Master bedroom makeover – the plans

Our bedroom is in need of a face-lift. It’s long overdue at this point and I find the best way to get a job done quickly these days is to shame myself on the internet by posting gratuitous pictures online of said sad project. 

I should say our room isn’t that bad, it’s just been patiently waiting its turn. I’m on a roll these days since updating our bathroom [which was far worse], so our bedroom is next in line. Here is a rough plan of the room to give you an idea of how our room is laid out … 

And here is what’s wrong with it – 

1. The shelving unit is way too close to the bed so I have to basically jump over the bed to get onto my side of it. 
2. Our bedroom gets next to no natural light and it’s damp. I’m hoping to move the heater underneath the window to nip this in the bud. Also, the curtains are old as hell and serve no purpose. 
3. The shelf over our bed is at such an awkwardly low angle that we can’t sit up and read in bed. I should state that we did not install the shelf here. 
4. Because of the placement of the bed so close to the cupboard door, husband can’t have a bedside table. So we have only one. 
5. Our grey dresser is necessary, but at the moment we can’t put it anywhere else than here. It and the laundry basket are cramping my style. 
6. The cause of most of the chaos in our room – the heater. I’d like to meet whoever decided to put the heater here, and I’d like to wrap it around their face. It makes no sense being here. It’s going under the window. 

To get your head around it, here are some before pictures I took of our bedroom a couple of months ago … 

Ugh, YELLOW DOOR.

I know. It’s hard to look directly at because the romance levels are so high right now. But if you can believe it, I’m hoping to make it even more romantic. If that’s possible. 

And here’s my proposed layout …

I’m resorting to my Google SketchUp skills here to give you a better idea of the before and afters that I’m aiming for … 

To get me from before to after, I’ll need to –  

Repaint the trim, window sill and door WHITE.
Replace the curtain and curtain rod [with curtains not necessarily this long]
Move the heater to under the window, where it makes sense.
– Move the bed to the other side of the room.
– Make a cover to cover the current wooden headboard.  
Find two matching bedside tables. Preferably upcycle a pair
– Hang up our new-ish mahogany mirror
– Add some artwork or pictures or something to the walls.
Get new bed linen
– Repaint our dresser to match potential bedside tables. 
– Put the laundry basket somewhere else where I can’t see it, and run the risk that husband looses the ability to put his laundry directly into it. 
Our room may of course vary from the image above, but I find Google SketchUp a great way to get my head around a space without having to physically ruin an afternoon by doing it in real life, and then finding out it won’t work. 
The only disadvantage to moving the bed to the other side of the room is that we’ll loose use of the electrical sockets that are under the white shelf. But I’m willing to invest in an extension cord. What is it Spock says? The needs of the many outweight the needs of the few

Mahogany mirror

This week we inherited a behemoth mirror. My parents moved homes a couple of months ago and since they don’t have as much space in their new home, they asked us if we would mind storing their mirror in our place. Well I mean, if we really have to. Insert heart-eye emoji here. 
I’m in the process of revamping the design in our bedroom. It’s a sad room, which is why you won’t see many photos of it here. I’m slowly chipping away at it and next week I’ll be sharing some before photos and ideas of what I’d like to do with the space. Including our new loaned mahogany mirror. It’s a very cold room both physically and visually [cold natural light], so I’m hoping to add lots of layers of warmth to cheer it up and make it more inviting. I think a bit of mahogany will do the trick … 

Nearly new wood challenge!

Growing up in Canada, I was very eco-conscious. I think it was down to a mix of playing in woods all year, living in a town that had a very good recycling program and both of my parents being very thrifty so we always made the most out of what we had. 

It’s not something I talk about much here on my blog, but I have a borderline obsessive level of consciousness when it comes to the environment. Almost everything I do, I think about the environmental impact. I cycle on my lady bicycle everywhere, I recycle within an inch of my life, and I try to buy mostly from second hand stores to attempt to reduce the demand on mass production. 

A couple of months ago I finished reading Sophie Armoruso’s #GirlBoss, and one specific line of hers really struck a cord with how I felt – 

” … I refused to buy new wood … “

She was talking about her extreme hippy lifestyle when she was younger and capitalism’s disregard for sustainability, but it really hit home. In fact, I saw it as a bit of a challenge.

So here’s where I would like to challenge you. If you’re down with it, obv. The next time you’re on the lookout for a new piece of furniture, whether it be a bedside table, a desk, a chair or a coffee table, I challenge you to go down the nearly new route to help contribute a little bit less to the demand.

Not buying new wood is something I’ve done many times because I’m pretty passionate about the thrill that comes with finding a one-of-a-kind pieces of furniture. In recent weeks I sold our IKEA desk for a second hand mahogany desk on a local website [as beautiful as IKEA is, I need a bit less obvious-IKEA in my life]. I’ve also found some pretty decent pieces online on Freecycle that we still use in our home today. Albeit repainted, but the bedside table in our spare bedroom is a fine example [above]. 

My main go-to for finding second hand pieces is of course charity shops. I found these wooden pencils yesterday for next to nothing, which will be a perfect accent for my broseph’s Canadian man cave office. 

I’m already a not-so-shy dumpster diver. Case in point – the bar stool I rescued from the skip in our underground car park at the beginning of this year. Speaking of, there’s a brand new ottoman down there that I spotted this morning, and I can’t wait to rescue it. 

So there you go. There are lots of alternative avenues to take when it comes to buying wood. It’s something I feel very strongly about and I hope you too will join me in this challenge in whatever way you can, no matter how small, to see if you can buy a little bit less new wood. 
Explore local charity shops, second hand sites [such as Freecycle or Adverts.ie], reclaimed wood from a nearby salvage yard or even casting a glimpse over your local skip. I guarantee the alternative will not only be cheaper on your pocket, but you’ll also be buying exclusive pieces. How posh does that sound?

And by all means please share your nearly new pieces by using the hashtag #NearlyNewWood or linking to your favourite nearly new piece in the comments below! And what would really make me squee is if going forward, you share what nearly new piece you bought in stead of brand new. Tree huggers unite.

OR IF YOU PREFER THE ABOVE BADGE IN CODE FORM

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