Master Bedroom Reveal

Today's the day for our new master bedroom reveal!

Our goal for our master bedroom remodel was to take our bedroom from dark and outdated to a look that more authentically fits our one hundred year-old cottage. (See the before photos here.)

 

  

It was important for us that the bones of our master bedroom have a timeless look that would never fall out of style again (as in no more hunter green wall to wall carpet.)

 

 The new white walls and refinished original wood floors create a neutral backdrop for easily changing to almost any look, by simply changing the bedding and accessories. 

  

Even knowing that new lighter paint would make a huge difference, it didn't prepare us for how light and airy our bedroom feels now. Our soaring ten and a-half foot tall ceilings also help our small bedroom seem larger and lighter than it really is. We accentuated the high ceilings, while also making the most out of our one small north facing window, by hanging our new curtains higher and wider than the window trim.

  

  

The door on the right leads to a small walk-in closet, and on the left is our master bath (See the master bathroom reveal here.) We've been loving the bare wood floors during our hot summer (so cool on bare feet), but I'm hoping you can all help us out with ideas for rugs. We don't know if it's better to have one big 8 x 10 rug that goes under the bed or two smaller rugs on each side and another one at the foot of the bed. I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences with both.

We downsized to a queen size bed and love the extra room it gave us for another small dresser. We also purchased a new headboard. It's so nice to lean against something soft while reading in bed now. 

I've decided to go slow with finishing our master bedroom decor. Since we're saving up for a few other large projects, the decorating must be done by me, and on a shoestring. (My favorite way, of course!) I have many plans floating around inside my head, like painting this dresser, and I'll be sure to share all my projects with you.

To that end, my first bedroom project was redoing our old guest bedroom lamps from chrome to gold (see the tutorial here.) I'd love to buy new drum shades in linen or burlap, but recovering these instead is one of those future projects rattling around inside my head. As for furniture, I won't be painting our pine bedside tables and armoire for sentimental reasons. Do your remember when this style was advertised in just about every issue of BHG and Country Living?

I borrowed this pillow from the guest room for now, but I have plans for sewing a long bolster.

   

You can see I don't like ironing like the wrinkly bed skirt look. I'll be cutting and resewing our old king size duvet into queen size instead of buying a new one. (Note to self: do this before it snows!)  

 

We love our heavy pine armoire. It fits this wall perfectly and holds so much!

 

Our new curtains are lined white cotton panels with soft gathers and ruching at the top. They were simple enough for my farmhouse look with just a touch of feminine detail.

 

Here's a close up of the Minwax Special Walnut stain on our old Douglas Fir floors with our original antique (scrubbed and spray-painted) heat register.

That's our master bedroom so far, with lots of plans still in the works for decorating. 

Thank you so much for stopping in today to take a look!  

{Thank you to Jed Dilworth Construction for making our dreams come true!}



It must be time to party!

The Scoop
Cozy Little House 
 Our Home Away From Home
Mod Vintage Life
Elizabeth & Co. 
Vintage Inspiration Party
Shabby Art Boutique
 

DIY Gold Table Lamp

 

Today, I'm sharing how I refinished two shiny silver and glass lamps with an antique gold color that's more suited for our new master bedroom.

These are the project lamps from our old guest room about five years ago. They've been packed away unused in the attic for the past few years.  

When I decided I wanted some sparkle and shine for our new master bedroom decor, I thought of those glass lamps.

I liked the glass, but I thought the silver metal was looking a bit too modern with our new farmhouse decor.

I'd seen this Rub n' Buff wax product used by other bloggers to give old furniture hardware an antique look and thought I'd give it a try on our lamps. I bought a little tube of Antique Gold Rub 'N Buff at my local Michaels Craft Store for under $5.00, and used just a tiny bit of the tube for both lamps. 

(BTW, I'm not being compensated by anyone for this blog post.)

My Rub 'N Buff literature didn't actually mention anywhere that it was recommended for use on metal, so I knew I was winging it by applying it on my lamps. I began by washing and drying the lamps well, then I taped off all the parts I didn't want gold.

 

I started out trying to rub a small amount of the soft wax onto the metal with my finger, but when I quickly figured out my finger wasn't going to fit in the little crevices, I switched to a small paint brush. I burnished and smoothed the wax as I went in very small sections because once it quickly dried, it was set hard.

It was a bit more difficult to get a smooth and even surface on the larger lamp base. I found that using my finger and working quickly to make the thinnest coat possible that would cover the silver adequately got the best results. After it was dry, I removed the tape and shined it all up with a soft rag.

 

This is the antique burnished gold color I was hoping for. It suits our farmhouse decor.

 

I think it looks great with the nail head trim on our new headboard, too, and I love the pretty golden glow at night when the lamp is turned on.

 

 

One of the great things about this project for us is that since our master suite remodel has broken the bank around here for a bit, I was really glad to be able to recycle the lamps we already had for less than five dollars!

Now I'm wondering what else around here might look great with a golden glow. 

Hmmm... 

   

 

I'm sharing today with

The Inspiration Exchange 

Savvy Southern Style

French Country Cottage

Rooted In Thyme

Craftberry Bush 

My Repurposed Life

DIY Showoff

The Cottage Market
Homework 
 

A Remodel Update and New Neutral Decor

I'm super happy to tell you that our master suite remodel was finished last week! 

Yay!

You can't believe how good it feels to have our house back to ourselves after eleven long weeks of sharing it with a constant parade of subcontractors. It feels SO Good! Our new master bedroom and bathroom are so different now, moving back into them was almost like moving into a different house. I'll share the whole remodel story and all the details soon, but for now here's a quick before and after look.

Before

Do you remember this before picture of the hunter green faux marble Formica counter in the master bathroom?

After

Here's the new shaker style cabinet and gray quartz counter. What a difference, right? (Wait till I share the new shower with you next week. It'll blow your mind!)

Before

 Here's a refresher picture of our old ruby red and hunter green bedroom. Yikes! 

After

 And here's our new soothing neutral colored bedroom. Honestly, I'm in heaven every time I walk into this room, I love it so much! I have lots more to do in this room, and I'll be sharing it all with you as each project is finished. (Later this week I'll be sharing my DIY bedside lamp makeover.) 

Are you as bowled over by the difference in these two rooms as we are? It is so much fun to live in them, and we feel so lucky. It was worth every minute of living through the stress and saga of a remodel to have these perfect rooms, and I pinch myself each time I see them again. (Which I do about every five minutes because I just can't get enough of them!)

During the remodel I was busy redecorating our entry way and living room to be more in line with the new neutral color scheme and style of the kitchen we had redone last fall and with the rest of the house. Out with the bright jewel-toned traditional decor we used to have, and in with the new neutral-colored farmhouse theme. I had to do it all in my head and online because I didn't actually have access to the living room and entry area during the entire remodel. My studio was filling up with things I'd purchased and made, and I was pretty nervous to see if it would all work out. There were moments I really questioned just what the heck I was doing. 

Over the past couple of days I was able to put things in order, though, and I'm excited to share with you what I've done so far. I still have a lot to do, but I'm relieved to say I like the direction in which it's going. I've never tackled such a completely new and different decorating theme before, and I'm finding it to be quite a fun and interesting challenge.

Here's the entry way, which is actually just one side of our long living room that we've separated with this white homemade cupboard we placed behind the sofa. Lots of needed storage is here next to the dining room for linens, crystal, silver, and china. I considered a cushioned bench in the corner with baskets below and coat hooks above to define this area as the entry, but having the antique dresser there is just a more practical use of our limited space for us.

  

This is the part of the living room behind that white cupboard in the last picture. 

Our comfy new neutral sofa! 

(I need to make new pillows. Summer pillows, fall pillows, Christmas pillows...  I can't wait!)

The dining room and kitchen. 

I feel like all the rooms are finally starting to flow well and speak to each other properly, and this is what I hope they're saying: "I'm a one hundred and four year-old house, and I'm proud to show it!"

Thank you so much for stopping in today to see what's going on around here. I hope you'll stop back again later because I'll be sharing the details of our remodel and lots more pictures of all these rooms. I also have tons of fun DIY projects planned for all of our new spaces.

Have a great day, and see you again soon!

  I hope you'll join me this week at these wonderful parties!

The Scoop 
 Cozy Little House
Between Naps On The Porch
Mod Vintage Life
Elizabeth & Co.  
Homework 
Our Home Away From Home
Savvy Southern Style
The Charm of Home
From My Front Porch To Yours 
Shabby Art Boutique