Master bedroom plan, that is. I should probably start this blog by giving more of an introduction to the house…Nah, let’s start with what’s fresh, what’s happening, what’s now. (And since I’m the only one who even knows this blog is here, that’s sure to please my audience.) Our master bedroom is getting an overhaul! Not renovation, just decoration. Hallelujah. It has been a pretty bland, sad state of affairs since we moved in. But that’s actually not what inspired the change. Let me show you.
Here’s the best ‘before’ picture I can find.
This is obviously a way before shot since you can see our now one-year-old Sweet Pea and Peanut coming right along (about 22 weeks I think). But ignore the belly and focus on the bed. Yes, it’s a Malm. That ubiquitous Ikea staple served us well until the little ones became mobile and I realized that thing was a death trap. Sure, it has pleasing clean lines and attached nightstands with floating drawers and a sweet reading ledge, but let me give you another view.
image from Ikea
Can you see that edge? It’s fierce. And oh those corners. Corners of death, I tell you, jutting out and just waiting to gouge a little munchkin. Yikes. They can be rough on the big people, too. Mr. 110 and I have both suffered run-ins with those blasted corners. So Malm had to go. Like yesterday.
With the bed and nightstands out (thank you, Craigslist), we’re basically starting fresh in the master bedroom. The only other big pieces that have to stay are our wardrobes/closets (which you can see around the edge of the mirror in the picture above). This house was built in the 40s, so the existing closets are, um, quaint (read: a joke). But our Ikea wardrobes fit so perfectly in a recessed nook that they almost look custom. And they hold plenty. So they stay, even though I’m over the maroony dark brown color. Speaking of color, the light blue walls and white trim stay. So does the neutral rug. We have a dresser that has to go because it is just so wrong. Like cheesy mission style low-end of Target particle board from six years ago wrong.
But back to the bed that started it all. What should replace it? After getting Mr. 110′s criteria (no bedskirt; nothing feminine), I casted about for a while. Then I fell hard for these:
image from Crate & Barrel
image from West Elm
Hello, upholstered beds with soft edge all the way around, you have such delightfully rounded corners. And nailhead trim? Yes, please. $1800 and $500 respectively are waaaay out of my non budget, but there are plenty of DIY tutorials online for nailhead trim headboards (exhibit A; exhibit B). Sold, that’s happening. To be coupled with this simple wood bed frame found on craigslist.
(Nice hamper-as-makeshift-nightstand, no?) The color is all wrong, but don’t those rails look easy enough to staple some batting and fabric around? Not sure that will ever happen, but at least there is the potential to upholster this baby all the way around.
The rest of the “plan” (and I use that word loosely since it is likely to change a hundred times and/or stagnate and never get done) includes:
• a wide dresser that will (probably) get navy blue paint and these handles
• updated bedding: to be decided, might use a solid dark blue duvet cover we already own
• art above the bed: maybe a watercolor or large photo or other abstracty landscape imagery
• nightstands: a shameless copy of this perfection
• bedside lamps: thinking about swing arm wall lamps
• overhead lighting: oh boy, too many DIY ideas here
• bench: DIY something along these lines for end of the bed if nothing suitable shows up on craigslist
So that’s the plan…I think. I fully expect this to take at least a year to pull off. I’ll keep you posted…I think.