Master Bedroom Bedding Sample Board

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I've been going back and forth with bedding - can't seem to make up my mind. We actually have a very nice duvet, and I'll keep it, but it's definitely wearing out, so I've been looking for a replacement that has a timeless feel, so it won't fall victim to being too trendy.

I love, love, love toile and this powder blue version from Pottery Barn. My plan is to have the toile in the duvet and euro shams, and offset that with powder blue standard shams, so it's not too white, because the toile has a white background. I also need to find an extra long bed skirt, hopefully a box pleat, to cover the under bed storage boxes we have - which is what happens when you live in a 1920s farmhouse - full on charm...low on storage!

I think to tie in the barn red pie safe, I might add an accent pillow of the same color and maybe throw blanket. I also need to watch that this room doesn't become too feminine, because, well, it's Larry's room too! Which also makes things interesting because I have my taste and Larry has his and the trick is to find something we both like, which is sometimes pretty difficult!

I still have to mull this one over a bit. The color I want for the walls are a light taupe and something I think will go with the powder blue toile, but then again, until I can actually see it together, it might be perfect only in my head but awful in reality.

I'm also having the same problem with picking a duvet as I am with the lighting...too many choices. I instantly put pressure on myself, because I want to love something, because once I buy it and use it...that's it baby...I'm stuck with it until it disintegrates. Oh the tortured life of a frugal shopper!

I've been working on all my sample boards in overdrive, because I'd like to get cracking on things and make it a reality. Looking back, the furniture was almost stress free, it's the finishing of the room that sends me into a panic, with the lighting, bedding, wall color, window treatments...and don't get me started on the accessories, that might really put me over the edge!

Well it's almost Friday, so I'm hoping to do a little window shopping and get the design juices going!

Master Bedroom Lighting Options Sample Board

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Finding lighting options for the master bedroom has been a little trickier than I would like - there are way too many options and lamps are just pricey in general. I'm trying to find a style that will last in terms of style and fit in with our furniture.

For my dresser, I would like to use buffet lamps because 1) the dresser is not very long and 2) they won't overpower the dresser since they're somewhat delicate. Now of course I intially thought about going with a black base, but I like these with the aged silver base and a light shade. I'm open to suggestions if you know of any other lamps that might work.

For our bedside tables I'm torn between the 2 options you see. I like the classic look of the urn, but also like the more modern, yet still classic look of the crystal lamps. Pottery barn does offer a urn shaped base in crystal, so that might be another option or they also have an urn that has a creme base - I just can't decide. I will say that I am leaning towards the crystal based lamp with Option 2 - I like the fact that it's "light and airy."

Thoughts?

Next up...my bedding sample board.

Master Bedroom Furniture Sample Board

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So I’m trying to soak up as much techiness as I can for this blog and my decorating projects. So I’m starting with the sample board for our master bedroom.

For the furniture sample board, I actually did this backward, because I’ve already purchased the furniture, but the “board” is helping me figure out how to put things together with pieces/paint/etc.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was very patient and was able to purchase most of our master bedroom furniture for 40%. I love, love, love Ethan Allen’s furniture and pretty much decided the minute I saw their New Country line that this is what I wanted for our bedroom.

Working around the room, we purchased a beautiful, period-piece queen bed, a pedestal table for my bedside table that has this beautiful beehive design on the leg of the table, a small dresser for me, a pie safe for storage and our TV, a large dresser for Larry and his bedside table.

Of course, right away I was thinking everything dark, because I automatically gravitate to dark/earthy colors, but I did try to hold back a bit and decided to get the pie safe in “barn red” and my dresser in “toast.” I’ve always wanted a pie safe and I’m thrilled with it, except I realized that after we got it delivered we couldn’t put the TV inside because it would be too low if we were watching TV in bed. So we ended up with the TV on top of the pie safe instead of hidden, which I wanted, but in the grand scheme of things, I made peace with the TV being on top.

The other initial “compromise” I made with this purchase was for my bedside table. I chose to get a different table than Larry’s so 1) everything wasn’t too “matchy-matchy” and 2) I wanted a design element that added some punch. And I think the beehive pedestal table does that.

So what do you think? I'd like any input, particularly if you have any bedding/color suggestions. Thank you!

Next up...my lighting options sample board.

My New Love of Sample Boards!

One thing that I always seem to see on HGTV and in magazines is the use of sample boards. Sample boards are planning boards that designers use to map out a project and what they use to present to a client when they pitch their idea.

I was pondering taking a crack at this because I’m very visual and find that sometimes in my head things look a certain way/“perfect” but when I actually put the look together it doesn’t always work. So in comes the sample board!

Now, in my case, the “clients” are Larry and I and I’m not actually doing a real sample board that I can touch and feel, but instead I thought I’d try a virtual one where I could visualize things, switch things out and have samples of swatches on hand to help me.

So in the next post is my 1st attempt at a sample board (see next post). I hope you like it! And remember, feel free to comment - I love input!

Master Bedroom Makeover Intro

When we first moved to the house I pretty much just moved our pre-marriage-mishmash-furniture into our master bedroom and painted the room the exact color of our bedroom in our loft we just moved from. I guess, my thought was, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Either that or I was just afraid to try something on my own, because frankly, I get frustrated with myself because I have all the design ideas floating around my head and I think they will work, and a lot of times they do, but sometimes…not so much.

So after pondering for quite awhile what to do with the master bedroom and armed with my new plan to lighten things up in the house, I was ready for a change.

The first thing I wanted to do was purchase new furniture. Larry and I are both “savers”, although I’ll admit that I am a big fan of purchasing. So we do what we always do with big purchases: save up for the item and then purchase it outright. I’ll admit that that is a little hard for me, but I do see the point that 1) you aren’t going into debt buying a couch and 2) it will help us in the future when we retire because our credit card bills aren’t maxed out.

When I started looking for furniture I knew I wanted something “classic/traditional” that fit our farmhouse. After pouring through my Cottage Living/Country Home/Better Homes & Gardens/Southern Living and countless furniture line’s websites I settled on Ethan Allen because they had a farmhouse line called New Country and their pieces were just lovely. But I was immediately smacked in the face with the reality that farmhouse/simple does not mean inexpensive. On top of the fact that I hadn’t purchased furniture that didn’t have to put together, like IKEA (which I love) and then you realize quality furniture comes at a price.

I also quickly realized that if I was going to go the route of saving up for furniture first, then it would probably take me about 5 years to get what I wanted. What’s a design-obsessed girl to do?

Well my friends, when the going get’s touch, you need to get creative! So what I did was 1) visit and visit often the Ethan Allen distribution center nearby that had a back room of discontinued/damaged items and 2) called every freakin’ Ethan Allen in the Illinois/Wisconsin area to see if they had any floor models on sale! And you know what? Although, I mentally might be a little worse for the wear, but it worked. Pretty much all the case goods in our bedroom was 40% because they were a floor model/or slightly damaged. It became a game for me to see if I could get the whole set I was looking at discount. I almost made it, but did need to purchase 2 items at full-price.

So my advice for today is don’t settle on not getting the items you want and opting for a lesser quality item, if you can stand it, try to do what I did and maybe you’ll hit pay dirt.

The other thing I do is if I like something that’s beyond pricey and know that I don’t have a chance in hell of being able to afford it EVER, I head straight to “my” favorite stomping grounds of decorating…the holy grails of affordable design at bargain prices: TJ Maxx, Marshall’s, HomeGoods and tag sales. Again, as long as it’s not a piece of crap that will instantly disintegrate if you touch it, who cares if it’s not THE item; if it looks good and it is good quality, then that’s a little secret between you and said piece of furniture or if you are like me, I pretty much have no problem saying were I got something, and that includes dumpster diving, which I have done and have been successful!