Master Bedroom Makeover - Before & After

A year ago, I won a a giveaway for a long-distance remodel from the amazing Kristin at Bien Living Designs.  Remember that?  (Post is here.)  Man, that feels like a long time ago. I decided to use Kristin's service to redecorate our master bedroom.  The way Kristin's service works is that I gave her pictures and info on the room, then gave her all the details about my taste, my color ideas, my budget, etc. and she gives me a presentation with her ideas for furniture, artwork, floor plan, colors, accessories, etc. with links to all the items and prices.   Then it was up to me to buy what I want/like and implement her plan on my own time frame.   It was perfect for me.


So, let's get right into the BEFORE pictures.  It almost makes me cringe to look at these photos and think that we lived with this horrible room for so long.  This make-over was WAY overdue.  As you walk into the bedroom, this is what you saw...

Yeah, I know.  It's bad.  

The room is white (and very bright), which can make sleeping in hard on weekends.  The furniture is temporarily borrowed from Ryan's parents, just until we could find something else that we loved.  The TV is old and giant and sitting on a printer stand from my office set, the rest of which is downstairs in the actual office.  And the end tables are mix-matched cheap tables that came from who the hell knows.  

The bones of the bedroom are really great though.  It’s a large room, with good natural light, big windows, white wooden plantation shades and hardwood floors. The previous owners had two of the most hideous gold wall-mounted bedside lights that I’ve ever seen next to the bed and they had to go first thing.

The room also didn't have any overhead light – just a really ugly white ceiling fan.  I hate ceiling fans, but my husband loves having a fan in the bedroom while he sleeps, so we decided to stick with a fan.  However, I wanted a ceiling fan upgrade, if we could find something prettier (and with a light).  

Kristin's first question to me was, "What is your style and what do you want your space to feel like when entering?"  I told her I’d like our bedroom to feel fresh, clean, romantic and classic.  I’m pretty conservative when it comes to decorating - I like traditional pieces, dark wood, rich colors, clean lines.  But I also wanted to mix things up a bit.  I want to find a happy medium between too matchy-matchy and too random/hodge-podge.  I want to walk into the bedroom and feel relaxed and cool and peaceful (dare I even say, sexy?).  The bedroom may be clean every now and then (when we have company coming over), but usually it was a disaster with clothes everywhere and piles of junk and it just completely stressed me out.  I want peace.

Question #2 was about a color scheme.  This one was hard for me.  I was all over the place.  My whole house is pretty "warm" with browns and greens and tans.  I love those colors, but I wanted something different.  I loved the idea of doing something with grey.  That just sounded romantic and cool and calm.  And with the grey, I wasn't sure about an accent color, but I loved the idea of doing metallics (silver, gold, pewter, etc.).  Crazy?  Maybe.

Kristin also asked if there was anything in the room that we wanted to keep.  The only thing I wanted to keep were our white bedding and linens.  Our plain white/cream linens and sheets were wedding gifts, so I wanted to keep those.  I just love white linens.  They always feel so fresh and clean and crisp.  We use a white quilt in the summer months and a big down comforter with a white duvet for the colder months.  

I also mentioned to Kristin that I'd finally (after years of searching) found the bedroom set that I wanted and it was ordered and being made in the Ethan Allen processing plant as we spoke.  This was August and it wasn't going to be delivered until at least December, so we had time to work on getting everything else in place.  I had purchased two dressers from Ethan Allen's American Artisan collection, both in chocolate with brushed nickel knobs.  One was a long and short chest of drawers and the other was a tall combination dresser/media cabinet.  I also ordered a large round silver mirror to go over the long dresser.  Ryan’s job would be to find a new flatscreen TV for the media armoire.  That boy loves his flatscreens. 

These are the dressers in another color.

I also told Kristin that I wanted to mix some modern elements in with the traditional furniture I bought.  I loved the dark wooden headboard and nightstands that went with the dressers, but I thought that might be overkill – too much dark and heavy wood.  So I bought the bright round silver (almost retro looking) mirror (also from Ethan Allen).  And I was was thinking about glass/silver/mirrored end tables, but I didn't really know.  And finally, I wanted an upholstered headboard, if possible.  Something big and dramatic and pretty.  I found one at Restoration Hardware that I loved, but it was way out of my budget.

So, with all that, Kristin was ready to go.  I figured that she really had her work cut out for her with this one, but she turned the project around in no time.   The very first thing we did was pick a wall color.  Kristin suggested Benjamin Moore's Amherst Grey, which I instantly fell in love with.  It's a gorgeous rich grey shade with a slight hint of brown that would match the furniture.  She said that the dark walls would add in instant glamour to the space and it definitely did.

I bought the paint that day and immediately called in my recruits to help with the painting.  

So we had a color.  Perfect.  Next step would be accessories and decor.  This is what I needed the most help with.  So here is the visual presentation of accessories that Kristin gave me.  

Awesome, no?

I loved it.

Kristin said she went back and forth on an accent color to go with the grey and finally settled on this deep turquoise/jewel tones.  It looks great together!  She said that she found a lot of inspiration and products at West Elm, which would add the  perfect modern touch to my more traditional furniture.  She gave me links to all the items presented and explained how to best incorporate them in to the room.  

Now it was just up to me to implement the design and make the space my own.  I loved having a starting point for all of this and an idea board for inspiration.  It helped so much!  Of course, our tastes are a little different and I changed my mind about a couple things here and there, but the main concept of the room held. 

Sooooooooooooooo....are you ready for the AFTER pictures?

Here's the finished product!

Do you love it?!!!  I do.

Kristin suggested this Jill Rosenwald Rug (Fallon) for the room in turquoise.  I loved the idea, but I just couldn't pull the trigger on buying a turquoise rug.  I'm such a decorating wimp!  I have such a hard time being daring!  So, I went with the same run in gray.  I just thought I might be able to use the rug again somewhere else, should I decide to redecorate in the future.  Gray is neutral...turquoise was just too scary for this girl.

I went to Lowe's to pick up the ceiling fan that Kristin suggested, but I couldn't find it.  And then I saw this silver one and loved it, so I bought it instead.  It's the only ceiling fan I've ever liked.  

Kristin gave me the link to these gorgeous sheer linen window panels from West Elm.  I went with the plain ivory ones, long enough for them to slightly pool on the ground.  This added great height to the room and fills the room with a romatic gauzy diffused light.  The mirrored nightstands were perfection.  Exactly what I was looking for.   The pillows are from all over.  Although I did get the Deconstructed Rose pillow from West Elm that she suggested.  Love it!  Kristin also picked these stacked ball glass lamps with white shades, which are gorgeous! 

The headboard.is one of my favorite parts of the room.

It's DIY, y'all!  

Yes, I made it!

  And I'm pretty proud of it!

I'm so happy with the result.  

Tutorial HERE!

The chair in the corner is velvet with a beautiful sheen of pewter/gold.  It looks brown in the pictures, but it's not really that brown.  It was a find from Hayneedle.  I need to get a white/grey pillow to put in the chair.

The two smaller hanging mirrors were from Pottery Barn, but are no longer available.  I thought they pulled the silver and gold elements of the room together nicely.  The silver jewelry box was a gift from my parents.  And the mercury vase (similar to this Anthropologie one) is something I found at on the clearance shelf for $5.  And yes, that's a doily!  My grandmother made it.

 

Ryan also did his job and got us all set up in the audio/visual department.

Wall mounted flat screen that pulls out and rotates.

Not too shabby.

And there you have it.

It's not completely finished, but close enough.  And since it's been a full year since I last blogged about this, I figured it was finally time to give you an update.

I definitely think it has the fresh, clean, romantic, classic look I was going for.

It no longer stresses me out.

I'm at peace in this room.

So, remember what it looked like before?  
No?  Me either, I've been trying to forget.  

I love before and after shots, here they are.

I can't even believe it's the same room.  

What do you think?  

Do you like it?

Rug: Jill Rosenwald (Fallon in Gray)
Ceiling Fan: Allen & Roth
Headboard: DIY
Pillows: Desconstructed Rose Pillow
Lamps: similar here
Nightstands: Hayworth from Pier One
Furniture: Ethan Allen American Collection
Large Round Mirror: Ethan Allen
Small Mirrors: similar here
Mercury Vase: similar here
Curtains: Sheer Panels from West Elm
Chair: The Foundary
Paint Color: Benjamin Moore Amherst Gray