Giving the Bedroom Some Love

It's been a slow-going process, but the bedroom is taking shape. We've painted the walls, bought some actual furniture, and hung some curtains. While it's still a ways away from being complete, it definitely is better than it was, and it feels comfy (and that's what counts). 

We took an experimental approach to the paint by going with two primary colors in addition to the trim. While strolling through Lowes's paint department, I happened on a brochure that was combining two colors in one room. The green and brown example instantly struck a chord with me, and so that's what we ran with.

We're still deciding on what to do with the headboard. It's good quality, but the light oak color clashes with the darker wood we selected for our end tables. We're thinking about either going with an upholstered or rod-iron headboard. Since we added the curtains, I think we're leaning toward a rod-iron look which could blend nicely with the night stands.

We purchased the night stands from World Market. We searched high and low for a set of two, going all over Des Moines to almost every major furniture store in the area. The ones we liked at the various stores were either way out of our price-range or were über cheap looking. The ones at World Market were in our price range and they looked great.

We bought a set of dressers from World Market as well. Once again, they were on the cheaper side but felt like they were well made and built with good quality materials. They also came from the same set as the night stands. They definitely dress the room up, and they're ten times better than the temporary Pamida dresser we've been using for the last eight years. The dressers make me feel like an adult, oddly enough.

So this is our work in progress. We need to make a decision on our headboard, and I want to figure out what to do about the carpet and other wall decorations. It's coming along.

An Experiment without Frames

Many of the design blogs I follow have some clever, artistic ways of displaying art, photography, and miscellany. I've found some really good ideas, but both Steph and I aren't always that daring when it comes to displaying our art. So I've decided to use our bedroom as a place for experimenting with alternative ways of designing our living space. If it's an epic fail, no big deal; we can always change it. Moreover, it's the bedroom, so guests hardly ever come in there anyway.

Here's our first foray into experimenting with our living space, which really isn't that experimental at all (baby steps).

This gives an idea of what I'm going for. I love using the binder clips to display art, and the wall finally doesn't look like a Spartan cell. We've been really busy with the bedroom, and I'll be sure to put up some pictures that show the new, experimental color we decided on for the walls and our new dresser and end tables, among other ideas for where we think we should go. 

Best Things in Life are Free

So the tenant who lived in our basement just moved out on Saturday. Lo and behold, we went downstairs and both of us were perplexed. All of the furniture in the basement apparently was bequeathed to us (a love seat, an office chair, bed and frame, a recliner, and a ton of kitchen utensils). This was pleasantly unexpected.

Instantly, we logged onto craigslist and posted the love seat and sold it within a day. I sold the mattress to one of my brothers, the recliner to another, and the office chair to my parents. We ended up making the easiest money ever in a matter of ten minutes.

Two end-tables were left as well, and I wanted to keep those. Steph and I have been using these Walmart end tables that have worked for eight+ years, but it's been a long time coming to get "new" bedroom furniture. Until we decide to buy an actual bedroom set, these tables will do just fine.

As we start to decorate our house with new furniture, one of the things I'm trying really hard to do is get away from certain wood tones, specifically, the wood finish that is this end-table. We went to Lowes (trip number 6? in the last three weeks), and I picked up some cans of off-white spray paint. 

Two coats later, the end tables started to take good form.

And the semi-final result sitting in our oh-so-boring room.

This last picture is after the first layer of paint, so is out of sequence. You can see some areas that need a second coat. 

The next job is going to be doing something with our headboard, finding a dresser that's not both 20 years old and a piece of crap, and deciding on a paint color that's more fun than what we have.

Only You Can Prevent Home Fires

A crazy thing that I don't know how we managed to miss when we moved into the home: there was only one smoke detector in the entire place. I don't know if the previous owners took them when they moved or if they never had any to begin with, but this needed to change sooner rather than later, especially since we have a rental space in the basement. Steph's mom had purchased some brand new ones that she ended up not using, and she gave them to us. Very easy installation and now I can have a bit more piece of mind.

Living Room

Hallway

Kind of a mundane home improvement update, but a necessary one!

Finally, one way we're trying to make our place feel like home, is to take full advantage of all that Des Moines has to offer. So today I tried out Yoga in the Park at Gray's Lake. Overall, I really enjoyed it: great, relaxing environment and each week offers a different instructor and a different type of class. I'll definitely do it again, only next time I'll try to drag the reluctant wife along as well.

Yoga Cat