How to Decorate a Bedroom in a Week: The Projects

{I know you guys are going to hate me, but there are no after pictures in this post. Sorry! There are just too many projects and pictures here. Next post. Promise.}

While Ali and I were shopping for fabric and accessories, my mom tiled the floor with this beautiful black marble. There are lots of great tutorials online for how to tile your own floor. My mom is awesome and fast. This was the last bathroom in their house to redo, so my parents had already invested in a tile cutter and the other necessities, but it is easy to rent a tile cutter from Home Depot or Lowes. We used black grout and 1/8" spacers.


By the time we got back from shopping, the grout had dried and it was time to get going on the other projects of the room.

First up: the walls.

To save time, I always roll first and get as close to the edge as I can with the roller. Then I cut in with a two-inch angled brush after the rolled portion is dry. Repeat as needed. I rarely use painters tape. Just a steady hand and a wet rag to clean up and mistakes.


The walls in the bedroom were painted RL's Montauk Driftwood and the bathroom walls were painted Hopsack. We softened the color of the Hopsack by about half with the addition of white paint. The result is a pretty oatmeal color that was better suited for the bathroom space and looked better next to the new pale blue wall color.


While the walls were drying, we painted the furniture.


When I don't use spray paint, I almost always roll on the paint with a foam mini-roller, let that first coat dry and then come back with a brush for all the grooves.


We used Ralph Lauren's Smoked Glass on the bed and Hopsack (no white added here) on the night stands. The curtain rods were spray painted Heirloom White.


The antique-glazed white console table was painted Martha's "Yellow Magnolia".


I just used a $3 sample pot of paint for this project.


The hope chest got some decorative molding and two coats of a slate blue color we mixed with paints we had lying around to save cash.



The top of the hope chest was reupholstered with the floral fabric.


These little decorative tins were spray painted Heirloom white. We got them on major clearance from Home Goods.


Moving on to some of the more involved projects...


Ali picked up this book in the clearance section of her local library for just a few dollars. We had 400 beautiful botanical plates of gorgeous wildflowers to choose from for framing.


These frames from Michaels are so great and I've been using them in lots of projects lately. They come in two-packs for $7.


You can use them without mats, but I decided to use these mats, also from Michael's, for about $2.50 each.


We measured and mapped out the gallery wall.


And you'll just have to wait to see the afters! ;) but here's a sneak:


Remember the giant round mirror from Home Goods? I sanded off the scratches and rough spots.


Then I brainstormed ways to evenly space out these little wooden floral appliques. At first I was just going to find the center point and then draw some straight lines on the mirror with a dry erase marker for registration marks.


Then my dad reminded me about geometry! (who says you never use math in real life?!) It was surprisingly easy to figure out how far to space out the appliques once we determined the circumference of the frame.


I glued each piece down, let the wood glue dry and then put on the first coat of paint (Martha's "River Mist"). I wasn't too worried about the paint getting on the mirror because paint cleans off mirrors so easily with a little windex. Any tougher spots clean up very fast with the help of a razor blade, so no tricky painters tape needed.


My mom was a busy little seamstress while we painted. She turned the 18 yards of Barbara Barry Poetical linen into six beautiful panels. We wanted the panels black-out lined, but that lining can be expensive with so many yards needed, so we used $10 canvas drop cloths from Home Depot for the lining.



Also to save on cost, we decided to forgo curtain rings. Mom sewed in a panel with evenly spaced slits for the curtain rod to weave in and out of.



The result is actually really similar to the drape of a pinch pleat (as you'll see tomorrow in the 'after' photos), but does not require rings and hooks and also takes a lot less time to sew than pleats do.


My favorite project from the room redo was inspired by the mirror-on-mirror image I posted about a few weeks ago. Tricia Huntley, who was the interior designer behind the layered mirror image, emailed me after my post and shared her strategy for hanging her mirror on a mirror. Basically, she used a lot of planning, foresight and a contractor. We really didn't have any of these things, so we just made do.

So I decided to look for a very lightweight mirror. I knew this mirror from IKEA would be perfect. It was light and is sort of reminiscent of a Venetian mirror, but more modern.


Here's where my secret weapon came to the rescue. Have I ever shared here how much I love 3M Picture Hanging Strips? They are amazing. No holes required and each strip holds up to 10 pounds.


We used six strips on each mirror just to ensure a strong hold.


Measure twice, stick once!


The result is amazing. You'll love the photos tomorrow!


Once all the major projects we done, we brought all the accessories in and started unpacking. It looked like Christmas morning aftermath. Such a mess!


See you back here tomorrow morning for the after photos!