Author name: Karla Nathan

During my frenzy of de-mousing the house, I gave my bedroom a deep cleaning.  Sugarwings was spending the day with me, so it was her job to squirt the wax while I mopped the floor.  There is a short period of time when kiddos think that helping clean is more fun than just about anything.  Too bad it doesn't last longer. (and you should see how happy she was to hold the black light the time we went on a dog pee search- it was like treasure hunting to her.  I wasn't quite as thrilled to find the glowing purple marks as she was.  By the way, those black lights are the best tool around when you are housebreaking a puppy!!)

After moving all the furniture and cleaning under and behind it, I wanted to freshen the room up with a new look, but the way this room is laid out, if we want to lay around in bed and watch tv, there aren't many choices for rearranging. So, I did the best I could and moved around some of the mirrors and things on the wall. 

 

The mirror had been in the bathroom before, I switched around a few mirrors and traded them out.  Its not as fun as shopping, but it did make me feel less bored with the whole room. I kept the pillar where it is, but took the concrete angel out doors, and set an old vase with silks up on it instead.

The lamp came from the living room, and I pinned a blue millinery rose to it so it would match this room. I have a smaller alabaster lamp on the other side of the bed, so I kind of like having a near-matching set together. (both are from garage sales, years ago for about 5 bucks each)

Zero Dollar Decorating always gives me a lift, sometimes switches and trades are all I need to jump start a room and make me like it again. But, I can't quite call this mini redo that, because I did buy a few things for it.

While I was on my trip to Indiana, I found the alarm clock at an antique store ($11) and the new spread at either TJ Max or Steinmart for $40. 

I also bought two indoor/outdoor throw rugs at TJMax for $12 each, but I pointed the camera the other way, so you can't see them here.  They are a neutral tan with brown vines.

The most expensive part of the redo was a new sewing machine. I was too cheap to pay $25 for two shams to go with the new spread, plus I preferred using some vintage tablecloths and lace that I had to make some instead. 

Half way through the project, I seriously jacked up my 6 year old, low end Singer and couldn't get it to sew anymore.  I hate to admit that I am part of America's throw away society, but it would have cost more to repair than replace, so I zipped over to Walmart and got another $89 machine. Hopefully, I'll get another 5 or 6 years out of this one. 

The table cloth I used on the top pillows was a little holey, so I patched it with lace, then added rows of sheer trim (a Bird Song Tag Book Swap hostess gift!!). The shams for the other set of pillows were made from curtains that I took down in the bathroom.

Yep, my redos had spilled over to the adjoining bath. Well, when I started moving mirrors around, it hit me that I'd never liked that curtain in there….  When we remodelled, I found it at the Goodwill for $5, it wasn't vintage, just second hand.  And it was always too long, I kept thinking that I would hem it and never did, so I just took it down, turned it into pillow shams, and made something else to hang there, while I was on a roll.

 

My buddy, Lisa, had given me a gorgeous netting and lace bed set that was too nice to use on the bed in a house full of dogs. So, part of it is hung as curtains in the living room, the rest I cut up to make a curtain in here.

Since netting isn't private enough for a bathroom window, I sewed the fabric over some of the table cloth I'd cut up for pillows.

It isn't quite wide enough, so I hung a curtain panel on each side to cover that up.  Everything is smoke and mirrors at my house, all made to look better than it really is…

But overall, I'm much happier with the "new" curtains I made.  They go well with the Victorian Trading Co. outlet store shower curtains ($20, then dyed with tea, coffee, and Rit)

My husband is of course, just thrilled with more frills.  (not really) But he rarely notices what I do to the house anyway, so its fine. He doesn't actually care. 

I know I've told this story before, but it was years ago, so maybe its okay to tell it again? My Mother-in-Law was visiting, and my darling was showing her photos of our home in a magazine that had been lying on the table.  He was very proud and telling her details about each room as he went through the pictures.

I was a little surprised to hear him so interested, but thrilled to hear him be proud of something I've done- like I said, I don't think he notices things around the house. So, I looked over their shoulders to see which magazine they were looking at.

It was NOT our house. He just thought it was since there were pink roses and chippy paint in the photos.

 
In this photo from earlier this year, you can kind of see the old curtains on the window.  Just enough to see what I mean, about them being a bit too long.  They hung down all the way to the rose trim around the tub, the new ones (next picture) are a better length.

(that rose tile is one of my favorite things about the room.  While tile shopping, I saw it at a store in Topeka, but it was discontinued. They happened to have a few pieces left in the back room and sold it to me for 75% off.  I had enough to put around the tub, plus one extra that I keep thinking I'll make a shelf out of.)

Here is the bedroom from a couple years ago. No, I didn't change much, but just enough to keep me from being sick of it. I'm easily pleased.

 

Here is another older photo. 

Maybe it is more "edited" now.  I was going for serene.  To cut down on clutter, I also draped a small table topper over an extension rod in the built in cubby above the drawers.  It was just a dust catcher, I had stuff sitting in there, not anything functional or really all that cool. Just a couple urns and a photo.  I like it better covered up.

I like the whole room better now.  I just hope that the bedding stays ivory. The first time it rains and the dogs jump up on it, might be the end of it.  White might be smarter, it can at least be bleached to stay white… wish me luck.