Master bedroom makeover update – Part II

Since I last blogged about upgrading our bedroom, I’ve slowly but surely made some of the changes. Not all of them yet, but some. I didn’t think I had made a big enough change until I looked back at my before pictures. Yeesh.

That’s the thing about updating your home. It doesn’t happen in 24 hours like TV shows lead you to believe. It happens slowly over weeks and sometimes months and THAT’S OKAY. It’s only when you look back at what it looked like before that all your hard work is put into perspective. Even if you’re only half way there. 

Contrary to my original plans to completely flip the floorplan of the room, I didn’t. I was able to iron out a lot of the layout problems without having to change too much of the room. One of the biggest and best changes I made was swapping the bed frame in our room with the one in the spare bedroom. The frame in the spare bedroom was very low, so swapping it and having a low bed in our bedroom sorted issue #3 on the list of problems

So here’s what I’ve updated in our room so far …

– Repainted the skirting boards, window sill and door WHITE
– Removed the heater from the middle of the room.
– Replaced the heater switch with a socket so we can use our TV [thank you again Maria for that tip!].
– Replaced the light fixture.
– Bought curtains – nearly new! In their original packaging, but bought second hand.
– Bought a longer curtain rod so the curtains can hide the unsightly mirrors and vent in the corner [as seen below compared to the 4th last picture here].
– Disassembled the awkward AF shelves.
– Sold our IKEA bedside locker and bought two bedside lockers for 9 euro each, second hand!
– Got my hands on some red rasta pillows [not sure about the purple one though. It may go]. 
– Swapped the bed frame for the lower bed frame, and nearly decapitated myself in the process.

And here’s what’s left to do … 
– Make a cover to cover or camouflage the current wooden headboard.  
– Hang up / incorporate our [new-ish] mahogany mirror
– Add artwork to the walls. I’m tired of boring walls. I’ll be DIYing some artwork too.
– Upcycle the bedside tables; possibly paint them and change the knobs.
– Find a pair of matching or semi-matching bedside lamps.

Above is to show where Dad DIYer helped me remove the heater from the wall [I’m not at all confident with electrics]. Having the heater removed means we can now place our dresser in the middle of the room at the foot of our bed; where it aught to be. For the moment, in the warmer months, the heater is stored under our bed as our landlord didn’t approve of it being placed under the window. So under the bed with it for now so we don’t have to put up with it. My old skip-salvaged desk chair sits next to our dresser and cleverly disguises the absence of paint on the wall. 

And finally, what inspired it all – I saw these red velvet shoes in Forever 21 around this time last year. I bought them solely for their pretty factor. I like velvet and I like quirky takes on the classics, which as lame as it sounds, is an inspiration for our bedroom makeover. Inspiration strikes at the most unusual of moments. 
In the mean time, I’ve also been working on updating our spare bedroom on a budget, which for the most part was ready for our guests earlier this month, but I’ll be adding the final touches this week to it and can’t wait to share it! Stay tuned! 

Nearly new challenge – #EarthDay2015

As today is none other than #EarthDay2015, I thought it no better day than to write about a new [and sort of not so new idea] that’s been rolling around in my head for some time – a Nearly New Challenge.

Back in November I wrote about my Nearly New Wood Challenge which was inspired by Sophie Amoruso’s #GirlBoss book coupled with my panache for reducing, reusing and recycling. Since publishing that blog post I realized quite quickly that I apply this ‘nearly new’ challenge on a daily basis, but with all kinds of items; not just wooden. Therefore, my new Nearly New Challenge came about!

In the most simple form, this is what it’s all about; in stead of buying new the next time you need something, take a look around and see if you can repurpose something you already have, think outside the box and head to a local charity shop and see if you can find what you need there, or head online and see if someone’s selling what you need second hand [ie – Craigslist,  Freecycle, Adverts.ie etc]. 

I’m not perfect. Yes, I still buy new things, for that I am guilty. But if I’m looking for a non-specific item, I will consciously try to find a repurposed or second hand item first ahead in favour of buying something new. To play Caption Obvious for a moment, I acknowledge there are some things we have to buy new, that it inevitable. But there’s an awful lot we don’t need to buy new.  

I grew up with thrifty and creative parents so it’s all I know to be honest. By buying Nearly New, you’re not only contributing less to the demand to produce new products, you’re preventing another item from ending up in a landfill. You’re also getting something that’s bespoke [should you repurpose it] and you’ll be getting a unique item not available on the high street.

So what do you think? Are you up for the Nearly New Challenge? Will you opt for nearly new the next time you need something? If you do, I’d love to hear about it! And if you share it online, use the hashtag …

#NearlyNewChallenge!

GRAB THE BADGE FOR YOUR SIDEBAR: only if you wanna.

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New dainty pink living room rug!

I’ve had a bumpy relationship with rugs in recent years. Well, really just one rug in particular. We bought an IKEA Stockholm rug 2 years ago and I thought my life was complete. It was luscious black and white stripes and I hearted it big time. 

But then life happened and that rug went completely to shit, so I repaired it, sold it last November, and had been on the lookout for a second hand low pile rug since [check out this post as to why I went with low pile. You especially should read it if you have kitties]. 

Months passed. I found a couple of rugs on Adverts.ie but for one reason or another the sales fell through or the sellers ended up being awkward and I didn’t want nothing to do with their rugs. 

I was patient. I wanted the right rug and I waited. Perched on my laptop, looking for scraps. Then one day I found this beautiful, geometric, dainty, dusty pink rug, and I found it 19 pages deep on Adverts. And it was priced at 15 euro. 
FIF. TEEN. EURO.

Yes, it needed a serious clean, but I saw its Christine Dovey fangirl potential. I arranged to meet the seller on O’Connell Street at 20:00 that night. It was pouring rain and I was frozen, but I lugged that baby home, invested in some heavy duty carpet cleaner [I typically buy eco friendly everything, but I set my beliefs aside to go chemical warfare on a rug. We’re going to have our feet / cats directly on it afterall], cleaned that baby and laid it down good with a fine wine in front of the TV. 

I count myself very lucky that I spied this rug and was able to get my hands on it. It’s not technically the correct shape or size for our room, but I am partial to a bit of asymmetry and as we’re not in the position to make an investment in a larger rug at the moment, it fits the bill.

It doesn’t have any labels on it, so I have no idea what brand – if any – it is from. All I know is it’s pink, fabulously fabulous and ties in wonderfully with our Bill above the TV. 

“That rug really tied the room together, did it not?”

 – Walter Sobchak 

I couldn’t have said it better myself, Walter.