I LIVE for home decor before and afters!
One of my all time favourite websites is Young House Love. Just look how cute Sherry and John are!!!
Just 24 hours ago this is what our bedroom looked like…
1) Sad
2) Very much like ‘a guy’s pad in university’
We have just two pieces of furniture in our bedroom- the side table and the cabinet below. Both pieces are from our university days and we’ve had them about 8 years.
You might remember around Christmas, Eric and I said that our gift to each other was going to be new bedroom furniture. Well, that was before we saw how expensive bedroom sets are. It may be a while until we get new furniture…!
HOWEVER, I really didn’t want to put up with this sad looking room any longer, so the wheels got turning in my head. What could I do to transform the room on a budget?
ACCESSORIES!!
Last night Eric wasn’t going to be home until around 9:30pm. I thought this was the perfect time to surprise him so I grabbed a girlfriend for consultation and we headed to Ikea after dinner. I knew I had to act fast if I was going to have my transformation complete by 9:30pm!!!
When I got home I had just 2 hours to complete the room! I grabbed this beautiful screwdriver, put my fears aside, and went to town!
I’m so not handy.
‘Sidekick Sketchie’ LOVES when we do renos. There are just so many things for him to get into! :mrgreen:
My theme going into this was:
‘GREEN with a romantic touch’
Green is one of Eric’s favourite colours and I think it is fun and unexpected for a bedroom. Here are the items I purchased:
[I own Photoshop]
Was it a success?
Click below to find out!
I weaved both curtains together along the rod. The sheer white curtain toned down the bright green quite a bit so it wasn’t harsh looking.
The rods were existing when we bought the house, but they went really well with the leaf theme!
I am in love with these Talluik table lamps…talk about dreamy! They also come in a ton of colours.
To make Eric’s table a little more ‘manly’ I added this spotted placemat (99 cents!). Is it manly or what? LOL.
I also dressed up our dresser with a little wedding section- A standing frame and our wedding album (I love that pic of Eric!)
The tables were PERFECT. They have this tiny little shelf made just for books and kleenex! ;)
(I’m reading In Defense of Food for the second time right now, and I also will be starting Dear John and Time Traveller’s Wife soon (thanks to Krissy!) Such a chic little table. For some reason, I could not get the screws in properly, so I had to leave them out since I was crunched on time. Hopefully I can finish them off this weekend!
We still need a bed skirt, but Rome wasn’t built in a day!
These items below are from Ikea too, but they were purchased a year or two ago. The brown and green sticks were previously in the eating area, but I figured they could use a new home. This Ikea pink floral canvas also fit really well with the scheme!
I added Christmas lights for some romance ;)
Again this stuff below is pre-existing. The canvas is from Ikea and I will be hanging it up on the wall to the left of the bed.
What should we put on this shelf?? (It is open on all sides so books won’t really work as we don’t have bookends).
My mother in Law is an interior designer and one of her best tips is not to be afraid to mix and match prints. I try to keep that in mind whenever I pick out new things.
VS:
Tip for the curtains and duvet:
No time to iron them? Just throw them into the dryer for 5 minutes to release the wrinkles! Worked like a charm.
I am in love with these curtains!!! During the day they cast this beautiful green glow in the room. It totally gives the room a new feel.
So what did Eric think?
Well firstly he had no clue I did this so it made it even more fun for me! I was so excited for the big reveal.
When he saw the room, he said it looks amazing! I was so relieved that he liked it (although I’m not sure if he would have told me otherwise!). Home decor is such a personal thing and you never know if the person will like it. He really liked that I included green in the room and he thought it looked fresh and romantic, albeit a tad girly, but he said it was way better than before (whew). He was really excited that we had a nice room, even without any new furniture. It’s all about accessorizing, no?
Do you like your current bedroom? Is it decorated to how you want or is it like our previous bedroom was- like a no frills college bedroom? If it’s decorated, what did you do to it and how would you describe your style?
My style is definitely romantic with a funky flair, however it changes with each room. For our dining room, I want to do something really bold with burnt orange on the walls. I stick to neutrals for main rooms (like our family room and entry way), but I love bold colours in other rooms for some fun.
Ta-ta mes amies! I’m off to make dinner and watch the opening ceremonies (SUCH a tragic event with the luge today). :(
Oh, your room looks great!!! The closest Ikea to me is about 3 hours, but I may just have to make the trip. I love, love, love those lamps.
Love the room! You can still put books on the shelf, just stack them horizontally. You can stack them in kind of a pyramid shape – it looks surprisingly good if you have books with interesting and differently colored jackets.
What a great transformation! Ikea is great for quick jobs like that…love their stuff. Just a warning about The Time Traveller’s Wife – keep those tissues handy! I read the book a year or so ago and we just watched the movie on Weds evening; BIG mistake – I had the puffiest eyes ever when I went in to work the next morning! It’s a great story, but definitely a tearjerker.
Love the update! Looks GREAT! Love young house love too! Sherry and John are sooo cute!
Diana
The room looks GREAT, Ange! I love Ikea for affordable home decor…and their stuff is so neat. My bedromm is half way there. I bought a bedroom set from Ikea almost 2 years ago which I love, but I need to paint this summer and change up the wall decor. My colour theme is chocolate brown and aqua.
Beautiful transformation….we just moved in to our new home about 7 months ago and I am still dying to remake our bedroom and guest bedroom. I may just have to take myself to Ikea soon enough!
I love love love the after pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We gutted and redid our entire house … floors, ceilings, walls, kitchen, bath etc.. and it is so fun to look at the before and after pics … you can’t even tell it is the same place!
what a great decorating job!! it looks wonderful! i wish i were brave enough to mix patterns and colors like that!
How … were you able to do that … in 2 hours?? Nice work!
Our bedroom looks a bit glum. Mostly because of the heavy light-blocking curtains. I love your curtain-layering trick — maybe I’ll try it in another room :)
I read this post right before I went to sleep last night and then had a dream that I went to IEKA and completely redecorated my apartment. It was one of those dreams that actually had some real-life merit; the place looked awesome! So thanks for the inspiration! And Sketchie is ADORABLE in that picture.
Wow, I can’t believe you did that all in 2 hours. It looks amazing – very unique & fun.
The room looks great! And thank you for posting that younghouselove link. I have spent the past two hours reading it!
Awesome job! I can’t believe how much you can do with a few things (and a local IKEA)
Wow! It looks great!
Our bedroom is green too. :)
My Dad used to work at a furniture factory, so I was able to get all of my solid wood furniture as seconds. Like my $2000 cherry armoire I got for $400 and what was wrong wit it? It was too shiny!!!! Oh darn…..
Wow! Angela, you’re amazing! Our master bedroom has been pushed to the back burner since moving in. I’ve focused on decorating the main rooms that everyone sees. You have inspired me to accessorize. I see a trip to Ikea in my near future. ;) THANKS!
I love the new room! Especially the bedding and pillows. Oh, and the Christmas lights – that’s such a neat idea!
When we first moved into our house our master bedroom had floral wallpaper … like, HUGE pink flowers. LOL! It was so ugly that we stripped the paper that night. I’ve since repainted in a brown theme, but I think one day I want to brighten it up – something pretty, you know?
A lot of our furniture is hand me down stuff, so it’s always nice when we get a new piece in the house. And I love accessories – I would go to IKEA more often, if my husband actually enjoyed going there (and if I actually had money!). :-)
K
My husband and I have a total college bedroom — my nightstand is still a milk crate, for cryin’ out loud — I’m 30 years old!!!! =D
We have been meaning to buy new bedroom furniture, but haven’t found a set we agree on, sooo…. it’s still milk crate city for us.
Looks gorgeous! :) I am in need of some major accessorizing!
Wow – i love what you did with your room, don’t you just love IKEA! You have given me some ideas for our spare room that i would like to spruce up, especially the 2 sets of curtains x