headboards.

unknown

now that the room is painted, i've been obsessing about headboards. what shape? what color? what material? how tall? i (of course) don't want to spend tons of money, and fully intend on making it myself. it needs to be pretty big-impact as the walls are very neutral now (you have to remember, light colored walls are new to me!) but something that i will like for several years or something that can be easily changed on a whim.

desire to inspire

i've considered using the wallpaper we purchased for the downstairs bathroom. it's black, white and gray... and we wouldn't have to spend hardly any money. i would probably frame it out with some quarter round or decorative edge painted black. also, it's really neutral so i could change the colors of the linens without having to worry about it clashing with the headboard. this is probably my favorite right now of my ideas... but we like to lean up against the wall while reading or watching tv and i would prefer something that's 1) padded and 2) not going to be damaged if it gets a little damp from my hair (after a shower).

decor pad

i also love the idea of a simple fabric headboard in a solid color. again, i could use patterns pillows to make things interesting. but then again, i would need to figure out a color that could go with several of our bedspreads and that i would enjoy looking at for a while.

apartment therapy

i've also thought about just buying a flat sheet and hanging it from the top of the wall. this is probably the least expensive of my ideas since i can get a king size flat sheet for less than $15 at target and there are tons of color options.

decor pad

and d pretty much doesn't care as long as he doesn't have to do too much of the work... and i guess as long as it isn't purple (he turned his nose up at a dark purple shower curtain i was eyeing last weekend. i guess i should be happy he let me buy a purple couch and let me paint the downstairs bathroom purple.)

any thoughts? i may just be over thinking this... but i'd like to get it right the first time!

Summer 2010 To Do List

well, i've made a little bit of progress on my list... we painted the bedroom this past weekend and i absolutely love the color. we used behr's paint and primer in one in wheat bread (it's really a warm gray), and it only took 2 coats to cover the dark red! i couldn't believe it. i also painted the trim a bright white and we moved the nightstands upstairs. yay! d's mom gave use a white quilt they no longer use, and i need to find/make some colorful covers for our pillows and hang some artwork. i'll be so glad when everything is back in order in there... that room never really felt finished, but hopefully soon it will be.

here are a few shots so you can get an idea of the color. it changes with the light, though, so kind of hard to photograph consistently. i think it goes pretty well with our tan sheets, and now i want to make/find some sort of headboard... this room really needs the extra color now! and as you can see, i'm not quite finished painting all the doors, but you can see the cream color all the trim was before. you also get a good glimpse of our gross green/blue carpet. we've vacuumed, cleaned... everything to that carpet, but it's got stains that won't go away. we're hoping to install some new flooring soon...

last weekend was a good time to paint - we got around 12 inches of rain in the past few days - making outside work impossible unless you wanted to take a shower at the same time. it's rained more this week as well... fun stuff.

we've still got a ways to go, sadly, on our list. i still haven't planted any veggies... and i'm starting to wonder if maybe i've waited too long to catch up. i may grab some tomato and squash plants at the store this week and stick them in the ground. i have some cucumber and beans that are growing in my biodome... they are probably ready to be transplanted soon.

INDOORS

finish bathroom

paint bedroom

clean and organize office/spare bedroom

clean and organize sunroom

organize bedroom closet

sew new cover for cedar chest

OUTDOORS

fence raised bed and plant veggies

spread the rest of the mulch

get branches out of the backyard

plant alyssum and zinnia seeds

make/find/purchase some sort of larger outdoor table

nightstands are finished!

wow, this last week was something else. not only did our new nephew make it safely into the world, but we bought a new car and got our new (finished!) nightstands from d's dad!

this picture is awful - we had to stick them in my office for at least a week to let the finish cure and that room is pretty dark... but you can at least get an idea of what they look like! i want to get the bedroom painted before we even think of lugging them up the stairs. hopefully we can get a color picked out soon and maybe get it painted over the 3 day weekend.

d's dad and i worked together and came up with this design based on a few different nightstands we really liked. they are built out of walnut, with no stain. i love how they are slightly modern, but not so much that they can't fit in with some more traditional elements.

i can't wait to get this room looking the way i want it to. i'm still trying to decide what to do about bedding... hoping to find a cheap, thin quilt to use during the summer months as i already have something that will probably work for the winter...

bedroom inspiration.

beth's amazing guest bedroom, found via apartment therapy.

with our nightstands to be soon within our grasp, i've really started thinking a lot more about our bedroom. right now it's painted a rusty red that matches our winter comforter... and i just can't stand it anymore. so, i looked through my inspiration folder the other day, and noticed a trend. bright colors (what's new) with a mix of neutrals. so, here's my plan:

paint the walls a nice greige. nothing too dark... we have a huge window, but the curtains usually stay closed, unless d is out of town. he doesn't like the sunlight...

have fun with the bedding. this is where a nice pop of color will help the room from being too brown. i love the bedding on the above photo ( it's the bella hothouse quilt from anthro and a little above my price range) but i'd like to be able to change it with something inexpensive whenever i'm ready for a change.

accessorize with bright colors. i've got tons of stuff in the rest of the house - why not bring some cute stuff into the bedroom?

and my biggest challenge: spend as little as possible. we've already paid for the wood for the nightstands, so i'm not going to include it in my final count. i'm planning to buy paint for the walls and trim, shop in the rest of the house for accessories, make some free artwork for the walls, and maybe try to diy a duvet/quilt out of vintage fabrics. we've also discussed putting down this flooring everywhere there is currently carpet.

in the meantime, here are some pretty photos:

i'm shamefully admitting, i don't know where this image came from.

photographer Ngoc Minh Ngo, found on desire to inspire

design sponge sneak peek - tonya sutfin

design sponge sneak peek

sketch.

should i add furniture designer to my list of things i think would be a fun career? probably not, considering i just mixed a bunch of stuff i liked about other nightstands to draw these up. but this, friends, is a rough sketch of what our nightstands will look like. they will be walnut, and have 1 shelf and 2 drawers! i can't wait to see these beauties, and they bring on all sorts of new ideas for decor in our bedroom.

my dream, someday, is to have a room that i can easily change out the duvet/bedspread on a whim, without having to worry about it matching everything else in the room. i know, how very neutral of me! i'm thinking a beautiful warm gray color for the walls, crisp, white trim, creating a padded headboard like the photo from this post, and keeping most of the other elements in the room in neutrals and whites so that the bedspread can really be a nice pop of color. what's wrong with me, you say? not sure... maybe i am growing up a little in regards to my own personal style. i really want to create something that i won't be wanting to change completely all the time. and when i do want to change it, it will be as easy and switching out some fabric and pillows. sounds good to me...

lamps... yes, please.

now that i have nightstands off the brain, my next thoughts are of lamps. but not just any lamps... matching lamps. beautiful, matching lamps. all the images that i find of bedrooms that i love have matching lamps. and now that our nightstands are going to be a little bigger (and have storage!) i don't mind taking up a little space with something beautiful that sheds a little light. ideally, i would love to take home these gourd lamps from west elm. but... that's not quite in the budget. and i usually have a hard time finding two of a kind (that i like) at the thrift store. but, who knows? maybe i'll get lucky! if not, i think i could settle with these other options i found for around the $20 price range (per lamp).

jonsbo lamp from ikea. i'm really loving the clear glass base that's similar to the one above. now... if we only had an ikea nearby... because they don't ship lamps.

i really love this one from target. my only issue with it is that it will probably clash with the walnut wood we are using for the nightstands.

and i really love this base from target. problem is that shades can get pricey. as in more than the actual base... so if i could find something that comes with a shade, that would be ideal.

nightstands.

d and i have a lot of mix-matched furniture - which is fine. i'm totally okay with that... in fact i rather prefer it. just like i love a bunch of chairs that don't match sitting around the dining room table. but a few of the things we have discussed lately that we wouldn't mind matching are our nightstands. ours do not look anything alike and they are not functional. not for what we need them for, anyway. i do lots of reading propped up against the headboard (a completely different post for another time). occasionally we eat up there. i work on my laptop, and d plays his psp/ds/itouch. we watch tv and play with the dogs. i also craft, and maybe someday, i will also crochet while watching tv.

what is our current situation? combined, we have 1 drawer and 2 shelves. there's so much potential for storage here, i feel we really need to take advantage of it. I'm hoping to get 2 drawers and 1 shelf out of each nighstand. and guess what? we get to design our own. d's dad loves making stuff out of wood, and has been persistent about getting another project out of us.

here is an image i pulled from a sneak peek on design*sponge last year. i immediately fell in love with her nightstands (there's also a matching credenza). and while i still love it now... it's one of those things that i wonder if i will still love it 15 years from now? i truly feel like you should buy (or in this case, build) furniture to last a lifetime.... which has me on the search for a perfect bedside table...

but we have other things to consider as well. i have a dresser that i would like to keep a part of our bedroom, so it will need to go with it (not match, but not clash) as well as a cedar chest that will remain.

d and i have both kind of narrowed it down to two other designs we really love and feel would go well with our other pieces.

bossa 2 drawer nightstand at josephwinans

octave nightstand from crate & barrel

so, now we just need to decide what we really like from each and sketch out a design. and i honestly don't care for the legs on either of these, so that will probably change as well as finding some hardware we love.

we have some other major plans for the bedroom, but probably won't get around to that until we move into a different house. we need to paint our dresser, build a headboard (really love the one in the photo up top, from decorpad), and we'd also like a different color for the room... but we really don't want to move furniture around right now. maybe when we replace our carpet... otherwise we're just going to live with it for a few more years...