Good Morning Lovelies!

TODAY IS THE DAY!  I’m soooo excited to finally share with you my bedroom reveal!  Yes, I know, it’s been a long time coming.  It’s actually been complete for a little while but I needed some time to add small finishing touches and to actually shoot the space.  And I use “shoot” in the loosest sense of the word. However, despite some struggles getting good after photos, I am as giddy as a school girl with the results of my redo, and I’m so happy to share it with you.

As I was editing the before pictures it occurred to me that you can live in a space for a really long time and be completely unaware of just HOW bad it looks. But then you can take photos of the same space and all of sudden you see how terrible it is, despite the fact that you have been seeing it everyday. Just take a look…

WOW….I lived in this room in this state for close to 8 months before I did anything about it. 8 months people. There are no words.

Who doesn’t need a rattan bench that is ripped to shreds?  I bought this bench and desk at a yard sale for next to nothing, knowing eventually I could fix them up.

The rocking chair in the corner was my second ever upholstery project and I originally was going to keep it in the room, but ultimately moved it to my living room. My dresser is in generally good condition but it hadn’t been refinished or painted in close to ten years, so it needed some love.

I really like my dancing girls and originally thought they could stay in the space but, in the end they didn’t really go with my new vision.

Uggggg, pretty awful, right?

Now on to the after….

If you recall back in September, I asked my sweet friend Christine over at Bijou and Boheme to design a mood board for my bedroom which was outlined in this guest post.  I didn’t actually know her all that well back then, but could tell we had similar tastes and I trusted her to come up with something totally pretty-rific. At that time, I had some things I thought that I wanted to keep in the room (but subsequently changed my mind) and I wasn’t going to paint and keep the wall colours the same (but then decided to paint).  Despite my constraints, she came up with this FAB design board…..

I LOVED everything about the design, the use of bold patterns and colours, and that brass Jonathan Adler Meurice light fixture is amazing, totally one of my faves. All the way along I used this little piece of gorgeousness as inspiration for the style I wanted to have.

I apologize in advance for the photos.  My room gets very little light and my fixture gives off too much light, and my camera is terrible so it was tough to get good shots. Hopefully you still get the effect.

Ahhhhhhh, so much better….

I started with the bold headboard fabric called “Fifties Rose” which I bought from Spoonflower, designed by Laura Mysak, and I went from there. I already had the IKEA curtains which just happened to work. I painted my desk, side table and dresser glossy black, and added new hardware from Anthropologie.  I painted the walls in a jewel-toned green (Canadian Tire Premier brand paint called Tantrum).  I’m in a rental and therefore, I couldn’t change the carpet, so I bought a cowhide rug at the Tandy Leather Factory to cover at least some of the nasty beige floor.

I reupholstered the headboard and the bench myself.  For the bench I went for a black and white check pattern (yippee, no more rattan!), which I think is a good contrast to the bold headboard. I already had the white mirror in another room so I just moved it in.

I also already had the 3 way mirror that is on top of my dresser but it looks so much better on top of the glossy black dresser.I created a gallery wall above my fireplace, which I think is my favourite part. It has art from some of my favorite artists, including four pieces from Leigh Viner (from the left, 1st column 2nd down, 3rd (center) column 3rd down, 4th column 3rd down, 5th column top), one from Esther Bayer (2nd column top), and 1 photograph from the Blandy Snorhal Shop (2nd column 2nd down). I also added some of my own pictures, vintage plates, and re-purposed pictures from an old shoe calendar.

I bid on and won this chair at the Chair Affair, a charity furniture redesign event that raises money for the furniture bank, which I attended last fall.  I made the pillow using this great pink and gold Ikat fabric.

Here are some other details…The brass light fixture is so, so, so great, and so unique. Although it is a little big for the space, I had to get it. It was only $100 at an antique store in my hometown! You can read the whole hilarious story about it here. It will make a great fixture over a big dining room table someday….you know, when I actually have a dining room! I made two of the pillows on the bed (the black ones) and the gold pillow I bought at Homesense. To fill in the nasty non-working fireplace, I took 2 small Ikea tray tables, painted them black, put pictures on top and stacked books below.  I also gold-leafed the candlesticks that flank the fireplace.

Let’s recap, shall we?

And that is it!  My new room…so much better.

OK, so it isn’t quite as nicely styled as you see here on a day-to-day basis, but since the redo I really have tried to keep it neater, and I’m definitely spending way more time in my room than ever before.

Have a great day!

XO,