Over the weekend I shared a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes of our recent master bedroom makeover.  It is something  Audley and I are both extremely excited about and love the way it turned out!  After ten years of mix and match bedspreads and clutter, we have cleaned up, painted, and decorated a fairly minimalist and elegant space that I have enjoyed oh-so-much in the last two weeks!

In case you haven’t seen it, here is the before:

I saved myself the embarrassment of showing our cluttered dresser  and chest, but as you can see there was nothing welcoming, cozy, glamorous or special about our master bedroom.  In fact I avoided our room as much as possible.

At last, though, we have a space we are absolutely smitten with that only involved one weekend of painting, replacing the negatives and styling.

While I have not adhered to this philosophy as I would like (mainly because I get caught up in other things way too easily), I firmly believe our homes and especially our bedrooms should be a haven from the world, a place of beauty and peace to reflect who we are.  We all have different styles that represent this for us.  In our case and at least in this space our style was a clean, minimalistic, and relaxing room.

Keeping our existing furniture (that we did not want to paint), working with a strange colored carpet (that I actually like), & having a smallish budget, here is our new master bedroom.

I wanted our room to look put together, but at the same time I wanted anything but a cluttered space!  I am really so over clutter and at the end of the day, peaceful is all I require.

 

 

 

 

One of the worst features in our room were these horrible swingy blinds that came with the house over a picture window.  Instead of keeping he window covered with blinds I chose white draperies from Bed, Bath & Beyond to keep our room feeling bright and clean.  We have a smaller window as well, and I used the same style curtains on them.

 

We added a book-case to house some of our favorite reads, then also  mounted a television.  I never thought I would have a television in our room, but Audley had a plan.

 We completed our bedroom flip the weekend before I had surgery two week ago.  He knew I would be spending a lot of time resting in our room as I was on virtual bedrest for one solid week and now on limited activity.  He wanted me to enjoy movies and show I liked. This was such a sweet and thoughtful gesture as I know my kiddos have their favorite shows as well and didn’t want to feel like I was the TV commander just because I was “sick”.

 

 

Final touches included an orchid on the night stand and a large potted plant.  I’m all about green plants in the house and feel like every space deserves to have greenery.  Audley and my Bradley put together a combination of a couple of plants to fill a pot that complemented our room.

When it came to designing our master bedroom I had a few must-haves and definitely wanted to share my version of what makes a perfect master bedroom:

1. Three Sources of Light.  In the bedroom lighting is important for a multitude of reasons.  Natural light from windows is perfect for cleaning and day-to-day tasks.  It’s soothing and a way to bring the outdoors inside.  Soft beside lighting from lamps helps to create a peaceful mood as you are winding down for the evening.  The third source of light should be your more powerful overhead lights.  These are necessary when you are getting ready in the mornings or even later in the evening as well.

2.  Window treatments that block light.  Windows treatments are the icing on the cake when it comes to finishing a space, but you want them to be more than decoration, you want them to be functional as well.  I use lined draperies as not only do they keep the room dark for you to sleep at night, they also allow you to sleep in a little longer on those days when you don’t have to set an alarm clock.  Lined draperies serve a second purpose as well; they act as an insulation on cold winter and hot summer days if you chose to keep them pulled.

3.  Luxury bedding.  Now let me be clear here, you can have luxury bedding and not spend a fortune.  Choose good quality sheets of 500+ theadcount for soft sheets that will last longer.  You can find these at HomeGoods or TJ Maxx, or hit the White Sales at your favorite department stores.  Also make sure you have a good mattress that both you and your spouse can agree on so that you will enjoy a more restful nights sleep.

4.  Color.  Choose a color that is relaxing and peaceful to you.  Our bedrooms should be a place we can escape at the end of the day so bring in sea, ocean and earth tones for color that will create a tranquil space.

5. Rugs or Carpeting.  Nothing is more of a harsh wake-up call than to set bare feet on an ice cold floor in the mornings.  If you have hard-wood flooring add a few rugs around the bed to keep your feet cozy and add a little pop of color too!

6.  Personal Items.  Adding personal touches of your life around your bedroom truly makes it yours.  Since our master bedroom is a shared space, I have wedding pictures and other photographs from special moments in our life framed around the room.  Antiques, mirrors, and even figurines that represent the space also make fabulous items for personalizing a bedroom.  We DO NOT have pictures of our kids in our room; simply put, this is our space to retire from the hectic reality of parenting and work.  I don’t want those things to be last on my mind when I lay down at night.

7.  Organization.  An organized space is probably the most important element of a master bedroom.  Keep everything neat, tidy and in its designated space to help eliminate stress and encourage peacefulness.  Purchase pieces for your room that will help with organization, or designate space in your closet for keeping clutter put away.  We have night stands with a “hidden” drawer which is perfect for storing extra phone chargers as well as a notebook for jotting down thoughts or things to do for the next day.  In our closet we have shelves for shoes, and clear boxes for small items we only use occasionally.

8.  Music.  Music is totally optional, but I absolutely love music.  Country, Pop, Classical, Jazz, Broadway, etc…. I enjoy almost all varieties.  And I love to have music available in my bedroom.  I use an iPod, so a docking station is just perfect for projecting music, but with all of the creative ways furniture is made now you can also hide a stereo if you chose.  Music is a great way to set the mood for whatever you are up to.  I love music I can dance around to when I clean.  I enjoy a little Doris Day or Frank Sinatra when I am ironing and in the evenings when I read or am trying to wind down I love soft relaxing music.

I am so happy with our new bedroom space. It has truly been the restful room we wanted as I have spent a lot of time in there to truly experience it.  We also stayed within reason on our budget which makes me like the space even more.  For product info check below the photos of the room.

What do you think?  Do you have any bedroom must-haves?  

I would love to hear them!