One Room Challenge: Master Bedroom Makeover, Week 1

Have you heard of the One Room Challenge hosted by Linda of Calling It Home? I’ve checked in with it over the years but never followed it very closely, although I just love the idea. Every spring and fall, six different designers choose one room and redo it in six weeks. This year I’ve decided being a guest participant is just the kick in the pants I need to get my master bedroom done.

Because seriously. We’ve lived in our house for almost four years now. This is long overdue.

Today you get to see the before photos. Not the scary Swamp of Sadness pics from when we first bought the place, but the way we’ve been living with it since that first transformation.

But let’s not forget just how terrible that room was.

Perspective always helps. As much as I’ve been loathing the space, it could still be SO MUCH WORSE.

Still, our master bedroom shouldn’t depress me. And it still does. Well…it did. Technically I started working on it last summer because I needed a project to keep the crazy brain at bay. I didn’t get very far though (hence the need for some pants-kicking). Luckily for you, I had the foresight to take some truly terrible quality “before” shots.

(You can tell how long it’s been since I took these by how little those two photobombers look. Also: that tutu has been a fixture in my life for a year now. Someone needs to nominate me for canonization, because only a true saint could have suffered that thing for so long.)

I loved that grey when we first put it on the walls; it’s perfectly neutral with no green or blue or pink undertones. But in a room with very little natural light, it’s sooooooo blah.

It felt like a cave in there. A boring, dark, cluttered cave.

I know this about myself: when I don’t like how a space looks when it’s clean and tidy, I don’t care to keep it clean and tidy. Ergo, mess everywhere.

I should be embarrassed, but I think I’m beyond that at this point. And please, if you’re new here, know that I really am capable of taking better photos and dusting my furniture. I swear. Although horrendous before pics means the afters will be that much more stunning by comparison, right? I totally planned that. (False. But let’s pretend.)

Those bookshelves were a wedding gift from my grandpa, who made them for me. They’re beautiful, but they don’t really work with our decor. Anyone else struggle with balancing aesthetic taste and sentimentality? Also: remember how I literally just talked about creating space? Yeah…my books desperately need more space.

David and I have never in our 8 1/2 years of marriage had a real bed. I mean, we’ve got our California King sleep number bed, which is basically a third party in our marriage because we LOVE it so very much, but it’s just sitting on the metal frame and box it came with. No headboard, no bed frame, no nothing.

Blerg.

So here’s what’s on the agenda for our master bedroom over the next six weeks:

• Fresh paint in a new color
• Different rug
• Replace blinds with curtains
• New bedding
• DIY a headboard with built-in side tables, and possibly a platform bed as well
• New lighting
• DIY built-in bookshelves
• Add seating (A comfy chair? A bench at the end of the bed? Not sure yet.)
• Do…something…with the dresser and mirror (Also not sure what that will be yet.)
• Add some personality with art/pillows/accessories/something

I’ll be updating you on my progress over the next five Thursdays. I am both really excited to make this happen and really nervous that by sharing my plans I’m setting myself up for some delightful setback. Although we’re already dealing with coughs and pink eye and not enough sleep, so…bring it.

Life is gonna happen no matter what. At least soon I can deal with it from a pretty master bedroom, right?

Head over to Calling It Home to see what the featured designers and other guest participants have planned for their room makeovers!

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