TODAY IS THE BIG DAY!!! The Reveal of my One Room Challenge space, my Master Bedroom. (insert colossal sigh of relief, hand me a glass of vino, and keep the house quiet and dark while I nap, haha)
Can I tell you how wonderful it is for my husband and I to have a fully finished retreat of a room? It is really exciting, and it takes us one more step closer to a fully functioning, renovated home.
See the previous five weeks of my One Room Challenge here:
One Room Challenge Week 1 – Why We Chose the Master Bedroom
One Room Challenge Week 2 – The Plan
One Room Challenge Week 3 – Ceiling Crash & Wallpaper Calamities
One Room Challenge Week 4 – Wallpaper Removal & Closet Transformation
One Room Challenge Week 5 – Paint + Wallpaper
To remind you of where we started, let’s do some gratuitous before and afters, shall we?
This is what the bedroom looked like when we moved in.
Then we de-sponge painted it, smoothed the heavily textured walls, and painted it white.
And now that same view looks like this!
Once we had replaced the fallen ceiling,
taken out the old wallpaper that got ruined when the ceiling fell, and painted the trim, we made it to this point.
And now the wall pictured above is wholly made over!
We stored our bedroom furniture and my husband’s clothes in the Master Bathroom and the stairwell.
Eventually, with many many hours of work, that wall was completely transformed from its state above to the photo below!
One of the main architectural changes we made to the space was the closet. My husband’s closet has been a mess since we moved in – it was awkward, the floor gave you splinters, and it simply did not function.
Widening the doorway, adding a pair of salvage yard doors, and glamming them up with some sexy brass hardware, has made a huge difference in our everyday lives!
The brass handles are actually CURTAIN RODS!! I got them from Signature Things (they also have some GREAT hardware!), and not only am I extremely happy with the quality of the rods, but their customer service was EXCELLENT! Truly. I had several questions, and the owner, Manoj, answered all of them in detail.
Something neat and different…I was able to order the handles in a brass finish that is aged by hand! You know how when you buy Unlacquered Brass, it is pretty shiny, and you have to wait for it to tarnish a tad to get the patina you are going for? Well, Signature Things perceived a hole in the market, so they created their own process. You can tell them heavy aging, light aging, etc. Since I had never ordered anything patinaed like this, I was unsure of how it would look, and I was super pleased when I received the brass rods and brackets!
It’s amazing all of the storage we have in here now that we have a closet system, and a space that is easy to get to and move around in!
The vintage porter chair I picked up at an estate sale long ago inherited a manly vibe from the pinstripe suiting fabric I ordered from The Shade Store. If you order window treatments from them, they will also allow you to place a fabric-only order. I needed a couple of yards to reupholster the seat and arm pads.
The lines of the chair are curvy, bordering on sweet, so the masculine pattern really works. My kids call this chair “the Rain Chair”. : ) The modern side table is great for resting a book or a cup of coffee.
Porter Chair (similar) / Modern Side Table / Plug-In Sconce
The plug-in lamp we placed above the porter chair is super affordable and provides a soothing reading light, and I love the tassel pillow coupled with the winky face pillow. I like to keep things from getting too serious in a room by inserting something that is unexpected and tongue-in-cheek.
Tassel Pillow / Winky Pillow
The arch next to the Porter Chair is one of my favorite elements of the room since it is original to the house. (1919) I highlighted it by painting it dark like the trim. (It was my good friend Gwen’s idea to put the shoes in the nook, and I love it!)
The desk is vintage, and I spent some serious time shining up the brass knobs and brass-capped feet. The green leather top meshes so well with the room’s new color scheme.
Desk (similar) / Desk Chair (similar)
We both use the desk, but my husband works here quite a bit.
The Best Headphones Under $100!
The vintage tole lamps were a Round Top find that I topped with black shades from Target.
Gold Tole Lamps (similar)
The desk chair (I have major heart eyes for its interesting shape!) is a Kai Kristiansen find from Etsy I reupholstered using leather scraps from a previous project, along with a tweed fabric to give it a Mad Men feel.
Our first Valentine’s Day in the house we live in, my husband gave me a card which led me to an old stump in our backyard. He had carved our initials into it, and of course, I loved it! I enlarged the image and framed it in acrylic I ordered from my friend, Kipp, at Nationwide Plastics. (Kipp’s info is in this post) It brings an air of sentiment into the room.
We had a difficult time finding the right bed! When I found the chippendale brass headboard, I was hopeful it would work! I like that it does not block much of the window, and it brings some shine to the space.
Chippendale Bed (similar)
The bedding is a mix of textures from linen to velvet to cotton to mohair, and the color scheme gathers some of the soothing hues I like in the gorgeous ceiling wallpaper.
The black bedskirt really brings the whole look together. It was difficult to find an 11″ bedskirt, which is what I needed for the vintage bedframe. After some searching, I found these pins that hold a bedskirt in place, and I am in love! These babies are so practical and work great!
Bedskirt / Silk Quilt (seriously soft and feels so luxurious!) / Black & White Tassel Throw (under $40!)
You would never know I had to pin this bedskirt up three inches!
We have really deep window wills in this room so they serve as our nightstands for the most part. But I found this malachite stool to put next to my side of the bed, and I promptly ordered it. I have a big thing for malachite! (it comes in a few other colors too)
It has such a pretty, glossy finish!
The malachite stool ties in really well with the detail on the antique chairs next to my dresser.
We got the GORGEOUS Kindel dresser from one of my new favorite vintage furniture sellers, The Collected Eclectic Home. (they have some seriously awesome finds!!) Diana, the owner, was awesome to work with, and the marble top I added really gave it that extra wow factor!
Look at that lovely detail!
Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved foliage. Green is one of my favorite colors, and the shapes of leaves are so pretty to me. I have had this collection of antique botanicals for years, and I so enjoy getting to see them on display in our bedroom.
One of the important items of a bedroom/dressing space we were missing was a full-length mirror. I searched and searched for one that was affordable, had an arch to coordinate with the arched nook, and was simple and not too showy to blend with the aesthetic. The mirror also needed to be less than 24″ wide to fit between the moldings, and over 6 feet tall to compliment the 9′ ceiling height and be practical for this tall girl. ; ) (this is the mirror I purchased) The vintage tole stool is great for makeup touchups.
Full Length Mirror
The grey-blue silk shades are from The Shade Store, and they are the nicest romans I have ever owned! I got them with the chain pulley, and they open and close beautifully! I think their simplicity hides the fact that one room is three inches wider than the other! #oldhousequirks
Completing a room in this sort of timeline is really a full-time project that you have to fit around family, home, and job. It is not easy, and I am so happy it is done! Please let me know in the comments if you have questions about anything in the room, or any thoughts about the space in general. I read and respond to every comment!
There are so many wonderful One Room Challenge projects being revealed today and tomorrow so head over to Calling It Home to see what all of the other participants pulled off! Thank you so much Linda, for putting this together, and thank you to House Beautiful, the Media Sponsor for the ORC.
It takes many late nights to finish a project like this, but I am not an island, and I did not do it all myself. I would love to thank the following individuals and businesses that made my bedroom retreat possible:
John Ross at Holland Sherry, Ellie Cashman Wallpaper, Manoj at Signature Things, Rick Goodwin Contracting, Becky Wallis Wallcoverings, The Shade Store, Simple Things Furniture, Gabriel Costilla Upholstery, Farrow & Ball, The Collected Eclectic Home, Onis Stone, Texas Designer Flooring in Fort Worth, Home Goods, Pottery Barn, West Elm, Nationwide Plastics, Fort Worth Camera, Juan Wall, my 5-year-old daughter K who is a blooming wallpaper stripper and painter ; ) , Kristin Jackson at The Hunted Interior and Gwen Hefner at The Makerista (this room would not be as good without your text/phone call input!), and most of all, thank you to my husband, Kent, for all of his support and ideas. I’m a better designer and better everything because of you, sweetheart!
And a special thanks to you, readers. I so appreciate you following along with me!
Until the next story.
xo, G