Master bedroom decorating plans...

Posted on Monday, September 25, 2006 at 06:40

I am so excited! I purchased a new duvet cover on ebay for a really really good price. The seller claims that although its not in the packaging it is a brand new duvet cover, tags intact and from a smoke free home. I have been looking for a new duvet cover for what feels like FOREVER because the darned things are just soooo expensive and we really can't afford to buy one at the 100.00+ that they are always asking for them. Getting a bed in a bag is also a bit of a pain because it always includes a dust ruffle and the way that our sleigh bed is designed, it has high sides and the dust ruffle wouldn't show. I thought about making my own cover but then I would have to take a crash course on sewing, pay someone or wait a kabillion years for my mom to make me one.

Anyway, I will have the duvet cover in a few days and if all goes well, it will be everything that the seller claimed it would be and I can start getting idea's for decorating our very large master bedroom at the other house.

We have a dark wooden king sized sleigh bed, two end tables, and a large double dresser. The room itself is big enough to have a sleeping area and a small "sitting" area and we plan on adding a small gas or woodstove into the room as it has a chimney access from the original structure thats in great condition. The floors have been completely redone and rather than staining them we left them in their natural state and just clear coated them so they are a pale gold colour and still have all the cracks etc. that old floors have between the boards. I like that more "rustic" feel for the floors and besides, it was neat to find that once apon a time there was an area rug in the room (we know this because when we removed the lanolium from the floor they had refinished the floors... all around where the area rug would sit!) and underneath the area rug, there was a loose floor board that you could pop open and store valuables on the ceiling below.

This is the duvet cover:

I want to paint the walls a really pale, buttercream yellow colour to go with the wood and the duvet cover.

We were also searching for several years for a nice tall dresser for Bughead with deep drawers at a good price... and walked by several because we didn't feel that they were built well enough, the cost was too high or the drawers weren't deep enough. One day I was at value village, a local used clothing and household goods store when I came across a beautiful antique dresser with a swivel mirror and DEEP drawers that match the same lines and colour as our furniture.

I also got a 1950's style make up table from a family friend who moved to Florida and a wrought iron make up table chair from my daddy-in-laws wife. I plan on covering the make up table (it has a mirror that opens up from inside the top of the table and I can't STAND that because then the girls are always in my makeup LOL) with a nice cloth and topping it with a square table topper set sideways so that one of the corner points down the front. I haven't decided what one yet but I have priced them out on average at around $35.00 or less for a nice one... here are two in the style that that I was thinking of:

Aside from the paint, the total cost (at the moment) to do our masterbedroom:

Duvet cover: $30.00 (included shipping)

Antique dresser with swivel mirror: $40.00

Table topper: approx $30.00

Make up table: FREE!

Wrought iron chair: FREE!

Can't beat that can you?

Now I just need to move and strip, oh, around 6 or so layers of wallpaper off the walls in that bedroom.

 Todays Journal Prompt

Have you ever been searching for that ONE special item for yourself or for your home and then suddenly, at just the right time found it exactly like you wanted for a fabulous price? Describe that item, where you found it, the price etc.

 Quote of the Day

"I am getting to that age where I want to go braless... it pulls the wrinkles out of my face!" ~ unknown

Contemplations

Posted on Friday, September 15, 2006 at 07:11

I am starting to think about our other house... the one thats nearly 120 years old and although we have lived in it for some 6 odd years now (at first full time and then part time during the last three years) we have never done any major redecorating to the house. The first thing to go was the pink hallway carpet and the green living room carpet followed by the floor tiles in the masterbedroom that would crack in half when you walked on them. Can we all say asbestos? Once Boo started crawling we knew that those tiles had to go so we yanked everything out one weekend to discover totally unfinished floor boards beneath. Well,  I shouldn't say totally unfinished because some individual thought that they would save themselves some time and just finish the floors around whatever area rug they happened to be using at the time. Fun huh? Anyway, later on that year, way back when we actually had money we got the floors redone and just finished them with a clear coat of varnish, leaving them in their natural state. The year following that, we ripped out the extremely useless closet underneath the stairs and replaced it with a beautiful carved post and drywalled the inside leaving it as an alcove underneath the staircase. Needless to say my mind is all abuzz with different decorating ideas for the house and as I sit here amid boxes with no moving date in sight I am getting restless.

Now as some of you may be aware, I am all about frugal and most definitly about anything with history. I like to have a home that feels welcoming, homey and comfortable. My overall "style" if I had to choose one in particular is definitely country. I like things old, comfortable, user friendly and child friendly. I totally dislike anything sleek and modern or rustic. Like everything else about me, my decorating choices are rather ecclectic but overall, country describes my tastes pretty accurately. If I had to put words to what I want our home to be, I would have to use the following:

Comfortable

A retreat

Family

Love

Homey

Welcoming

Safety/a safehaven

Relaxation

Day Dream

Rest

Stay awhile

My own world (filled with the things that I like)

Reflect

Escape

Private

Happiness

Contentment

Heritage

Quiet (yea right with my girls thats not happening!)

Serenity

Curl up

Remember

I feel strongly that your home should be a safe haven and embody who the family is that is living there. For you, that might be sleek and stylish or frilly and victorian. I am no decorating diva but I do know what I like and have had many people say that they like my home because it feels welcoming and "homey" to them. That makes me happy... just as long as they don't stay too long because our family tends to be very reclusive and hermit like.  

Todays Journal Prompt

What do you love about your home? What would you change if you could change it? What words can you use to describe what you want your home to be? Write about it in your journal. Perhaps you could take a picture of your home and write the words around it in an interesting way around the page.