When we first looked at this house, one of the few things that we found off putting were the bedrooms. I thought about it a bit after we left and realized that in recent years we’ve become rather spoiled with unique, sometimes historical (see here and here for glimpses of the bedroom we shared in a home built in the 1790′s, complete with the original hand carved “nails” holding up the wood beams), sometimes large and stunning, always somewhat unusual bedrooms. I had to give myself a bit of a talking to because really the bedrooms we had just toured were exactly like most people’s bedrooms; a simple square carpeted room with a closet. Once that really sunk in, I relaxed about it and began thinking of ways to add charming details that would make our spaces feel less mundane and more uniquely us. It took a little convincing, but I was able to persuade Steve into seeing that with the two of us working at it, we could find a way to make almost any space special and home-like. And so we moved forward and I think (hope) that he’s glad we did. I know I am.
Before:
It’s not just a trick of the light, two walls were painted a kind of fuchsia color and two bubble gum.
It is not done yet. Both the doors still need to be painted. The closets need baseboards and well, doors. There is a wall mounted heater that we’d like to get rid of. But, the carpeted floors are now wide-plank pine, we added some character with a board and batten treatment (tutorials on this can be found all over the web), the cracked plastic switch plate and outlet covers have been traded out for solid wood ones and everything has received many coats of paint….
Paint info: The trim and lower section of the walls are Yolo’s Imagine .04, which is the same classic linen white that we used for trim throughout the second floor. The upper part of the walls and ceiling are a bit of a mystery. They started out Yolo’s Sprout .03, which is a beautiful color, but I felt that it was really too dark for the space. So after painting the entire thing that color and subsequently deciding I couldn’t live with it, I mixed small amounts of Sprout .03 into much larger amounts of Yolo’s Imagine .05, which is an off-white with blue/grey undertones, until I got the color I was looking for.
These photos pre-date our bed moving in and were taken on a day when mother nature was not cooperating, lighting wise. Due to the cloud cover, the room doesn’t appear nearly as light and airy as it usually does. I want it to stay fairly simple, but it doesn’t feel quite done as is. I’ve been studying spaces that I love, trying to determine exactly what it is that appeals to me. At this point I’m thinking that some curtains of some sort would help. Perhaps I’ll hang a picture or two. Our bedding could probably use some upgrading/tweaking. All of which will have to wait for some room in our budget. Until then, I am very pleased with how the space is coming along and absolutely tickled pink to be sleeping in our bedroom for the very first time this week!
What an amazing transformation! It’s beautiful
I love pink, but even I could not live in that much pink!! Love what ya’ll have done. The colors and the batten amd the flooring…amazing! I don’t really know you (even though I feel like I do, I have been reading your blog for so long!) but this is so you! Can’t wait to see more. Hope you have a great week.
That is so lovley! What an amazing change. Thanks for sharing the photos!
Thank you for your kind words everyone! Actually, I think it’s kind of a blend of my style and the natural style of the house. I think my personal style probably has a bit more of a rustic edge to it, but the house just has such a cottage-y feel to it. I think we kind of mesh things together and it works, yk?
Melody- it’s beautiful! The floors are lovely, and I love the colours. It looks like a peaceful and bright place to rest and grow a baby- and to nurse one too!
Oooh, Melody this is so lovely, and just how I’d want our bedroom to look! Perhaps if I gave ours a makeover, it would inspire me to be better about keeping the mountains of laundry under control!
When I first looked at this post, I thought the pink was the color you were going with. . . .
Oh, my! I always enjoy your renovation posts because the transformations are incredible. I think this is my favourite room you have done.
Pop into your blog from time to time, and just have to say that this room is a dream! So beautiful!:)
I linked to your blog through MamaAshGrove’s most recent post–love her blog. You have been added, quite happily, to my favorites! I love the calmness.
I wanted to ask if your pine plank flooring is “actual” flooring or just ordinary pine boards? I love the look and haven’t ever seen anything like that in our local flooring retailer’s shop. They have lock in flooring, both hardwood and laminate varieties, which often look fake. We have laminate on all our downstairs areas, but chose the least phony looking kind we could find. It is much darker than your lovely pine.
I know I’m late on this conversation, but I was making my way through your blog and saw this renovation. It’s great.
Love your space. I will visit often.
Thank you for the kind words! It’s plank flooring, which means that yes, it’s basically just boards! It’s flooring grade, so they are smooth and nice. Where we live timber is a huge natural resource. It was local white pine from a local mill. It will darken with time. We re-did the flooring on the entire second floor over the course of a year and a half and the floors that we put in first are significantly darker then the ones we put in more recently. If you are ever looking to do something similar, I’d be happy to share the details on how we installed it. It’s really quite simple. I was actually going to do a post about it at some point, but I wasn’t sure if people would be interested.
And yes, Melanie is an absolute gem!
Oh, I would be interested on a post about the flooring! I just love it!