Master Bedroom Makeover

My bookshelf project was featured in the top ten picks for the Make it 4 Monday, at Cottage Instincts! That just made my day!









Right now I am focusing on creating beauty inside the house because the garden is a dried up mess from the heat and lack of rain during the month of August. I cried yesterday when I walked around looking at my flower gardens. I don't know how much of it will survive, but I think I lost my Kousa dogwood. I am heartbroken over it.

Life has been so sad lately that I just can't bear the thought of my crispy garden. So, I am trying not to dwell on the things that are beyond my control. Usually the garden and nature bring me joy and comfort, but not as much lately. It has been so hot and humid that my asthma has been a problem. I honestly haven't ventured outside very much.

Instead, my focus has been on creating a serene and peaceful master bedroom, which sadly had been sorely neglected. The budget is tight so I have had to be very creative with my resources.

I bought this little candle at Goodwill. I liked the shape of the container and knew I could paint it to display on my bookshelf.



I removed all of the stickers, scraped off the flower with a razor and cleaned it up.



Here it is on the bookshelf after I painted it turquoise and "antiqued" it with brown shoe polish. I found a necklace at a garage sale for a quarter. I removed the chain and used the pendant in the indented space on the container to dress it up and give it a little bling!



For the last nine years the master bedroom had builders beige paint and plain unsightly blinds on the windows, with no window treatments. Earlier this year, I found this roll of sheer fabric at a garage sale. The couple had recently closed a drapery shop. I got about 20 yards of sheer drapery fabric for $8.00. I dusted off the sewing machine and made sheers for the three bedroom windows.


It is so romantic and serene in the bedroom now. I love the change!


I am not very good at taking "before" pictures. I get ready to start a project and dive right in, so this is the only before picture I have. It was taken only because the dog is not allowed on the bed! I got quite the shock that morning when I went to the bedroom and saw both the cat and dog all cozy on the bed.

I had the floral comforter for about 16 or 17 years. I loved the colors in it and never could find anything that I liked better, so I kept using it. It was definitely time for a change!

Two weeks before my mom went into the hospital, she and my dad surprised me with a visit. Yep, 10:00 at night, they showed up on my doorstep, totally unexpected! They had driven from my nieces house in Oklahoma.

My mother loved garage sales, and that was one of our favorite things to do together! While she was here we went to several garage sales. I found this pretty comforter set, in pristine condition, at a home decorators sale. It had been in her guest room and the bed had not been slept in. I got it for $50.00! It came with the comforter, dust ruffle, two pillow shams, and a decorator pillow. I knew it would be perfect for what I had in mind for the master bedroom makeover.

It now has very special sentimental value because it reminds me of the last time that I spent with my mom. Who would have ever dreamed that just two weeks later she would be in the hospital, and after seven weeks of fighting to recover from surgery, that she would pass away. It is still unbelievable to me. I am so thankful for that sweet gift of a surprise visit.

The bedroom is still a work in progress. I am almost finished painting a small dresser that is my bedside table. I still have pillows to make and several other projects to do. I had hoped to accomplish a few of the projects over the long holiday weekend, but instead I have been under the weather with kidney stones. Hopefully this soon shall pass! Sorry for the pun!

I am linking this post to:

http://southernhospitalityblog.com/category/yardsales-and-thrifting/

http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/2010/09/before-and-after-party-choo-choo.html

Bookshelf Makeover

I've been busy for the last few weeks working on several projects inside the house. We have lived in our home for over nine years and had never painted the master bedroom. I was sick of the builder's beige chalky paint and finally tackled that massive project. Along with the master bedroom makeover, I've painted several pieces of furniture, done a little sewing and finished a few craft projects along the way.

Here is one of my completed projects!

This is the before. We love books and have bookshelves in almost every room. I have four of these large oak bookshelves. This one is actually in our loft area, but the one in the bedroom was just like it and loaded with books. I have so much oak in the bedroom, so I decided to paint the bookshelf to go with my lighter color scheme.


Here it is after two coats of primer, two coats of paint with primer and two coats of polyurethane. I love it, but don't think I'll be painting the other three! I don't usually follow popular color trends, but I do love the turquoise color that is popular right now and decided to go with it.

Hamilton County has some of the best garage sales, and for the last few years I've been tagging along with a friend who rents space in two antique shops. I had already collected quite a few blue and turquoise things for my room. The blue Ball jars were inherited from my mother-in-law and her mother. The turquoise bowl also belonged to my mother-in-law.

I got this painting at a garage sale for a quarter. I love it and I'm glad to finally have a place to use it. Of course I'm partial to it because of my blog name!

This old chair was bought for a dollar or two. I painted it turquoise and made the burlap pillow after cross-stitching our initial on the front.

It is amazing how different the room looks just after making these few inexpensive changes. I'm still working on a few other painting projects and I'll share more of those when I'm finished.

I'm linking these projects to:











http://southernhospitalityblog.com/category/yardsales-and-thrifting/

Bless this Nest

I have been busy the last several weeks painting and redecorating the master bedroom. Early this summer I found a new picture frame, still in the packaging, at a garage sale for a couple of dollars. I love photography and seldom pass up reasonably priced frames at garage sales. This particular frame was one that held six 4x6 pictures. I have a plant shelf down the entire length of a long wall in the master bedroom that is very difficult to decorate.

Several months earlier I had a gift card to Kohl's and bought the "Bless this Nest" vinyl wall art. With the name Robin, I am fond of all things bird related and have bird cages, nests, and bird pictures and decor all over my home. I had not used the vinyl because I wasn't sure where to put it. As I was contemplating what to put on the plant ledge, I remembered both the vinyl and the frame. A perfect decorating solution for my tight budget!

I'm not sure that this even needs an explanation, but just in case anyone else is interested in this project, here is how I did it. I opened the frame and removed the mat for the six 4x6 prints, and attached the burlap to the piece of cardboard that came with the frame, stretching it and securing it with tape on the back. Then I put the frame back together and placed the vinyl wall art directly on the glass. That's it!

This was a very quick and easy project and only cost me a couple of dollars!

Linking to: