Main Bedroom Update

After tackling downstairs, our bedroom was next on my list — and it’s still a work in progress! Balancing work commitments, life commitments, and trying to tackle home projects all at one time is no joke! So I thought, better to take you all along on the journey and show some progress vs. waiting until it’s perfect (because, when will it be totally perfect, anyways??).

While I’m still waiting on our corner lounge chair to arrive and wrapping up the DIY picture frame trim, among other smaller details, I thought I’d give you a peek into its current state — because even with all of these things unfinished, this room still brings me so much joy!

First, let’s start with the mood board I created probably about 2 weeks after we moved in — ambitious, I know 😉 I have to start every project with a mood board so I can easily tell what will and won’t work together. Even though it’s digital — which is SO different than live, in-person — it still helps me visualize how all the pieces I’m eyeing will come together. I use InDesign to create mine, but I’ve also heard people use programs like Canva.

the vision

In general, I’m a huge fan of moody tones and vibes in homes. I love coming home to a space that feels cozy and inviting. And I’m not afraid of color. In fact, we currently have two very bold colors in our home (dark blue and deep berry), and I’m in the midst of picking a third for my office — give me all the colors!

So for our bedroom, I wanted to especially highlight the moodiness and coziness because at the end of the day all you want to do when your head hits the pillow is relax.

I wanted the color to be dark and romantic, and for it to be the statement in the room — like, bam! Here I am world. Bold and beautiful. So that’s exactly what I did. I picked Behr’s Twinberry and, while we’ve only painted one wall so far (behind the bed), I secretly-not-so-secretly want to paint our whole room this color because it’s oh so cozy (don’t tell my husband 😉).

 

where we’re at today

So far, we’ve tackled the following:

  1. Wall paint behind the bed

  2. All new furniture (still waiting on ONE piece from Crate & Barrel — our lounge chair! Which is actually quite different from what’s pictured in the mood board above. It should be delivered in February, and I’m keeping it a bit of a surprise until then 😏)

  3. All new bedding

  4. New curtains

  5. New rug

  6. Some curated, thrifted pieces

This may not sound like a lot of progress, but peek where we started below — it feels like night and day to us!

Let’s talk about bedding for a second. To help achieve that moody and cozy feel I went for a simple down comforter and quilt blanket and then lots and lots of different textures for the pillows and throw blanket. I love that the textures help bring in more personality AND that they’re easily swapped out if I’m feeling like a new vibe for a new season.

I also want to talk about pattern mixing. To me, this is one of THE most fun things about designing a space. Bringing all the colors and tones together in various ways throughout the space. In our room, the pattern mixing is definitely there, but maybe a bit more subtle than what you’ve seen in other spaces. You see it come through more overtly in our floral curtains and damask rug, but there are also other more subtle patterns, like the quilt blanket and the lumbar pillow in the middle of the bed.

what’s next

As I’m writing this, I’m almost done cutting and painting the picture frame trim that will line the wall behind the bed. I’m so so excited to install this — I think it’s going to elevate the whole space. Will write a separate update once that’s done!

Other things on my mind for this room:

  1. (Finally) receive our lounge chair! + style that corner of the room

  2. Replace the beige lamp shades with black empire shades

  3. Style the entry nook (will show you this another day once I have a plan!)

  4. Figure out the bathroom and closet — one step at a time, we’ve done nothing to those spaces yet

So even though things aren’t totally put together in this room, I hope this gives you some inspiration that you really don’t have to do much to make a big impact and difference in your space — a few coats of paint and some styling does WONDERS.

 

where we started

…need I say more?

after

before

 

sources

From left to right, top to bottom:

  1. Bed frame

  2. Nightstand (our exact side tables are out of stock, but I’m linking something similar!)

  3. Dresser

  4. Duvet cover + sheet set

  5. Throw blanket (I can’t find the pink one, but they have other colors!)

  6. Boucle euro pillow

  7. Bench

  8. Rug

  9. Curtains

  10. Quilt

Deck the Halls: Christmas Decor Home Tour

If I could only have two seasons in a year, they would be Fall and Winter. Give me 6 months of beautiful fall colors and chilly, cozy weather and 6 months of Christmas decor with a little sprinkle of snow, please 😍

This last year, we’ve made so much progress on our downstairs decor, most notably creating a deep blue gallery accent wall, DIYing a board and batten wall, and installing beautiful floating shelves in our family room!

Christmas time always brings me such joy, but the only problem this year? Those two beautiful wall projects we conquered earlier in the year meant we now have two deep blue walls downstairs… and we didn’t want our Christmas decor, with all the red in it, to look like Fourth of July 😉

So, off to Home Goods, Target, and JoAnn’s I went and came back with a GIANT haul of new Christmas decor. I decided to go with beautiful dark emerald greens, deep blues, and golds to complement our new downstairs color scheme.

I love changing up our home as much as I can each season, including swapping out pillows in the family room, customizing my dough bowl centerpiece in the dining room, and sprinkling seasonal pieces throughout our home.

I don’t know if you feel the same way at the end of the Christmas season, but everything feels so plain and ‘blah’ to me after all my Christmas decor gets stored for the year. I do find joy in getting everything back to its ‘normal’ state, but the winter season and all the lights, glitz, and glam that come with it just makes my decorator heart so happy 🤩

Between Home Goods, Target, and JoAnn’s, I purchased so many cute little knick-knacks to sprinkle around our home that increased the festive vibes tenfold. Not gonna lie, though… I wanted to get more and even told Tim when I got home that what I bought didn’t go very far 🙈🤣 I found as many links for you as I could below! I tried to find similar items if they were sold out or where I couldn’t find exact matches. Happy shopping!

DIY Repurposed Christmas Garland

There’s nothing like finding the perfect Christmas garland… pre-lit, perfect length and fullness, not tacky. I found ours at Costco a few years ago and as our aesthetic has shifted and grown, I knew I needed to give it a little makeover. It had red poinsettias and red accents all over the place, which normally would be perfect for the Christmas season, but now with our blue walls downstairs, it made Christmas feel more like the Fourth of July.

So a few weekends ago it looked like Christmas had exploded in our home as I was sifting through all of our decor to get rid of any hint of red (except a few of our more elegant red accents). I was complaining to my brother-in-law about how much I loved my garland but that unfortunately, she had to bite the dust because of all the red. And then he suggested I DIY the dang thing… why didn’t I think of that?! Such a good idea, plus a great way to save money.

Off to JoAnn’s we went! And boy did I come back with quite the faux floral haul. You probably already know how much I love faux floral given a few recent blog posts (DIY Fall Floral Pumpkin, DIY Fall Vintage Dough Bowl Centerpiece, and DIY Seasonal Vintage Dough Bowl Centerpiece), but man I’m telling you I could create my own faux floral storefront at this point with how much I’ve accumulated 😂

Here’s just a sampling of what I found:

The evening I got home from my JoAnn’s extravaganza, Tim put on Dune and I went to work. I clipped off every last poinsettia and red accent I could find on the garland and started laying down the faux floral and gold ornaments in their place. It was getting late, so I went to bed and the next morning I tied the ornaments on and hot glued the floral. It honestly turned out so much cuter than I ever imagined! It feels much more elevated and elegant when compared to its original state (check out my Instagram to see the comparison!) and I love how it ties into our new Christmas decor theme (blues and greens).

What’s your favorite Christmas or holiday decor DIY? Shout out in the comments!