It’s a Start {My Cozy Little Nest}

A couple of years ago…pre Pinterest…I found the *perfect* bedding for my bedroom.  Perfect in that it was on sale and the colors went well with my newly painted bathroom.  Fast forward about 8{ish} months later…I was SICK and TIRED of that dang bedding and the scary shade of terra cotta {which I could’ve sworn was ‘rust’} .  Mr. Spouse was all, “I could’ve told you that was gonna happen.”  Darnit…I hate it when he’s right!!!  Truth be told, I have a sickness when it comes to bedding…I buy new bedding about every 2-2 1/2ish years.  It’s ridiculous and completely absurd, but I attribute it to my very impulsive, indecisive personality. 

Now…let’s fast forward a little more to the discovery of Pinterest…circa May 2011.  I became OBSESSED with pinning bedrooms and peeking into others’ cozy little sleeping spaces.  After pinning about 50 bedrooms, I knew it was time for a change in my own {insert eye roll from Mr. Spouse}.  This time, however, I promised myself I’d be intentional about it all and I wouldn’t try to do everything at once.  I’d actually take my time and plan in all out {thank you, Pinterest!}  Before I show you what I finally chose, I’ll show you why I HAD wanted to make a change.

Here’s the before room…

Okay, okay.  Not completely unfortunate.  Looking at it here, I think it’s kinda cute.  But let’s not go there.  Let’s step in a little further…

  

Screeeeeeech!!!!  Let’s put the brakes on.  Here you’ll see my repurposed lamps.  I really did love the turquoise/rust combo.  The empty frames on the right was part of my very ill thought out plan. I saw this picture on a blog once of a gallery wall full of empty frames and I was in love.  I collected frames for a while and just started throwing them on the wall.  And then I got tired of it so I stopped.  That was only about a month{ish} in to my *new* room.  Blech.

Seriously.  WTF.  You’ll also notice our white wall on the right.  Ummmm…no, that wasn’t an accent wall.  We ran out of paint and I didn’t feel like finishing that weekend.  We swore we’d finish it, but it stayed like that for another year & a half.  Not. cute. 

Speaking of not cute, our dresser had turned in to a catch all.  Ohmiword….I HATED looking at that every day but heck if I did anything about it.  That TV was enough to send me over the edge…such an eye sore…but again, no desire to find a better home for it. 

And then there was this wall…er, window.  I wanted pillows and a window treatment, but I absolutely couldn’t decide what I really wanted to do.  And I never did decide either. 

Okay…so there’s the back story.  A very poorly planned, poorly executed room that was never really put together.  Just a whole bunch of ideas thrown together one weekend.  And then came Pinterest.  I started pinning…and planning…and I couldn’t stop.  Then I found this room…

via

I was in.love.  Actually, I found several grey rooms I fell in love with, but we have brown furniture and I wasn’t too keen on the brown/grey combo.  Back to this room.  Yes, I was in love.  I LOVED the color…the bedding…the white curtains…pretty much EVERYTHING!!! Fresh…airy…bright…classy.  I loved it all.  And so it became the source of inspiration for our redo.  We started in early October and it’s still a work in progress, but here’s what we have so far…

 

The AFTER…

 

Almost immediately, our room seemed bigger…brighter, too!  I decided on a very simple, basic bedding.  I like the idea of being able to add pops of color with pillows.  Plus, it’s much easier to replace pillows when I get tired of them than it is to replace bedding :)

The paint color was from Lowe’s and it’s called Grand Hotel Mackinack Blue.  I love.  I love the white throw at the edge of the bed…got that from Ikea.  I’m looking for the *perfect* white pintucked comforter…I’d like some fluffiness down there instead {I’m really trying to be patient!!!}  The brown bedspread is from Target and I absolutely ADORE it…BIG adore it.  The zebra pillow is just a pillow sham I bought separately from TJ Maxx for a whopping $6.  I found that little white pillow at Wal Mart and the two blue{ish} pillows were my favorite find…they are IDENTICAL to the wall color and they cost me $13 {from TJ Maxx}. I LOVE a good deal!!!

I made these fun little frames over the bedside tables.  I took two 16x20 canvases and wrapped them in fabric {just cut it to size, wrapped the edges of the fabric around the back of the canvas, and secured with a staple gun all the way around}.  Those brown frames were a wedding gift and I adhered them to the top of the canvas {velcro}.  The lamps were a fun find from Hobby Lobby {on sale, of course!}.  I LOVE them!!!!

 

One of my favorite little details is my wedding bouquet that sits in a vase from Mr. Spouse’s grandma.  That poor bouquet has seen better days, but she’s been moved quite a bit and taken a bit of a beating!!

 

I inherited several pieces of furniture from my grandma when she passed away.  This vanity was the thing I wanted the very most and it’s one of my favorite pieces ever.  I used to sit at that vanity all.the.time as a little girl and play *dress up* with grandma’s costume jewelry and make up.  That birdcage was grandma’s, too.  I LOVE birdcages!!  I’m still on the hunt for the perfect little eclectic chair, but in the meantime our sweet little pug is using that space as his own personal bedroom :)

  

I found this starburst mirror at Michael’s in December.  It was part of their holiday line.  It was love at first sight, so she came home with me immediately.

You might remember this little earring holder I made a couple of years ago.  Since then my collection of danglies has grown quite a bit, so I put the rest of my earrings in that little white footed pedestal {from Willow House, formerly Southern Living…got it when I was a consultant…for about 2 weeks :)}.  I keep all of my bracelets in that apothecary jar and for now, it’s workin’ out pretty well.

This perfume…Ombre Rose…was grandma’s, too.  Aside from the vanity, I wanted this so badly!!  I never want to forget how she smelled :)  I keep this…along with her mirror…on the vanity always.  Love having a little piece of her to look at every day!

 

Okay, so I’m still not uber excited about the dresser, but it’s definitely an improvement!  We needed light in that area in a bad way, so I took one of my old repurposed lamps, spray painted it with looking glass spray paint, and added a shade from a lamp I wasn’t using.  That tv won’t be there for long…Mr. Spouse brought it inside {it’s an outdoor TV} because of all the sporadic cold weather we’re having.  However, I LOVE it being on that side of the dresser.  It’s so much better!!!!

  

The lamp sits on this little *tray* I made.  I took an 8x10 frame, spray painted it with Rustoleum Heirloom White spray paint, and then added a vintage music sheet to the frame portion.  It’s a little catch all and I love it. 

After it was all said and done, I decided I wanted curtains for the long window wall.  I loved the idea of pillows and window seating, but I also wanted something really cozy feeling.  I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I started the whole process, but after the paint was on the walls, I found these curtains {Martha Stewart} at Home Depot.  I absolutely LOVE them.  Of course, no cozy little nookish area is complete without a birdcage :)

So…it’s not finished, but it’s a start.  There’s a floor length mirror I’d like to put a corner not pictured {you’re not missin’ anything, I swear}.  I’d also like a cute little chair for the vanity, a white pintucked comforter for the bed, and new carpet.  We’re hoping to have new carpet installed by the end of the month, but we can’t decide exactly what we want.  I’m leaning toward a shaggy frieze, so we’ll see!!!!  I can’t wait!!!! 

We’re claiming 2012 as the year of remodels and redecorations, so stay tuned for more projects.  We’re remodeling our kitchen {think white!!!}, remodeling our stairs {no more carpet}, adding board and batten to the laundry room & front room plus painting both and adding some flair.  My boys have decided to share a room so we’re also wanting to redecorate & paint the nursery  {it hasn’t been used for about a year!!!} and turn it into another guest room. I’m dying to get started on it all.  Now if only I could get off of Pinterest…