rather proprietary bunch.  I care, because it's mine.

So tonight, I'm toasting my first house-iversary with an adult beverage, and thinking that, all in all, it's been a pretty good year.  And, while I type this, as their own special contribution to the celebration, the hoodlums are setting off fireworks in the schoolyard across the street.

How sweet of them to remember.

 

Bedroom - Part 3

So, at this point I'm just hoping this isn't part three of 12 or 15...  This 'makeover' is definitely taking longer to finish than I'd hoped!

Anyway, just to show that I'm still working on it, here's the latest completed piece:

I finished the roman blind!  I love this fabric, and how it livens things up a bit.  Also love how the thick old window frame makes it look like a piece of framed art.

And that it does a great job blocking out the light (maybe too great?  I'm occasionally finding it a little too easy to sleep in now!)

Garbage Day (2nd Annual?)

Hey, look what I just found in the woods and brook beside my house:

Ok, ok, I know - another boring post about garbage.  But here's my point:  People who litter are selfish and lazy.  Please don't be one of them.

Bedroom - Part 2

Last time around, I showed you the room I started with, and the new paint colour.  What I didn't show you was the VERY first update I made - the mattress.  It was a long time coming, but I finally bit the bullet a couple months ago and splurged on a super plush mattress.  I now think of it as my princess bed, because I feel like a princess every time I sleep in it (even now, months later!).  The cushiness just feels like luxury - definitely a worthwhile splurge!

Anyway, now it's time to add in some of the details.  What I wanted for this room was a warm and cozy retreat.  Layers of soft grays, taupes, and purple shades, with some modern and girly touches to balance things out (stay tuned for those).

First up, I needed bedding to go with the new colour scheme:

I couldn't find a duvet cover that I liked, in the right colour, for less that $70 (and most were more than that).  Since this bedroom makeover was on a serious budget (especially after the mattress splurge!), that just wouldn't do.  I made this one out of a couple of sheets, for about $15, so that fit the bill!

 

Oh, and check out the cute lamp I found, that had all the right colours on the shade:

Not only that, but it only cost me $5 (after using a gift card), AND it was short enough to fit under the slope of the ceiling - a tall order, as it turns out! :)

Still to come:  replacing the overhead light fixture, a little window dressing, and a small chair, perhaps?

Bedroom - Part 1

The transformative power of paint in the dining room has led me to move on to the next room on my 'hit list': the bedroom

Again with the blah beige :(

But now that step one in the makeover process has been completed...


Bye bye beige! And as with the dining room, I think the new colour on the walls makes the floor and mouldings look pretty spectacular. LOVE it.

Part 2 coming soon!

Signs of Spring

Look what I found, peeking out of the ground beside my house!

(I actually hate these things (hence the obvious lack of care around them) - they're tiger lilies, and the place is overrun with them . But still. SPRING!)

Buds on the lilac bushes, and a brilliant blue sky.



Birds everywhere (all of whom managed to elude my camera)

And yes, even the inevitable garbage in the brook, waiting for me to get out there and do some Spring Cleaning (remember garbage day last year?).


Even though the yard actually looks pretty desolate right now.


Even though I know that we probably haven't seen the last of the snow, yet.
Even though it's technically still Winter...

Spring is definitely on its way!

Fine Dining

Ok, here we go. If you've been following the progress in my dining room in the last couple of posts, today's the big day. Here is what my dining room looked like before I moved in:


The door on the left is a small closet (yes, in the dining room), lined with vintage wallpaper. I'd show it to you but it's currently busy serving other customers fulfilling its storage duties and is not feeling very photogenic.

As with EVERY OTHER WALL IN MY HOUSE, the walls were beige. There's nothing wrong with beige, but believe me, living in a beige bubble eventually starts to wear on a person!

And that light fixture is woefully inadequate. But don't worry, I have some ideas for sprucing it up to eventually use it somewhere more appropriate.

And finally, the moment we've all been waiting for... the 'finished' room:


I should note (before someone who knows me comments below!) that I very rarely actually use this room as a dining room. It's usually my 'office', and that armoire in the corner is full of office-y things like my printer and office supplies. So I set the table just for you - it would hardly do to show you a picture of it with my laptop on the table, now would it?! :)

As I mentioned the other day, after the painting was done I was ready to swap out the old, undersized light fixture. This pendant is something I made a couple of years ago, it used to hang in the dining room of my last apartment:


I originally used a lamp kit to light it, but now that I'm in a house, I hard-wired it in.

I first found the idea for this light via ReadyMade, but the instructions are on Instructables. The light is actually a Danish design from the early '70s called the IQ Light . (If you go there and look at all the variations, I think mine was the 80 piece version - so if you're thinking of making one of your very own, be prepared for blisters!!)

That's it for now. I still have a few other projects lined up for this room (a piece of furniture I want to make over to use as a sideboard, some desperately-needed art/mirror/whatever for all those bare walls...). And I know there are a lot of shades of wood going on here, but I'm working on it! For one thing, the table and chairs have had many many lives in many different places, and the chairs at the very least are coming to the end of their lifespan, so I may have to do something about that one of these days.


Any thoughts? Comments on the colour? Suggestions for those bare walls?

Progress - and a quick peek

Hello! It's been awhile. You'll have to excuse my absence, but ever since my last post, my days have been consumed with addressing the problem I found there. I spent the entire month of February, it seems, with a scraper in my hand. Eventually, those walls I showed you ended up like this:



Hallelujah. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I don't know what I'm doing. Probably a little of both. But once the scraping began, there was no easy way to end it. I definitely didn't want to just patch over the problem and get on with the painting, because I didn't want the new paint to peel right off. So I carefully scraped the two walls back to the bare plaster, to start with a 'clean slate' (these two are exterior walls, the other two dining room walls didn't have the same issues).

And now, as of yesterday, the painting is complete! Here's a sneak peek of the colour:


I think it looks pretty grey in this pic, but it's actually a greyish green by Behr called Verdigris. I'm about to replace the light fixture, so stay tuned for full room pics tomorrow (provided the light swapping goes off without a hitch!).

Un-Painting

As I recently mentioned, I've had the urge lately to get painting. The boring beige that covers most of my walls has worn out its welcome.

I thought I'd start with my dining room(/office), so I picked out a colour. It's a small room. 'It'll be easy', I thought. 'A quick project'. Right.

To start things off, I wanted to fill some of the nail holes that the last paint job had just painted right over. So I started in one corner. 'Hmmm, what's this bubble?' I wondered. And then, all of a sudden, I was looking at bare plaster, as years and years worth of paint layers came sliding off the wall in large sheets. This is what de-lamination looks like, boys and girls:

(notice the stack of paint 'sheets' piled on the window sill)

So I turned to my trusty friend Google for advice, and together (along with some further detective work - AKA scraping) we decided that it's most likely the result of (hopefully old) water damage, as evidenced by the water stains on the plaster, and some mildew spots in the area below the window sill. Plus the cracking/peeling problem I first noticed seems to just be mainly around this window, which is also directly underneath where the porch roof meets the wall (remember my fun flashing adventure?).

Anyway, to tackle it properly, I've first got to get all the loose bits off (basically scraping until I'm out past the edge of the water marks). So I decided to make a game of it, a little something I like to call 'who can carve the biggest slice?' And guess what? - I won! Fun times, let me tell you.


It's a good thing I was the type of kid who loved peeling sunburns.

(And for those of you keeping score at home, under the beige paint I found dark red, more beige, pea soup green, emerald green, and peacock blue. None of which are going back on the walls once I get this project back on track)

At this point I think the next step is just to clean it up, patch with wall compound, and then prime it all (and hope for the best). And I'm REALLY hoping it's just this section of wall that needs so much work...

So much for a 'quick, fun project'.

:S