The layered look

Our bedroom is in need of some serious TLC.

Since it is not a common room, I have kind of ignored it for months.  I was much more worried about getting our main floor common rooms done (as those are the ones that we use all the time and people see).

Well, this is what we started with:

Nothing like the wall color and the carpet to welcome you to bed

Don't forget the wall to wall 1982 mirrors

When we moved in, we realized that most of our bedroom furniture wouldn't fit into our bedroom.  Awesome.

So we have a master plan to purchase a new bedroom set that includes a new bed, 2 new side tables and a dresser that fits on our small wall.  But lets not get ahead of ourselves.  I STILL don't have dining room chairs, first things first!!

Since we needed some storage in our bedroom we had to settle for putting this horrible office-furniture-esque dresser in our room.  Gross, I know.

Don't judge me for having a TV in our bedroom.

Knowing that it would be a long time until I could buy new furniture, I have been looking for little things to make this room feel more home-y.  I have basically been building this room in layers.  Every few weeks I add something new (or new to me) and create a new layer to the room.  A few months ago I got all excited about this room when I bought these fantastic lamps for our bedside tables. 

Before I took the plastic off.  I wanted to make sure Chris was on board.  Good thing he was.

Those lamps were the first layer, and then I kind of ignored this room for a while.  I have been a Slowsky on this room, but I'm finally picking up steam.

I finally painted the walls, which really increased the bedroom-y feel. But it also just made me realize how far I still had to go.

Mismatched side tables make the lamps uneven... awesome

The blue walls made me realize I needed more in this room, so I decided to add my hope chest to the foot of the bed.  This hope chest was a gift from my grandparents on my 16th birthday and I have been lugging it around from apartments, to houses, condos and finally this house.  It never had a purpose or a good home, but I feel like it has finally found a forever home. I love sitting on it when I'm getting ready in the morning, and it's a handy place to throw my clothes on (when I'm too lazy to put them away.... which is pretty much all the time).

Hope chest and silver curtain, still horrible carpet & mirrors

This is how it usually looks.  Seriously.

I was so pleased with my hope chest addition, but I was getting a bit overwhelmed by wood.  I needed some more soft surfaces.  Is that weird?  Maybe.  But all off a sudden I was craving some furry rugs and fluffy pillows.

So off to Ikea I went, because that is where a gal on a budget goes.

When I got back, I was armed with a few furry rugs and LOTS of pillows. Now it is starting to feel much more cozy.

How many pillows is too many? I'm at 7.

Who loves a faux fur rug?  I do, I do!  I love sitting on the rug as well as just admiring it. It increases the cozy quotient exponentially! 

I also couldn't stop myself from buying that green pillow, and the 2 white pillows behind it.  Who doesn't love a pop of color?

In reality its a bit less Kermit the frog than it looks

All those pillows make the bed more full and the green pillow is going to match so well when I get my rug for under our bed.  Too bad this rug is $504 at West Elm, so it is not in the budget for a LONG time- but what would this blog be without a little rug envy???

Blue & Green... the new grey and yellow!

The pillows and the fur rug only made it more clear that I really needed to get something on that big empty wall.  Every night when we would go to bed, the wall would just stare down on me... a big blank canvas.  Plus the stares were multiplied by the wall of mirrors...literally.

Of course, I headed out to some garage sales to look for items for this wall.  I knew that I wanted some sort of shelves and pictures, but wasn't quite sure what exactly I would find.

In the end, I didn't find any shelves.  I did find some great patina-ed silver pieces, candle sticks and picture frames... good building blocks.

Patina-ed silver, $2 for all 3

$1 for both

Since my garage saling didn't turn up any shelves, so I had to head back to Ikea to look for something.

Ikea did not disappoint!

I came home with picture frames and shelves and I couldn't wait to get them on the wall.  I used my handy dandy level and got them hung as soon as I got home.  I had to use drywall anchors and screws to ensure that it wouldn't fall out of the wall (that would be bad).

Once I got the shelves hung, I filled them with all different items that were part of my color palette: white, silver, blue and dark wood.  I layered in different textures, materials, colors and heights to make it look collected over time.  This is the layered look I was going for. It's like the leggings-tunic-cardigan-with-drapey-jewelry equivalent for a wall.

Who needs actual pictures when I can leave them empty....

The wood square mirrors were from our bedroom in the condo

I framed a pic of Chris and Turbo to be on my bedside

Again, (as is the story of this room) it took me weeks to actually fill those frames.  Finally, I got them filled and I totally love it.  It makes the room feel like an actual space that someone lives in, instead of just a room with a bed.

So now everything is complete and I heart it.  A lot!  I decided that everything on our shelves and in our bedroom would be about us.  Us as individuals and us as a couple. 

I took the batteries out of the clock, the ticking drives me insane

 Here is a rundown of what I put on those shelves:

• Photos of us on vacations
• Round Movado clock that Chris bought for me in college (it always reads 9:58)
• Silver starfish to represent the beach and our love of travel (bought in Portland on vacay)
• Framed art that I created by using this as inspiration
• Framed medals from all the triathlons & 1/2 marathons I have completed

 Now here are some close ups of some of the items:

I painted the back of this frame grey, then hot glued all my 1/2 marathon & triathlon metals onto it.

"I love you, I truly do"

Matted these pics of us on vacation with the same green color as the pillow and art I made

After I completed the shelves, I realized that I didn't use all the items I had bought while garage saling.  Don't worry I found good homes for them too.

Candle sticks and Chris' fav pic of me for his bedside table

The silver tray became a catch all for on top of our dresser

So there you have it.  The bedroom is light years away from being done, but I feel like this is a HUGE improvement.  I actually like going to bed and cozying up in this room.

Who wants to put shelves up like this in every room?  Just me?