I won!

I randomly entered the HomeGoods Happy Spring Challenge after reading about it on another blog and I'm thrilled to report that I WON! The "happy trend of the week" was Romantic Notions so I entered this photo of our master bedroom at the old house. My prize package includes a $100 HomeGoods gift card and a Flip Mino Camcorder! Needless to say, I'm super pumped. Thanks HomeGoods :)

Making a Room

DIY progress in an interior space takes a combination of time, money, and work. Patience is not a virtue of mine, so I get annoyed when the to-do list for a space isn't completed quickly. Unfortunately, money doesn't grow on trees and when you are furnishing a whole house, the budget can dissipate at an alarming rate. I'm pretty good about the work part. I don't mind getting my hands dirty, however, the house required a lot of grunt work from the beginning so we got pretty burned out after the first few months.

With all that said...once a dramatic change in the overall look and feel of a room is achieved, it's gratifying to reflect on the progress no matter how long it took, how much it cost, and how much sweat went into it.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I love "before and after" cases. So in that spirit, here's a progression of how our bedroom has changed since we bought the house last summer. It's finally starting to come together...a few adjustments are needed here and there, but I'm happy with the changes

Phase 1: the day after the previous owners moved out

 

Phase 2: goodbye carpet!

After looking at the cost of recarpeting the room, it became apparent that it was about the same price to put hardwoods in. I'm not a fan of carpet (have serious texture/cleanliness issues with it), so this budget-friendly discovery was music to my ears. Here are the floors before they stained/sealed them...

  Phase 3: almost there

 

Phase 4: hopefully the tv will be mounted on the wall (out of sight from this angle), and there will be a chair in the corner where the dresser is. The dresser might go into the closet. Over time, the above-the-bed art will change and I'd like for the mirror over the desk/vanity to be a large, round one.

Speaking of Jonathan Adler rugs...

I never posted on the JA rug we bought in LA for our bedroom. Et voila...

As with most instances when ordering home furnishings, there was a pretty major hiccup: the rug was the wrong size. It took weeks to get here and when it arrived on our doorstep, I happily drug it into the house.

On Valentine's Day, my husband surprised me by swapping our old rug out with the new one all by himself (actually, with the help of a car jack) so that I wouldn't have to participate in the manual labor. To my horror, the stupid rug was not a 9x12' like it was supposed to be!

I got on the phone with a manager at the Jonathan Adler store in LA and apparently the item was marked incorrectly as a 9x12' in their inventory system. He was very apologetic and gave me enough of a discount to make it a little better. I'm still annoyed because I honestly wouldn't have bought the darned thing at this size, but I do like the overall effect in the room.

All of the screw-ups that inevitably occur when ordering home goods from a manufacturer make you appreciate the ease and simplicity of buying antiques. Like this chandelier, for example...I bought it at Round Top last October. I was able to peruse hundreds of chandeliers and then select my favorite. I bargained with the dealer, paid cash, and then drove off with it! No waiting, no surprises, no calls with a customer service agent in India.

  

 

Finally, the chandelier is up!

In our master bedroom, the chandelier purchased at Round Top in October has been hung. The rug is the next thing to change in here...this one from Jonathan Adler is hopefully going to finish the room off.

Just about finished

At least with the front guest bedroom. Only thing left is to hang a chandelier.

Here you can better see the GORGEOUS orange Japanese Maple tree through the window.

 

Current Status - Master BR

Ended up painting our bedroom with the new color from Restoration Hardware...I think it's called Slate. Sorry for the bad photos...these were taken with my crappy point and shoot instead of the real deal.
I still need to hang something above the bed...here's what I'm thinking.
Also need to have the antique kidney desk and dresser refinished. Clay and I are not seeing eye to eye on this issue. I'd love to go bold with a turquoise or orange, he's not down with that...yet :)

I think the dark is much better than the baby blue that was previously in there...our bed and the mirrors definitely pop with the added contrast.