Everyone makes mistakes. Sometimes, your first choice isn’t your best choice. Something is better than nothing. This is what I keep telling myself as I kick myself in retrospect for making a very annoying, but luckily not expensive error in decorating our master.
My flub? Paint color. I had initially painted our hideous gold master bedroom Benjamin Moore’s Spanish Olive. It’s sort of a grayish green. It’s a pretty color in and of itself, but it was not a good choice for this room. It made everything look vaguely “country” or “rustic” as it read as more of a sage green in the room and that was not the vibe I was going for. It was also way too dark for the space. Every time I would go in here I’d be like, uggh, I hate it!
So, even though my husband thought I was nuts, I ended up repainting it only a year after I did the first round. This time, I went with a much more neutral color. It’s Benjamin Moore Soft Chamois. I love this color so much. It’s a soft gray/white/beige. It instantly changed how the room felt. It’s lighter, brighter and much more in line with my style. Whew!
While I was at it, I also thought I’d try to make things more functional. I added a hook rack from IKEA so that my husband can hang up his clothes instead of making a pile on the chair. I also finally refinished this beat up old mid-century slat bench that I found at a thrift store for $5. It looks so much better than before, even if it is missing about 6 inches at either end (why, previous owner, why?!). It works perfectly at the end of the bed for sitting to get dressed and helps the kids climb onto our super high bed.
The artwork got a facelift, too. I moved some things around and then printed out these free stock images of cacti from Pexels and put them in these gorgeous brass frames from Target. I hung up a faux staghorn fern (also from Target) and a macrame wall hanging I found at the thrift store.
While I was at it, I grabbed some new bedding. I replaced the old duvet with this basic stripey one from H & M. To give it some layers, I put a blanket– this gorgeous creamy knit one from Target– at the end. The bedskirt is actually an old set of curtains that hung in the room previously. I just folded them and stuck in them between the mattresses. Lazy decorating at it’s finest! I’ll sew it into a real bedskirt someday, but no rush. A little sheepskin and an old pillow I had from Crate and Barrel round it out.
I initially wanted to replace these nightstands as they are a bit short, but first I tried getting new bedside lamps (much cheaper option!) and that truly did make all the difference. These are just cheap lamps from IKEA that I spray painted brass to match the frames. Same look as the pricey ones but a fraction of the cost.I also replaced the curtain rods that were in here when we moved in with basic black ones from IKEA and moved them closer to the ceiling as they were a bit low where they were.
My makeup area stayed basically the same, just cleaned up the junk I was storing there! Though to be honest, I actually don’t get to get ready in our master much–usually end up in the bathroom with one or more children accompanying me!
This was all on my “things to do before you have a third child and will never have free time again” list, and it felt so good to get it all done. It’s not a perfect room (not gonna be in any magazines), but it feels soooo much more like a pretty, relaxing master bedroom. It’s actually one of my favorite rooms now!
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