A Bed That Could Break My Arm

Our master bedroom, unlike the rest of the rooms in our house, was pretty low on the priority list. (Two before photos to the right.)

A fairly sad state of affairs, G and I had been using our childhood bedroom furniture ever since we'd been living together (about 5 years at this point). But in 2007 we finally decided to buy new "grown up" furniture with our tax returns--oh happy day!

Shopping for new bedroom furniture was a bit of a pain (as most furniture shopping is in my opinion). I knew exactly what I wanted, but couldn't find it anywhere. One thing I told G I wanted was a really REALLY big bed. I believe my exact words were, "I want a bed so big that if I fell out of it I'd break my arm." I also wanted something that didn't require a bed skirt. My tastes are pretty contemporary and G likes more of a traditional style. Once we saw this set (pictured below) at American (it's the Lifestyle Furniture line) we were sold. We both loved the size and dark wood finish, I loved the drop ring drawer pulls, G loved the price, and it was a perfect mix of nice clean lines with some traditional elements.

Once we had our furniture ordered, it was time to paint. And for the first time in this house, my initial choice of a paint color was actually something other than green! I decided to do the bedroom in browns and creams--not too girly, and not too masculine. Since the furniture was so large and dark, I wanted to keep the wall color as light as possible. And since I'm easily swayed by paint color names, I chose Sensible Hue by Behr. G was convinced the before and after wall color was exactly the same, so I took this picture (below) which shows the new ivory color on the window wall, and the previous white color on the right wall. Completely different colors--am I right? And I'd like to add--I only had to paint this room once which luckily brought my overall painting average down.


Next up--window treatments. I got these beautiful brown and ivory silk dupioni panels at Linens & Things and the hardware at Bed Bath & Beyond. I had the panels cover the majority of the wall for drama, and then end at the outsides of the window frame to make the window appear larger. The bamboo roman shade, which I thought added some nice texture, is from Target.


I found this gorgeous brown and cream paisley bedding at Crate & Barrel, which tied everything together.







For accent lighting, I decided to do these wall-mounted swing arm sconces from Pottery Barn. They are perfect for reading in bed (which we both like to do) and they don't take up any room on the top of the night stands, which I like.


And last but not least, I jumped on the Empire West ceiling tile craze that hit The Nest in 2007. I got the 3 tiles above the bed for under $10 total. They're a lightweight plastic, but you can't even tell unless you're touching them. They're perfect for that spot--and you can't beat that price!

G still plans to put up crown molding, and I want to change out the overhead light and maybe add a throw rug, but we've come a long way from our hodge-podge of childhood furniture. This room is so comfortable and relaxing, and is now my favorite room in our house!




Related Posts:
The Circle Room
Finishing Up The Kitchen
Parade of Homes--Gorgeous Traditional Style Home

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