master bedroom renovation – simplify the chaos

ORC Week Eight: Primary Bedroom Reveal(ish)

After several weeks of work, our primary bedroom is . . . halfway done!

Yep, you read that right. I’m only finished with half of the room so far, but my oh my do I love this half!

Here’s a reminder of where the space started at the beginning of the One Room Challenge:

Throughout the past nine weeks, I painted the walls, baseboards, ceiling and windows. I also replaced the window casing with chunkier trim and updated the outlet and switch covers with wooden covers painted the same color as the wall. Justin and I hung new curtain rods and curtains, new smoke and carbon monoxide alarm, installed sconces, swapped our nightstands with the ones from our guest room, and of course, upgraded our bed, bedding, and rug.

I have realized something important about myself in this process. I understand the value of planning out a renovation ahead of time. The mood board I created at the beginning of the project was such a helpful guide for me in making decisions early on and to gather all my thoughts in one place. That being said, I realized that I also really like slow, thoughtful design decisions. I like to solidify a choice, see it in my space, and then finalize the next choice from there. This room started with the bed. I knew I wanted a platform bed in a deep, solid color. Once I had the bed in place, I could gather bedding ideas and a rug that would all coordinate well, and once I sat with those choices for a couple weeks, I found the curtains that worked perfectly to complete the look.

Looking back at my mood board, I stuck with a lot of materials and products that I first envisioned, but I’m glad I didn’t jump the gun and order everything at once in the beginning. Take the curtains for example – I originally envisioned a solid mustard color. As the renovation went on and everything came together, I realized with solid color walls (I did not do limewash as I originally planned), a solid color bedframe, and a solid color throw blanket, I needed more pattern! I wanted a subtle graphic pattern to balance out the bolder, more intricate pattern in the rug and I really wanted to stick with a mustard color. It was actually very hard to find affordable, in-stock, 96″ length curtains in a small, mustard-colored, graphic pattern that I actually liked, and I searched for weeks before finding these beauties (snagged on sale for under $50 a pair!)

I’m very glad I didn’t let the pressure of a “deadline” with the ORC rush my decision because I’m so so happy with the end result!

My goal when starting out with this space was to create a colorful, moody retreat. I wanted a place that felt relaxing for Justin and I – a little haven just for us away from the chaos of sharing a house with two toddlers and two dogs. The bedroom before was a functional, but boring blank slate. We are both so happy with how it feels now: a restful, soothing space just right for us.

Now that I’m finished with the “bed half,” I am ready to focus my energies on the other half of the room: the half that currently looks like this.

I have an Ikea dresser I plan to hack for this space, as well as add a little vanity table, more curtains, and possibly a different mirror. Again, I’m taking things a little slower and honing my vision one decision at a time! I can’t wait to see how it all comes together!

Sources

Wall Color: Sherwin Williams Foggy Day

Ceiling Color: Sherwin Williams Alabaster

Floral Sheets + Throw, both from Target (no link available)

Elbow Connectors (used to make the rods work for a bay window)

Curtains (out of stock – similar here)

Dog Bed

Be sure to check out all the other One Room Challenge reveals here!

ORC Week Four: Cozy Layers on Our New Bed

It’s week four of the One Room Challenge and it’s hard to believe, but we’ve reached the halfway point. I feel like this past week was a productive one, but there is still SO much to do in the next four weeks!

This past week, my focus was on our bed. We’ve had our adjustable base for a couple weeks now, but both our bed frame and mattress finally got delivered so we could put everything together!

We’ve known we wanted to update our bed for a long time now, so I’ve been looking at beds and headboards for months. I really wanted an upholstered headboard in a dark moody color and I didn’t want it to have lots of detail. We also didn’t want a low profile bed or a short headboard – it doesn’t seem like this is a huge list but it was really hard to find something that fit my criteria! Finally I came across this one and it was love at first sight. The streamlined look was just perfect and while I originally thought I wanted green, I’m so happy with the navy color! It says online that it doesn’t work with an adjustable bed, but we just didn’t put the slats in the middle and our adjustable bed fit perfectly!

I love the look of crisp white bedding, but I knew that wouldn’t be a practical solution for us. Honestly, I don’t know how people keep white sheets and blankets so clean! Maybe Justin and I just have oily faces or something, but pillowcases always tend to discolor a bit over time? Plus, we have kids and dogs in and out of our room all day – white sheets just aren’t something we’re going to do. Since the headboard is a neutral backdrop, I wanted to have some fun with colors and patterns. It took playing around a big and trying some different arrangements, but I finally found a combination I really like!

I love the mix of graphic prints on the accent pillows mixed with the floral print on the sheets. It provides just the right amount of interest and contrast without seeming too busy for me.

We also did a little nightstand swap – our nightstands went down to the guest room and the guest room nightstands came up here. We’re definitely enjoying the increased drawer space and I think the larger nightstands (these are about 2 inches wider and 1.5 inches taller) feel like a better scale with the king bed.

This progress feels good and we’re loving the new bed, but we still have several things to tackle. My to-do list still includes: paint (a paint chip deck I’ve been waiting on has finally shipped and should be here soon!), baseboards, sconces, rug, curtains, and finding a new dresser and vanity table. I forsee some thrifting in my very near future . . .

Be sure to check out the other ORC participants here!

Bedroom Sources

Floral Sheets + Throw, both from Target (no link available)

Spring 2021 One Room Challenge Week One: Primary Bedroom Mood Board!

I’m so excited to be joining in as a guest participant for another round of the One Room Challenge and this time, Justin and I are finally addressing our bedroom!

I forgot to take “before” pictures prior to our new adjustable base getting delivered yesterday, so right now the room looks like this:

The base is heavy, so we had them set it up and once our mattress is delivered we’ll take down the old bed and move the base in place. You probably get the point, but here’s a few better shots of the room without the extra bed from back in January 2020. As you can see, we’ve done almost nothing to it since then!

The room feels like a blank slate. All we have done since moving in two years ago is replace the overhead boob light (if you know, you know) with a matte black ceiling fan and paint the walls from the same brown that was everywhere in this house to white (Sherwin Williams Alabaster). That’s it! We have no art on the walls, no window coverings at all (don’t worry, we have enough trees for privacy), just nothing inspiring or relaxing or anything. It just feels like a room, and while I know we’re lucky to have it and we don’t need a single thing for it to be functional, we’re really ready to treat ourselves to a nicer, more relaxing space.

We’re also ready for some upgrades. Our mattress was my college graduation gift so it’s *cough* 10 years old, and while it’s still in decent shape, it’s not providing us with the best sleep anymore. We’re using an old comforter that used to be in our guest room. Our bedside lamps are now mismatched because the other matching lamp died a few months ago and we just used a spare we had. It feels a bit like a minimalist hot mess (is that a thing!?) We’ve just never wanted to spend money on “ourselves” and our bedroom before, but it finally feels like the right time to do it.

I’ve been gathering inspiration for months now and I put together a mood board to help me home in a direction for the room. Here’s my inspiration for the space:

I want our bedroom to feel like a retreat, but like, a colorful, moody retreat. I think bedrooms that are light and airy and done in a neutral color palette are beautiful, but that’s just not the direction I want to head with this room. I’m also not a huge fan of all white bedding (serious question: how do people keep it looking crisp and clean!?) so I’ll be incorporating lots of different textures, patterns, and colors in the bedding. The room is actually very large (too large – who needs enough space for a dresser, a queen bed AND a king bed!?) and there is a lot of wall space so I’ve been thinking of ways to add some interest without overcommitting to a huge project and an accent wall doesn’t feel like a great option because there is a window or door on every wall. Right now, I’m leaning towards trying a limewash paint but I’m going to hold off on making a decision until I can pull more elements of the room together.

Our base is here and our mattress and bed are on their way – I’m really excited to start tackling this room! I’ll be posting weekly check-ins on Thursdays but if you’d like to follow the process more frequently, I’ll be posting more real-time updates on my Instagram @simplifythechaos

Be sure to check out all the other participants and their projects here!