Master Bedroom :: Redecorate... sneakpeak

re-dec-o-rate :

transitive verb

: to freshen or change in appearance : refurbish

intransitive verb

: to freshen or change a decorative scheme


So yesterday, if you were here you read about my Master Bedroom and how it looked when we first moved in and then what we did shortly after.

Currently, and this is a slow process for me.  Ever heard of the "The shoemaker's children go barefoot" or the hairdresser that never has her hair done?  Well, that's me, it takes F.O.R.E.V.E.R. to get any renovation done and the house is never completely decorated or "finished".  There is usually a list a mile long to get done for everyone else and finding time to do my own house goes on the back burner or squeezed into small amounts of time here and there.  Secondly, I never feel a room is ever completely finished as it is always evolving.   I think if you ask any decorator or designer they will say the same thing. 

If you have lived with a room for a few years and you love the basic feel it has, updating or redecorating it doesn't have to be a huge undertaking. It can be as simple as changing out decorative pillows to current patterns.

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Tweeking the accent colour to a more "on trend colour".

You could even do something as simple as  taking everything off a table or shelf and re-accessorizing with just a few new or  favourite items...

or if your artwork is dated changing it out to more up to date work.

Since I still love the look of the bedroom, I just wanted to give it a few updates.  The wall colour, drapery and furniture was not changing, but the accessories needed to be changed out.

photo by SilverLining Designs

 Even though the headboard was ornate and was the focal point in the room the space above it always felt like it commanded something.  I found this starburst mirror a few months ago and knew it was the perfect accessory for the wall above.  It is exactly what that space needed.

Photo by SilverLining Designs

 At first, I was going to change the side lamps and buy new ones, but later decided that the ones I had would work.  All they needed was to be painted (they were painted gold previously) and replace the shade. (and yes, if you are wondering, those are the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy.  The colour of the books worked well in the room and played off the lamp well... not justifying just say'n)  I'm not lov'n the colour of the lamps especially once the new bed sheets where in the room, so I think I am either going to try rub'n buff or an entirely new colour.

Bedding was the next thing I changed.  I wanted to have more contrast in the room with a fresher, brighter feel.  I had seen the duvet cover I liked a while back here and found it at Homesense for about half the price.  The sheets are also from Homesense.  They are egyptian cotton with a 600+ threadcount.  Let me tell you, I have always had high threadcounts for my sheets but never egyptian cotton.  They are heaven!  They truly are a luxury worth investing in. 


I took the bedskirt off the bed which updates the look and gives a lighter feel to the room. The contrast between the sheets, duvet and wood panel are wonderful. The new decorative pillow ties everything together with the yellow and grey.


There are just a few more things that need to be added and hopefully it won't be long before this room is done.

Making a House a Home :: Master Bedroom - Decorate

Let's face it.  When we moved into our home, it was UGLY!  The master bedroom was no different.  The walls, trim and baseboards were this awful dirty dusty pink with navy floral border.  Half of the border was ripped down... or maybe I ripped it down I hated it so much, I can't remember.  But we moved in circa 1990's and back in the '80's when the original homeowner decorated, that was the style... I guess. Not mine that's for sure.  There were no curtains and if there were I ripped them down and threw them out - they were full of dust and stunk like smoke and again ugly.  

Photo by SilverLining Designs (prior to digital)

Sorry for the bad picture.  Digital cameras were not discovered back then.  As you can sorta see we didn't have a lot of furniture back then and what we did have was a mix and match of hand me downs and stuff we brought into the marriage.  This room lacked style completely.

Photo by SilverLining Designs (prior to digital)

Shortly thereafter, we transformed the room by painting the walls an antique white.  To this day, I love this colour and never get tired of it.  The windows face west so in the afternoon it is very bright in this room and you hardly see the colour making it very soft.  In the evening and early morning it deepens and is quite beautiful.  Sometimes I find myself just looking around the room to see how the light catches the walls.  We also splurged and bought the bedroom furniture I have always wanted... a four poster bed.  I was surprised because it is little more ornate than what my tastes are usually, but there was something romantic about the detail and hardware. We put some pictures on the walls, purchased new bedding and put a new to us big comfy chair in the corner of the room, which was my aunts and has since now passed, so it is special because now whenever I look at it or sit in it, I think of her.  Again not my style in fabric, but it was in excellent condition and it worked and it is super comfy so I left it as is.  One day I will recover it.  The lamps were hand me downs which I did a little DIY.  They were originally peach ceramic.  Back then and still now I am so over peach.  It use to be my favourite... everything was peach.  I spray painted them gold.  The drapery, way back then, was given to me also.  I loved the fabric but the length was way too short. I needed something to cover the windows, so I threw them up on the windows until I was ready to have something made. 


So that, at the time was a room decorated.  I was able to walk in the room and be in the room and enjoy it to some extent.  There was still more things to be done, but for now it was livable.

Making a house a home

When we first moved into our home approximately 14 years ago, everybody wondered and voiced their concerns as to what I was thinking and that "boy do you ever have vision".  The reason they said that was because the house we bought was totally neglected when it came to the upkeep and a complete decorating disaster.  Imagine muddy dark pink walls, navy blue floral borders throughout the whole house including doors. Mismatched casings.  Light blue family room with a dog border through the middle of the wall. Little houses on a border in the kitchen.  Oh, I could go on with the decorating horror stories.  I don't think the owner ever cleaned.  There were cob webs on the walls as old as the house.  Food spilled in the kitchen cupboards.  I think you are getting the picture. They basically lived in the house. Period.

So why do you ask did I want this house?  It had good bones, the layout was what I wanted and the other thing that was a must, which the Mister insisted on, was that the property had to be bigger than a postage stamp.  So after two years of searching we finally found it.  Something had to give right? I was up for the challenge and anything we bought we knew we would rip apart and make it our own.The ideas were already swirling in my head.

Since I was 5 months pregnant at the time we took over the house, I was very lucky to have a team of people helping us move, clean and settle us in.  I would have never been able to do it without them.

The first thing I wanted to do was settle in Big Sister.  I wanted her to adjust well and feel like it was her home and space, so the first thing I did was paint and purchase bedroom furniture.  Since the previous owners were smokers I wanted to paint the whole house to get rid of the smoke smell, so we quickly painted ceilings and walls.  Since a baby was on its way, I knew I would be spending a lot of time in the master bedroom  feeding, sleeping, changing, etc. so that was the next room to paint.

Fast forward 14 years and we have accomplished a lot of renovations in our home from new hardwood floors that we sanded and stained ourselves to new kitchens and bathrooms.

After we finished a complete kitchen reno about 8 years ago we were burned out and everything came to a halt.  We gave ourselves a break and only just a few years ago have started up again and have been working on the landscaping in the backyard, installing new windows.... and began to slowly redecorate and repaint some rooms.

I'll be back soon.  Hope you'll follow along on my re-decorating journey. 

Certified: True Colour Expert!!

I had the chance in the beginning of June to register and earn my True Colour Expert certification through internationally acclaimed colourist and designer Maria Killam.

It was information overload jam packed into three days. Not only did I enhance and further my knowledge about colour and the importance of designing with it correctly, I also mixed paints, talked undertones, became even more familiar with the Benjamin Moore fan decks, critiqued real life interiors and exteriors, put our knowledge to work on carpet, tile, stone and wood samples and if that wasn't enough to get our minds spinning, were given homework at the end of each day.

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It was also wonderful to be in a room full of other talented decorators and designers that shared the same love of everything in the interior design field.

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By the end of the three days I was no longer just looking at rooms, objects, buildings and exteriors.  I was seeing all the colours that were being used and not just the colours but the undertones of those colours and how they worked and didn't work together.  In fact, I was watching a movie on the evening of the last day of the course and could. not. for. the. life. of. me. concentrate on the movie because I was so involved at looking at the colours and undertones used in the movie.  It was like someone put me in front of a kaleidescope and all I could see was colour.  It was awesome!

So, what does this mean to you?  I am more than qualified to not only help you select colours, but to create a look, feel and a flow for your home which transitions from room to room.

If you want this feel and flow to your home, visit the website SilverLining Designs, and send me an email here

Master Bedroom Makeover

I recently finished a Master Bedroom makeover. The makeover had already started, so these are the slightly before pictures. The cornice moulding is part of the makeover. There was wallpaper boarder in it's place. The last time this room was made over, was the late 80's early 90's and the border was a geometric pink/blue/green pattern with the paint colour, as you can see, a mint green. Way overdue for a makeover, if you ask me.

The client wanted something fresh and calming. This was a fun room to do because I got pretty much free reign on this project with only a few stipulation. A decorators dream job if you ask me.

Before

To keep on budget a few things stayed in the room and that was fine because we could work with it. Some of those things were the furniture, the linens and flooring.

After

When you are making over a room one of the things you should consider is your focal point. In this case, it was the bed and it just wasn't getting the attention it deserved when it was on the same wall as the door that you enter the room. So I turned it around so it was the first thing you see. The problem I ran into by doing that was balance. As you can see in the picture above, the window is set off to the side. So, what do you do? Instead of installing the new drapery on either side of the window and further enhancing that off-balance feel. I installed the drapery on either side of the wall. (I could do this because the client confirmed that the drapery did not need to close and could be made so that there were only decorative.) Once the drapery was installed, I found an oversided piece of art and hung it on the other side, so that it would balance the window and placed the bed dead center on the wall. To further enforce the balance, the night stands were placed on either side with matching lamps.

I've said this before "Use what you've got" and I'm saying it again because that is what we did. It's a good way to keep on budget and keep it low too. I went around the house and found things that I repurposed that would work in the room. One of the things was I took a silver tea tray that was sitting in a closet and used it as a tray for the client's purfumes and a small picture.

The end result was amazing. A total transformation. The clients didn't see it until it was completely done and when they did they were blown away. They just loved it.

Taking the Plunge

So, I had this whole paragraph written out about my first post and I was just about finished. I was reviewing it and then all of a sudden the screen went blank and all my words were gone! This is not a good start. Well, needless to say, I am not happy.

But here we go again... My First Post, take two:

After much deliberation and thought,  I am taking the plunge! I think I got the itch to start one after stumbling upon Creative Little Daisy. I didn't even know such things existed until I found it. It was awesome to see someone else's creativity. I was so impressed I even emailed Autum, not something I normally do, to tell her so. She is a great lady and her sewing is beautiful. So after finding Creative Little Daisy, I found more fantastic blogs, and I am hooked. 

What are you going to find here when you visit?  

I LOVE to sew! Everything from childrens clothing, handbags, accessories and home decor items.  Along with that, I am seriously passionate about interior decorating and offer a complete range of decorating services - specializing in colour and material consulting, custom drapery and window treatments. Selecting the perfect paint colour and coordinating fabrics can transform an uninspired room to a fabulous room you won't want to leave. 



I hope to offer readers insightful ideas on decorating and design, inspirational images, post images of my work including the sewing and of course the projects in my own home.


Please add yourself as a follower, so you can come back again and again.


Welcome to the world of SilverLining Designs!


Diana