Master Bedroom Makeover Reveal!

I am ashamed to say that we have lived in this house for a year now, "Happy Homie-versary" to us!, and we had yet to actually DO anything to the upstairs living area which includes our master bedroom.

These are all pictures from before we moved in. And yes! we ended up owners of the vintage bedroom suit!!

The most we've done to the room was move in our bed, a couple of dressers and a bunch of junk! "They" always say that your master bedroom should be a haven for...you know....good rest! :) But it's always just been an after-thought, if that. Even at our old house. Well a week ago, Alanna was super sick and puked in our bed (lovely, right?!) and we went to change the sheets and bedding and it was just pathetic. The before was like a college boy lived there. Grungy comforter, gross pillows - most of which didn't even have a pillow case. Then to top it off, my nightstand was covered in baby junk, bobby pins and used tissues. Seriously....I'm a grown woman. What's so difficult about using a trash can and remembering to dis-bobby-pin my hair before bed??

It was time for a grown-up look and time to make our room special, just for US....so that we can relax and um....sleep...well! ;)

So on Friday, while hubby took the van to get the tires rotated, I pain-stakingly (not really) shopped Marshalls....all alone...in the quiet....no one had to pee, nothing got knocked off the shelves. It was bliss, really. We should rotate the tires more often. I had the tiniest buggy in the entire store, I'm sure of it, and it was piled high with pillows, blankets, sheets....(and clothes and shoes! shhhh!).

This is what I came up with on a limited budget and repurposing things from throughout the house.

Check it out! Grown ups with a grown up bed and fancy pictures on the wall! And it's sooo super comfy. I love a comfy bed. Now if Alanna would only let me SLEEP in said comfy bed.

Jasper was super excited to help me rip the sheets off the bed and clean everything out of the room. (This is a REAL "before" shot!)

This boy will get away with everything. Forever. Because he is that kid. The one that winks and makes you forget he is the biggest stinker on the planet!

  More before pictures. Where the littlest squirt (pretends to) sleep.

See? Borrrrrring!!

But now.... now it's so peaceful.
Every night since has been a little bit more restful knowing that things are in order. There are no stinky tissues covering the table - well until last night when I decided to come down with (another) sinus infection! argh! But it just feels good knowing that at least one room is closer to being done.

My mom recently moved and gave me these curtains. I had forgotten about them when I was picking out the bedding. But they work perfectly. Hubs is so excited to have a dungeon again for sleeping! I think the curtains are totally what transformed the room. I went with a simple & cheap rod from, none other than, Wal-mart. I actually had bought these for the boys room but have yet to get to that project. They were handy, so they were used.

Schweeeeeet little lovies.
(And, yes, this co-sleeper (from Babies R Us) is typically secured against our bed)

This furniture was given to us by my stepdad. It was his mother's and came all the way from Cali. I absolutely fell in love with it while we were there. I love the shapes, the handles, the color of wood is perfect. It holds all my lovelies just perfectly as well.

I knotted up my tights so they would be all nice and neat. Does anyone else do this?

These two. Sigh.
I never knew how much I loved this man until I saw him with our daughter.
He's most definitely my honeysuckle.
And I'm his honeybee.

One more shot of the room....

I love it! I still want to paint the dresser on the left with chalk paint and distress it, I want to add a few rugs for some added color. And I even think I want to do something fun on the far right wall. Maybe some chicken wire, add some white lights to set the mood...again...for sleeping, of course. I'm not done but it is already SO much better than it was before!!

So now you know where I sleep.

And that's a tad creepy....

PRODUCT DETAILS:

You & Me wall art from Hobby Lobby
Always Kiss Me Goodnight wall art from Marshalls
Soft suzanni-style printed, king size blanket from Marshalls
LOVE pillow, Teal throw pillows, Gray over-sized pillows, all from Marshalls
Calvin Klein sheets from Marshalls
Mint Laura Ashely frame from Marshalls
Love You More block art from Marshalls
Petal Candle Holder & Chevron Ring Holder from Marshalls


Repurposed items or things that were already in the room....

Comforter (had on hand) from Ikea
Lamp from Marshalls
Faux Fur Throw from Marshalls (use as a photography prop!)
Oversized Jack (I think) from Marshalls
Vintage Quilt, Quilt Stand & Lamp
Vintage Oversized Mason Jar
Candle Lantern - gifted to me from a client's wedding reception
Bamboo Blinds from Home Depot (I think...because I waffled between there and Overstock.com!)

*Some have asked...no, we do not have a headboard right now. That's another future project! We currently use the base from an old water bed (hello 80's!) so that we have the extra drawers for storage. Could definitely use a bed skirt.

I believe that's everything! I would say the overhaul cost us around $200 for everything from Marshalls that I purchased during this trip! Not too shabby for a made-over looooooove shack!!

One more time...

Island de Vides

Let's take a little trip back to 2012.

Before we moved in, the first thing we did was try to tackle the little "Island de Vides"...or Island of Vines.....otherwise known as a big huge patch of weeds that are overtaking the world, one driveway at a time!!!

We have pulled weeds & vines no less than three times since this day. The bad part is that the vines aren't even pretty. No blooms...no redeeming factor. They spread like wildfire!

#killallthevines

Little man worked so hard he tuckered out. Gigi took advantage!

Seriously. I can't get over how much this boy has grown in 2 1/2 years. He's almost to my shoulders at 7  years old. And that little bit of "baby" is almost gone.

Get me a tissue please!!

Do you see all of the vines?

They could give you Jumanji-style nightmares! Relentless little suckers. They pop up shoots clear across the yard. We really need to till up every square inch of this place.

I love a hard-working man. He seriously has put so many long hours transforming this place.

I probably should put the same amount of hours in blogging so that you all can actually SEE what it looks like now.

The sun shines here so beautifully through the trees.
It's most definitely peaceful.
I hope my kids remember the feeling of the sun peering through the branches and leaves. Feeling it beat on their cheeks. I can remember the feeling of my childhood yard. The ripples of the pond below our house. I remember so many little details.
And they are good.
So good.

I pray they carry the same good memories and treasure them for a lifetime.

I absolutely love most, that they are finding "wildlife" around the woods. Becoming such adventurous little guys. It amazes me how this one doesn't seem to have much fear when he's out there. In other situations, he's my more reserved child. But something about him being outside just sets him free.

Makes this momma's heart happy.

That hip.
Oh that hip.
It's of his daddy. And I love every little square inch of him.

And he sure loves his Doc.

But, holy cow who knew what we were getting in to when we moved here. We battle the leaves like nobody's business! The vines are now a little more under control but it takes maintenance for sure. And the turtle, well...he's probably still around, cute little guy!

So much to do when you live in the woods. There is no clean space. I'm dying to turn our Island de Vides into a perfect little spot for a hammock or waterfall. Something fancy....but low maintenance!

Something peaceful.

DIY Homemade Chalk Paint Part:1

There's a little well known fact about me....I'm cheap.
And I'm a hoarder. 

So after the past few weeks of moving...and moving....and moving more junk.... I had it in my head that I was for sure going to sell or donate to Goodwill, most of the big bulky furniture from our old house. It was outdated. It was u-g-l-y. It was way too heavy and frankly, I didn't want to mess with it.

So I posted the furniture, bless it's heart, on Facebook for sale for what I thought was a great bargain. $200 for an entire dining room set. Someone would snatch that right up...money in my pocket...win-win!!

Too bad my friend guilt-tripped me into keeping the blasted furniture. I huffed and puffed because for ONCE I had actually parted with something!! I was on my way to dehoarding. Or so I thought!

After telling my hubby that we were keeping the furniture after-all...we loaded up the junk and brought it over to the new house. I may have sighed. Really. It was ugly. And big. And it had the worst little seashell-meet-80's-fan look on the front of it.

But. I held out hope. There's this huge Pinterest fad going around about Chalk Paint. Ever heard of it? It's everywhere. Everyone is doing it. It supposedly will make any piece of furniture look amazing, no matter the existing finish.

However, there's no way I'm paying $30 for a quart of paint. Ever. Remember I'm cheap. Not to be confused with cheap date, although that's true too because I'd totally settle for a CookOut milkshake and TacoBell beef meximelt. Yummmm!

Food always distracts me!! Especially when I have a belly the size of Uncle Bob, the family boozer!

Back to chalk paint.....as I've mentioned before, I am a color-phobe. I'm scared to death of choosing, wait, COMMITTING, to color and with a $30 price tag, I'm even more scared!!

I love the teal, yellow, coral, even the hot pink. Especially the green though. It's probably my favorite, oddly enough!

Well Wednesday was D-day for getting all of the rest of the junk from the house so that the new renters can move in. First we had to make a trip to Lowe's to haggle on a stove (that we got at an AWESOME price!! whoop whoop!!). So while they were negotiating and talking appliances, I mosied on over to the paint center. There's one good thing about shopping with your husband, father-in-law and hubby's uncle......I had to hurry. There was no hem-hawing allowed in the paint department. I had to choose and be done.

And I did.
I did it!
I chose a paint color.

And not only one paint color but three!!! (with a little help)

And I also scored BIG TIME!!! I totally should've checked the reject pile first but as it was, I got almost a whole gallon of hot pink that was the exact shade of the quart I had the sweet lady mix for me. If it was not exact, it was pretty doggone close! Plus there were several $1 jars begging for me to add them to my collection of crafting supplies.

I swear I'm getting to the good stuff......

I chose a lovely shade of yellow to overhaul this hideous dresser of mine. Actually, I admit, hubby chose it. What's up with that?! And he actually wasn't rushing me either....he was helpful! He loves color after all! 

We went with "Field of Daisies" in Valspar Low-Odor, Zero VOC. This stuff literally has no smell at all. It's great! And I always say "Gimme the cheapest stuff you've got". I know the people always do an internal eyeroll but whatever. I'm cheap!! I know though that this isn't the cheapest paint, but it is Valspar brand and she probably saw the monstrous belly and saved my kid from growing another arm.

Here's the rundown. Gotta love www.mylowes.com, you can track all of your purchases. Believe me, this comes in handy when you run out of paint, throw the bucket away and realize you need to touch-up and have NO clue what color it was that you bought. Trust me.

Bright yellow. A good bit brighter than the colors I had picked out. But, I wanted hubby involved and because he really has had no say-so in most of the interior choices and there's LOTS of white....so I "let" him choose. And honestly, he did a great job. I love the color.

Here's a little sneak peek:

Part 2 to come with instructions!!!! This post is long enough!