I was very tempted to invest time and energy into painting, decorating, and styling my kid’s rooms first.  I’m pretty sure that’s what I did in our first house. But, this time around I decided to do our bedroom first. The first thing we did when we moved in was to add some closet organization to the one very tiny closet in our room. And really, that has made life so much easier. But, now that the room has a fresh coat of paint and things are hung on the wall, this really does feel like a sanctuary and retreat for us.

Here’s a look at the room before.

There are a few changes we made from our old bedroom. The first thing is we bought new/old dressers and night stands. A couple weeks before we closed on this his, Lonnie and I were wondering through a local antique mall and came across this gorgeous set of mid century furniture. And the crazy thing is, it matches my beloved mid century credenza that sits in my living room. We could’t believe it was we saw it. I know you are already jealous, just because these pieces are so beautiful, but you are really going to hate me when you hear that I only paid $499 for the set. YEP!!!! Just one of the dressers is worth probably twice that amount. I would normally choose pieces that aren’t so matchy-matchy, but I felt an obligation to keep this set of furniture together as a family. Before this set, we had lived 17 years of marriage sharing a thrifted dresser and keeping a majority of our clothes in plastic drawer containers in the back of our closet. I have to say that each of us having our own dresser has made life so much easier and organized.

While we were still at the old house, I had bought a new white duvet cover. I was ready for less pattern and a brighter, lighter look. Now with just one new statement pillow (which I found at Marshalls for $20), my very pretty brass headboard is the star of the room.

There’s probably no chance that I would buy a house that didn’t have hardwood floors throughout. Part of the reason I love them so much is because they give you a chance to play with pretty pattered rugs. And really it is nice to have a soft place for your feet to hit the floor in the morning. This fun, Moroccan hand tufted wool area rug from Rugs USA is just the right amount of pattern I was looking for. Without it, the room feels a little bare and boring.

I haven’t bought any new art for our new house. Except for one special piece that now hangs in our room.  It’s an illustrated scene of the old city of Sanaa, Yemen that I’ve had for the last 8 years. It was tucked away in a cupboard, waiting to be framed. So instead of storing it again at this house. I sent it off to Framebridge to have it framed in a sleek, modern brass frame. I’ve had Framebridge frame some of my photography before, and it’s so nice to have those images off my computer and on my walls. It’s an awesome service. You can either send them a digital file of our art, or they will mail you an already post marked box to send art into them. It making framing so easy. Now I’m kicking myself for not doing this sooner. I LOVE having this piece of our past adventures on our wall.

Besides that one piece of art, I’ve mostly just taken what we already own and moved it around from room to room. Pieces that used to live in our dining room, now have a new home in our bedroom. We tend to get stuck in a rut with art.  We decided that this is always the piece that hangs in my living room grouped with a specific chair and side table. But, it’s fun to experiment and move, what you already own, to different rooms in your home. It’s like shopping, but not having to spend a cent.

In our old bedroom, there was space for over-sized nightstands. I refinished 2 thrifted dresser to serve as bedside tables. They were great – they had huge drawers for storage and a nice big surface for lamps and accessories. But, this new room, with the location of the door, required smaller scale nightstands. While I really loved my mismatched, thrifted lamps from our old room, I really love the clean clutter-free look of these super chic wall mounted lamps for Schoolhouse Electric and Supply Company. Because the house is 1918 and most of the furniture is mid century, this beautiful lamps offer a modern element that helps keep the room feeling young and fresh. I love this combination of black and brass, it really feels like these were always meant to be on either side of my bed.

We’ve been in our new house almost 3 months now, and while I want all the rooms to be done right away, I’m having fun taking my time and putting some thought into how I want to live in this house. So, this is another room done and I’m ready to take on he next.  I think the living room is getting paint next.  I don’t think I can live with these dark walls any longer.

I big thank you to Rugs USA, Framebridge and Schoolhouse Electric and Supply Company for providing gorgeous products for me to use in this room.