Master Bedroom Stories

Once upon a time this was my Master Bedroom…

But then I decided to have my next home built and get rid of all the dark, ornate pieces for something a lot brighter. You can read about my decor evolution here in my Back Down Memory Lane post. One of the must-haves on my home-buying “list” was a large Master Bedroom. Kitchens and Master Suites were a big deal for me. As I stated in this post, and this one, I realized I couldn’t have EVERYTHING I wanted. So the Master Suite is where most of the compromise took place. Here is a picture from move-in day.

The bedroom as well as the whole house was painted that Swiss Chocolate builder white which always looked a little pukey to me. Is pukey a word? Anyway… Prior to my design session when I was making all my selections, I’d decided that I personally wouldn’t paint this house. I’d include it with my design options during the building phase. (Sigh) That didn’t happen and so this was the first room I painted. Well actually I painted the Master Bathroom and closet first, but I’ll save that for a later post. I seriously considered leaving the house in that slightly not so white shade of white, but it began to really bug me. It just looked dry and pasty. Maybe not so much in the picture….

I have to digress, and talk about paint for a minute. Once I decided I HAD to paint, I decided to use a brand I’d never tried before. As a part of my home-buying gift package from the builder, I received an unlimited 25% discount on all paint from this particular brand. I won’t say their name but I did try it, and it was terrible! I started with it in the Master Closet and it took 3 coats to adequately cover walls that were already semi-white! Needless to say, I was not happy, so off to Home Depot I went in search of a better paint. One that wouldn’t have me screaming at the walls. I settled on Behr Marquee Ultra in Pure White. Let me tell you… Behr paint should definitely hire me as a spokesperson because I talk about it all the time, to everybody, and I will NEVER use anything else! Well, maybe not for real never, but you get the point. It’s a little on the expensive side, but I didn’t care. When you’re painting an ENTIRE house yourself, you have to use a product that not only looks good once it dries on the wall, but one that covers well with minimal coats and hardly no smell. Yes! I can’t say enough great things about this paint.

Because I was in such a hurry to get the master bedroom painted and set, I neglected to document my progression with pictures, uggghhh! I hate when that happens. I did manage to capture my pillows waiting for me to hurry up and get done so they could occupy the bed! Those two chairs still hold them at night when it’s time to go to sleep. And that painting has been relocated to another part of the house… just in case you were wondering.

I kind of have a move-in ritual. Whenever I’ve moved into a house, and even when I lived in apartments, the first room I’d set up would be the Master Bedroom. In my “What Took So Long” video from this post, I shared that in order for me to be able to function, I have to have some sense of order to my environment. I have to be able to get up in the morning and be able to get ready for the day without digging through piles and stumbling over boxes. The room may not be completely decorated, but it has to be uncluttered for sure. Currently the master bedroom looks like this…

One of the reasons I seriously considered NOT buying this house was because of the windows in this bedroom, and a weird little pop-out. Decorating-wise, I was concerned about symmetry. There was only one window on the only wall where the bed could possibly go. How in the world was I going to make that work?! Believe me, I racked my décor brain on that one. And then the other two windows in the room are different sizes as well. Yikes! But the house was still cute enough for me to say “yes” to it. It was just going to take a little décor creativity to pull it off.

During the building process I would visit the model home frequently to spark ideas. And although not my style, but beautifully done, I still felt the whole “one window” thing would be quite challenging.

I’d been dreaming of an all-white bedroom for some time so I knew this room would be white. I thought I might be challenged by the darker wood of the bed, but considering that I absolutely LOVE my bed; I’ve had it for 18 years now (wow time really does fly), I wasn’t going to get a new one, and I found that I really like the contrast of the darker wood against all the white. I do plan at some point to have my two favorite chairs there by the newly re-finished Secretary desk, re-upholstered, but I’m in no hurry for that. It’s on “The List.” And I will also incorporate an area rug. It’s too is on “The List.”

Ok so the chandelier… it’s the same one from the last house….

And now…

I am big on re-purposing. I bought this chandelier about 4 years ago at one of my favorite consignment shops for $40, and I loved the shape of it. The color worked well with me bed as well. So I took the globes off, spray painted parts of it a lighter gold, and darkened the the already darker parts just a bit. Then I decided I wanted a little bling on it. I found these strands of faux crystals at my favorite discount fabric store, (SAS for those of you living in the Valley), and then proceeded to stand on a ladder for almost two hours creating these links.

The faux crystal dangles, believe it or not, are actually magnets that I got from Hobby Lobby. They come in different sizes and styles, called Light Trims. I LOVE these. They were so much fun to work with.

After it’s all said and done, I love how this room turned out, and I’m happy to curl up here at the end of the day; grateful to be blessed to lay my head down in this sanctuary I’ve created. Next week I’ll continue in the Master Suite and share with you The Dollhouse Master Closet. So many stories there, and I hope you’ll stop back by. But for now, sweet dreams!