If there’s a silver lining to this pandemic, it’s that we’ve sat in our houses long enough to appreciate the corners that bring us joy, identify what we want in a home if we were—say—stuck in it with no where else to go for a year, and tackle some projects on our list to make the corners that need a little help more functional and more expressive of who we are. I recently tackled our bedroom, prompted by a partnership that gave us a new bed because if you give a mouse a new bed, she’s going to ask for a fresh coat of paint, a furniture refresh (new paint and hardware on a dresser) and an encore of the creative high that comes from switching things up.
Let’s start with the before.
It wasn’t bad but definitely needed a little love. The gray paint had served its time, and I was ready for something more airy and light. My dad and I had built that headboard, and I love it; but the elements in the room just didn’t feel cohesive together. (Thankfully, I was able to pass the headboard on to a friend, so it will still be well loved.) Our bedroom is often the first neglected room in the house because we’ll pretty up all the other rooms and sacrifice ours to hold the clutter. But I think we’re all feeling the importance this year of rest havens and loving our spaces, so I was so excited about giving our room this makeover.
Enter the room’s focal piece. I did an Instagram partnership with The Inside and fell in love with their fabric choices for upholstered beds. They encouraged me to choose a bolder pattern rather than playing it safe which was just the push I needed, and I LOVE the result. This blog post isn’t sponsored, but I can truly say the bed is amazing and the process of choosing it was so fun and easy.
I chose a big black and white check upholstered frame, envisioning blush walls for it to set against. I made a vision board of all the pieces together, and the outcome is as dreamy as my vision board.
Since we refreshed everything, this room has gained major popularity with everyone in the family. It’s our cozy place to watch shows together Saturday mornings. It’s where I’ll retreat to at night earlier than usual to unwind and read a book. And the bed is made early every morning because we love the way it feels to walk into a welcoming room.
After the bed, the new wall color is the MVP here—the most delicious shade of blush that was well researched thanks to my paint color genius sister and a slew of Pinterest pictures showing it in rooms before I chose it. I fell in love, and it’s even better in person (I’ve answered DMs about this color every day since I posted it). Get a pen. Write this down: MALTED MILK from Sherwin Williams.
The dresser used to serve as our dining room hutch. I love giving rooms new looks in my house simply by switching things up and repurposing. At the end of this post, I link all bedding, pillows, bed, art, curtains, lighting, rug, etc. The art over the dresser is one of my favorites, and it’s a $5 download from Etsy, enlarged, printed at Walgreens and placed in a Michael’s frame.
The down blanket on the bed is another favorite. I had a down comforter but was so tired of duvet covers bunching up or hanging off the bed (and I had been through many). I definitely wanted down though. Last year, our power went out late summer and we had to sleep at our neighbor’s house who happened to be away. My neighbor is a designer, the queen of hospitality and the Linens Queen. After I enjoyed the most glorious sleep in her beautiful bed, I called her the next day and asked for all her bedding sources—Pacific Coast satin-lined down blanket (perfect for Florida weather and no need for the duvet cover). I bought two twin sized blankets for Nella’s room and loved them so much I ended up buying the king for ours.
Once I painted the walls blush, I decided to paint our dresser blush as well. I used our airbrush paint sprayer for the first time and painted it a shade darker than Malted Milk in a glossy finish. I added brass and leather hardware, and I think it looks SO much better than it did!
The blue chairs used to be in our living room. They’re Brett’s favorite, and they work perfect in our bedroom now. In keeping with the clean, airy new look, I went with monochrome for the curtains and found the perfect blush velvet ones. They’re super affordable, and they look and feel amazing.
It feel so good to love our space again, and I’m more motivated than ever to keep it a joyful haven for us.
Link Round-up:
Pacific Coast Down Blanket
Blush Velvet Curtains
Rug
Large Scale Vintage Portrait from Belle Art Prints
Green Velvet Throw Pillow Cases
Round Salmon Pillow
Tiger Pillow
Over the Bed Art: Lost in Thought Portrait, “Florida” Woman Portrait, Floral Still Life
Bed Sconce Lights
Blue Velvet Chairs
Somewhere between Wilmington and Savannah, I got nervous. We had stopped at a Target on what we had hoped would be a drawn out and enjoyable trip back home, but I sensed the shift. You could feel it in the air—this cloud. People were scared. I had picked up enough bits and pieces of news on our trip to think to grab some Lysol and hand sanitizer to bring home, but the cleaning supply aisles were stripped bare. Two more stores in Savannah confirmed it—sanitizing products were wiped out and slowly other necessities were dwindling. There’s something eerie about seeing rows of completely empty shelves, especially when you’re away from home.
School was cancelled for another two weeks. “We can do this!” I told myself. “I was made for this!” And like everyone else, I didn’t realize my reserves of optimism, creativity and can-do-it-ness would have to last as long as they’ve had to, so I spent it all in the beginning and then borrowed more against my future self. We made forts, watched movies, created pretend restaurants. I attempted bread making, hosted courses, started a book proposal. An adorable classroom was erected in our dining room, and I wrote positive quotes about home learning on a chalk board with a special teacher chalk holder I bought because—get this—I was so excited about teaching my kids from home.
When the e-mails came from the district announcing virtual learning for the rest of the year, we were asked to pick up our kids’ belongings in an organized operation that would keep everyone safe. I wore sunglasses because I couldn’t stop the tears from spilling as I pulled my car up to the line of masked teachers who handed me plastic bags filled with Dash’s text books and Nella’s folders and crayon boxes stuffed with all the little treasures my kids had kept hidden in their desks that year—Shopkins, smelly erasers, hair ties and pencil toppers. I whispered to one of the teachers “We miss you guys so much” before I drove away, and I cried again in the garage when I returned home because I knew this was a much bigger deal I thought it would be the first time Publix ran out of Lysol. I thought about all the kids—yours and mine, and how this had become something they’d never forget. And our school—the thought of it empty during what was always such a vibrant time of year broke my heart—like driving by your childhood home where all the neighborhood kids used to play in the sprinkler and seeing it boarded up and neglected.
It’s been a year now. My kids are back to school, and the desk and chalkboard I was once so excited to have displayed in our dining room have been removed and relocated to other areas of the house. Given the heartbreaking reports of so many spent mothers still supervising virtual learning while juggling job duties and tending to stressed screen-weary kids, I’m grateful my kids are back in their classrooms with teachers who are showing up in this brokenness the best way they can. But school is not the same, and it shows in a multitude of ways. I send them off every morning more covered—in masks, in sanitizer and in prayers; and yet it feels the opposite—like they’ve never been more emotionally exposed in a colder environment behind walls I haven’t seen in over a year.