Master Bedroom In Progress

I'm participating in DIY day at Kimba's. Make sure to stop by and check out all the great projects!

I can't believe I haven't posted in two weeks! Since I last posted, we've had a slew of house guests and then got hit by the natiest stomach bug. My poor little Jellybean is on day 6 and is still quite sick! I will spare you the gory details (I know I don't have to explain to all you moms out there!) but suffice it to say, between the extra laundry and disinfecting everything in sight I haven't had much time to myself.

I'd love to blame illness for not posting sooner, but the truth is that the main reason I haven't posted is that I keep waiting for everything to be just right before posting, and that just isn't realistic. So, I finally decided to get over myself and post some things that are merely works in progress.

Without further ado, here is my master bedroom "before". I must warn you, it's rather gruesome (insert horror movie sound effect here...)

Yikes!! In my defense, this photo was taken 1 month after my second baby was born, and we moved in two weeks before that. The walls were painted this oh-so-lovely mint green when we moved in. Don't you just love the way it plays off the purple bedding?! Hee-hee. And, yes, that is our very naughty kitty laying in the bassinette. Luckily she never did that while the baby was in there, but I still freaked out and washed everything every time she did that.

The lovely mini-blinds and window scarf combination came with the house too. The house is backed by woods, so there's really no need to worry about privacy. I debated putting panels in between the windows, but they are really close together and there is sort of a bulk head on top, so I think it would have looked a little smooshed. I decided to do panels flanking the bay window instead.

After:

I bought these brown panels for $10 for the pair when Linens 'N Things went out of business last year. Then I added the taupe band at the top mistreatment style. It's not even sewn together, just pinned, and I used drapery clip rings at the top. I planned to sew everything all proper like, but I pinned one side just to see if I liked it before sewing it and decided I liked it just fine the way it was! I still plan to add some type of blind- possibly bamboo. The little seat is two of these pushed together. I lucked out and got the pair of little framed watercolors of Williamsburg, VA (I'm a VA girl born and bred, so I was happy to find these!) on CL- $10 for the pair. Hmmm, that seems to be a theme for this room. Maybe if I play my cards right I can carry it over to a new pair of lamps for $10? We'll see...

Here's our bed:

I would have rather had more color in here, but there is burgundy tile in the adjoining master bath, so I had to either work in the burgundy (tried and tried and couldn't find a good deal burgundy bedding) or keep things fairly neutral. This is extremely neutral, like Switzerland neutral. I would have liked to have more color, but I guess this palette will force me to add in more texture.

I bought these lamps a meeellion years ago at Tarjay, but they're looking a little tired. I think something more interesting and substantial would add a lot to the room.

I made the artwork above the bed for free!

It's hard to see in this photo, but it says "Love Grows". Those are the words my hubby had inscribed in my engagement ring. It's kind of a promise between the two of us.

Here's a closeup:

I couldn't really get a good photo, but you get the idea. I used my embroidery machine to embroider the letters onto two pieces of fabric that were once pillow faces. They were a little too small for the matts, so I bridged the gap with ribbon that I had in my stash.

Here's the before:

The ribbon was actually printed on one side, but you can't tell on the other side. Here's what the matt looks like from the back:

What do you think? It could still use some lamps and accesories, but I'm pretty happy with how it's coming along.

Stay tuned for my $9 master bath makeover!!

Love,