The Master Bedroom Reveal

Y'all...

*takes a deep breath*

This one almost broke us.  I think back to when, how and why this started.  This started on June 3rd in the midst of a pretty crappy depression episode when we came back from our summer trip and had an avalanche of crap roll down on us.  From a rental getting cancelled without anyone telling us to our brakes going bad on one of the cars to discovering we had radon all within 10 days of our return.  When the Mr was mandated to going back to work once a week, I thought I'd clean off this huge cart in his office or at least parts of it.  Almost all of it was my work related for stuff I'm not active on right now so it was essentially swallowing him whole when he was working.  I donated most of it and we got the cart out of there and that just started a whirlwind of cleaning in there that had been years in the making.  I am not a motivated person so when it strikes, I have to seize all my body will give me because it could be weeks or months before I get that kind of motivation again.  Cleaning off one corner cart turned into cleaning the rest of the office, digging into the closet and purging until like Zelda I could proclaim:

(Okay maybe not the house but the room for sure.  (source) )

When the office was completely clean and the baseboards had to come off for a freak reason, you could see the 26 year old carpet was basically on its last legs.  We talked about needing to replace the floors.  Well, that was going to cost about 6K installed.  Technically, we had the money but that's a lot to plunk down when 2/3 of that is labor.  We could do that.  Right?  We knew it needed done but then what about the ceilings?  When we had our kitchen remodeled in March 2020 (you read that right.  Mostly finished the day lockdowns went into effect) we added having the first floor stippled ceilings smoothed.  Well, the upstairs would need to be done eventually and you don't want that being done over newly laid floors.  (And people, these a-holes destroyed SO much that we're still dealing with that we have no doubt they would've obliterated our floors and it would've ended up in small claims court.)   So that meant we had a small window of time to get the ceilings done before being able to proceed with basically everything else.  What started out as me just wanting to clean ONE corner of an office turned into a total overhaul of the second floor.

I wasn't planning on remodeling the bedroom when I first started so I didn't think to take actual before pictures and would've been too embarrassed to show them anyway.  So these are basically once we had the room mostly cleared out.

That was after we ripped down crown molding, took the nightstands down to the basement, put a dresser outside from a high end furniture store that someone got for free and eventually got rid of the armoire on the right.  As you can see, I cared enough to style my pillows and new nightstand of a spackle bucket like a good blogger.  This is the view if I was laying in bed.

Jealous?  Me either.

Before moving shizz around, the armoire above resided here over the outlets and the air purifier beside it.  I know, this doesn't give a true view of how things were but picture about two levels below needing to call Hoarders for an intervention.  Do they have a show called Piles?  Actually, I think that's the alternate name for hemorrhoids.  I don't want to watch that show though that does accurately describe the process we went through to get to the end result.  What is the end result, you ask?  

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(Pretty sure Dawn probably just scrolled down here! 😆)

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The perfectionist in me wants to point out all of the things that didn't turn out like I planned, particularly the much darker wood and color on both accent walls.  It wasn't what I was going for at all and you'll see in upcoming posts why they turned out that way but somehow we both feel, in the end, it works.  The board and batten wall and wall mural were not part of the original plan, they were 'scope creep' items but so glad we did them.  I think the fireplace against a plain painted wall would've just looked bleh and that wasn't what I was going for.

Here are some comparison shots:

(click to enlarge)

(click to enlarge)

It does take some getting used to not having carpet underfoot on the whole room especially because noise seems to reverb from everywhere but I like my tootsies touching the area rug first thing.  

(Before the monster frame was put over it but the sides are still underfoot.)

I never thought we'd never not have dressers in a bedroom but the fact is, the biggest dresser was just a keeper of old crap we didn't use on the regular and the armoire stuff was able to be moved to the IKEA 3 drawer dresser I got a few years ago for "extra" storage for seasonal stuff.  (That stuff now fits under the bed in space bags.)  The ottoman has storage so I keep sheets/etc in there for easy access.  Plus it allows me what I never thought I'd have which is a spot to sit and read a book in a hopefully uninterrupted spot.  (The likelihood of that happening is about as likely as the 'morning cup of coffee' everyone on House Hunters claim they are going to have on their bedroom balcony but we all can dream.)

The shelf over the bed will give me a ton of decorating opportunities and as you see the project which I thought would be done by my birthday in early September was actually completed late enough that I had to decorate for Christmas.  

(We've enjoyed a few Christmas movies with this baby, the tree, garland and fireplace lit up)

If I remember, I will update the post or link to a new one with non-seasonal décor later.   The Mr likes to lay there and stare at the bottom of the shelf.  I made sure it was pretty underneath too and he made two notches on either end for me to run plugs through if I want lit items like that village.  Woot!  

The mural?  Well, we're in love.  

Oh yes, there's a mural!

As you will see in the coming weeks, it too was a journey but thankfully only about a three hour one and well worth the effort.  I blame Rachel Maksy because she had a bunch pinned on her board and that kind of sparked the idea since I can't paint like she can.  I'm a huge lover of art like this so to have an entire wall of it is like the squee of my heart. 

One of the first things we bought (and the last project in this push) was the same over the door organizer we did downstairs on the garage door to go on the closet door.  A lot of things weren't going to have a home without dressers to chuck them on.  Given we have the worst 'custom' doors in the house ever with the biggest gaps, we knew it would function fine.

From rando stuff like hair care, powders and lotions to perfumes and deodorant and a mirror for me to put on makeup if I'd like to emerge from my slumber not looking like the creature from the black lagoon every day.  I've since gotten some make up to put in there too but this is a life saver because this stuff just did not have a home but were still needed.  This will definitely go a long way in keeping things tidy which was my goal.  This particular one is from The Container Store and is expensive.  You can get a similar one for much cheaper here.  

The electric fireplace I'm in love with as well as the mini hearth we made.

(View from sitting on the ottoman with the book and tea I say I'll enjoy from there but probably won't.)

I usually use it for ambience but it does heat up rather quickly so it is perfect for small spaces.  We did have an issue with the mantel and a little spot on the base that I was more than willing to use touch up paint on but Real Flame immediately shipped out replacement pieces for both and they were a snap to replace even fully assembled.  So shout out to Real Flame.  I got it on sale on Wayfair for their Way Days and got $250 off what I was originally planning to spend.  Bonus!  That allowed for me to get a few bedspreads that I could vacuum seal and mix and match at will.  Woo hoo!

The nightstands are upcycled.  

I was never planning to replace those but ran into some 'fun' discoveries along the way which I'll detail in my post about the project.  I may replace them in the future but that's a long way off.  Only if the finish starts poopin' the bed and I feel the need because I did look and my Lord there are either no styles I like or the ones I do are wicked expensive and I don't need them that bad.  

The bed frame provides so much storage underneath which basically frees my entire closet!

I found some great inexpensive bedspreads and while flouncy isn't usually my thing, it had a nice long side which covered the wares underfoot so I didn't have to try to find an 18" bed skirt.  *Looks up 18" bed skirt for the first time.*  Oh.  Apparently those are easy to find.  

(source)

I think it still works for the space and if I ever don't want to feel like I'm in a remake of Pride and Prejudice then I'll have that option.

There are some smaller projects not yet tackled.  The wires will be hidden for the TV.  We attempted the behind the wall kit thingy and there's a firebreak in the middle of the wall where the board and batten ends.  Despite using an endoscope camera, it was impossible to tell how high up we were seeing.  So an electrician will be called in once peak creeping crud season is over to install an outlet behind the TV.  I did not want a huge TV dominating the space so it's just a small 32" which will hopefully be covered with an upcoming project.  There are many options out there but hopefully ours will work the way I think it will in my mind.  (Given the track record of this project, that is a hard no.)  That is likely a winter project which will need the electrical installed behind it before we can do it.  The window wall is also bare and I have an idea for it which will require a pretty easy build considering all we've done up to this point and me getting the items to fill it.  More staining will be involved but you can bet your butt I'm springing for the eco stain or the wood ager I passed on for the wood wall that I now sorely regret.  Your girl is still gagging on lingering stain off gassing a month later (water based which was supposed to be much less volatile.  Lies.)   I must choose the least stinky and unfortunately that's expensive but obviously worth it given how much I'm still suffering the second the door closes each night.  I'm also toying with a beam idea I had over the TV but I'm ordering samples before making a decision on that.  It's not required but I think it would look nice because the top of the wall just needs something.  I can't wait until everything is completely done in there but this is the "done-est it's gonna get for a while" reveal.  

I know some people are not loving it and could never live in such a space and that's fine.  No need to point it out.  Treat it like a fart in church and hold it in.   We love it and that's all that matters.  😁  If it's one thing I've learned the past few years, love the space you're in as much as you can.  Your home needs to truly be a space where you can retreat and shut the world out and I would like to retreat to the English Countryside, thankyouverymuch.  (It takes everything in me not to try to jump into that mural every morning!)  

Oh and for anyone worried I may be getting too bougie for your taste:

For those of you who may like what you see and are curious where I got stuff, I've linked what I can below!

Main bedspread (They have a TON of great colors/styles including ticking if you're into the farmhouse things and super affordable!  Pictured is neutral and I also got gray.  I will say you get what you pay for but if you just want something quick while you look at other options with higher quality, this is a perfect stop gap set.)

Velvet bedspread (used at the end of the bed) (I was lucky enough to see an IG account that paired this dark green velvet spread with a similar color bedspread.  It was just the touch I was looking for for Christmas.  I also ordered the matching shams which quickly sold out after she posted last month.)

18" High Queen Bedframe  (If you want to be able to store full sized bins under your bed, this is the baby you want!  It's opened up a whole new storage world in our shoebox.  We got a 14" bedframe for the office bed and it gives great storage as well that you can put underbed long storages boxes and soft totes.)

Linen Curtains  (The people who do the cheap inexpensive bedspread come through on the curtains as well!  I wasn't a fan of the lace on the edges so I zhuzhed it up with some fringe and because I was over it at the point I just used Fabric Fusion to attach it over the lace since these were cheap enough.) 

Queen Fabric Headboard  (This is nice and comfy to lean against while watching the fire or doomscrolling catching up on stuff.)

Braidy Bronze 2-Light Plug-In Wall Sconce (We got a great deal on these and they still have good prices.  There is also a single light version available as well.  This is perfect if you want a wall sconce but don't want to hardwire something in.)

Chateau Electric Fireplace  (LOVE this thing!  Compact, just like we needed without looking dinky.  Puts off great heat.  The lowest setting is 71 so we'll often put it on for about 5 minutes to take the chill off and then just keep the fire on with no heat.  There was a small issue and they were on it to replace it ASAP.)

English Countryside Peel and Stick Mural (I was more than happy to purchase from this store who is located in Ukraine.  The mural came sooner than expected, well packed, with the tools needed and even a sample you could put on the wall to test it's 'removeability' before putting yours up.)

Leather Look Storage Ottoman  (This was to give both storage and seating in the room.  Some people in reviews complain it's too short but I don't have a problem with it.  If you want it higher, it's called buy new legs and screw them in!  Ultimately I would've liked a lighter brown but this'll work.)

Faux Stone Panels (I got Hamptons in the Dakota Blend.  (That I altered after hung but you'll see that later.) ) 

Lit Wooden Christmas Old Town  (In case anyone liked it for Christmas for next year.  I will say I feel it's overpriced but it does look pretty all lit up.  Yes mine looks different because I fully painted the trees and put Euro Gold Rub n Buff on the rooftops so it didn't look as cheap.)

IKEA Songesand 3 drawer chest (Mentioned in post but not shown.  Gets the job done but wish it was a little deeper and that the drawer backs came up all the way.)

World Market no longer carries the area rug which was called Gray Wool and Viscose Persian Style Sophia Area Rug.  😢

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