Where. When. How. {A master bedroom breakdown.)

A
few weeks ago I showed you a glimpse into a few rooms over here at This
Little Estate when I joined forces with other Canadian bloggers. Together, we shared glimpses into our home with a virtual picture-filled home tour.

(See my home tour here.)

It was such fun, and the home tour generated many pondering questions from readers, and I have felt like a big meany every since, for not responding right away.

My favorite questions went like this:  

“Bethany, I wish I could have a pretty bedroom like yours, but I don’t have the budget to make the room that I want. What are some tips you can give me? Where do you find all your stuff?” 

“Where did you get that wallpaper from!? Want!”

“What colour is your bedroom, I cant find it on your blog…”

“That dresser in your master was soooo
ugly, I have passed so many of those up in the before, but now I cant
wait to find an ugly dresser of my own now to makeover like yours!”

Well,
sweet reader, let me start by saying thank you for the questions and
for not sending me messages that stated you noticed the dust bunnies in
the corners of all these pictures. 😉 

You guys are swell and need glasses.

 

 

So first things first, friends you do not need a big budget to pull a room together. 

I
don’t claim to be a design expert, but I do claim to be a major bargain
hunter, red sticker lover, avid junk store searcher and thrifting enthusiast. I have also been known, on occasion, to drag something home from your curb into my home and then re purpose it for free.

Here is a great example, and break down of doing just that.

If
you are like us then it is quite possible that you would rather buy
your sweet babies the best crib on the market, tuck that sweet baby into
40,000 thread count sheets and then collapse on to your own sheet less
mattress — on the floor. 

We can relate. 

A
few years ago we opted to graduate ourselves to a king sized bed seeing
as our baby ninjas would often climb out from their silk sheets and
onto our double bed. 

It was getting tight. 

Along with a new bigger and better grown-up bed came the desire to have a pretty headboard and a completed master bedroom. But, as every young family knows, when you have little
children, your design budget is better spent on hockey, gymnastics,
swimming lessons, soccer and on a prayer that those activities will wear
them out enough to sleep in their OWN bed.

You know, you KNOW.

I like silk sheets like the next toddler, but sometimes, being a grown up means being a little selfless.

 

That meant cutting down costs on our own bedroom and getting creative. 

Thankfully, something I love to do.

So here is the break down:

 

Our headboard was found thrifting for $5 and got a little makeover, I talked about that HERE.

Our room got a budget-friendly-bang-for-your-buck-feature-wall,
by adding a stencil to one of our main walls. It was $75 (at the time
with a coupon) and was birthday money well spent.  It can be found at Royal Design Studios and is called the large damask stencil. I used a semi gloss bright white paint to give it a bit of interest against our tan walls. (Behre Paint & Primer: Messa Taupe)

Our lamp was a curbside treasure updated with a new shade and some white spray paint.

Our round mirror was purchased thrifting
for $5 and is a vintage replica.  I loved that it matched the round
mirror I had already painted and loved how it would add some symmetry to
our room.

 

(I’m still pondering painting both round mirrors to match, and/or change both of their colours entirely.)

Thoughts welcome in the comment section at the end of this post! 

Our
pillows I hand stitched with my limited sewing abilities. (Thanks for
teaching me how to make scrunchies Mom! Thanks Dad for buying me that
sewing machine for my sweet sixteen birthday even if that DID mean I
could make myself mini skirts that you disapproved of!)

 

I love how mirrors can be used as trays. But I DO also love a mirror hanging in its rightful spot, front and center on a wall.

The giant vintage mirror that hangs above our dresser was an absolute “start the car” kind of deal. 

I went to my local Re Store (Habitat for Humanity) and fell in love with it. The only problem was it was being sold as a pair with a heck-of-an-ugly dresser. 

TIP:
I have learned, over the years, that if you share your friendly
attitude with the lovely volunteers that help out at your local thrift
stores, not only do you build a nice relationship, but they become more
than willing to share the friendliness back. At times, at very good
times, it is returned to you in one big-heap-of-a-deal and you run away
with a giant mirror stuffed into your vehicle and your children with
cranked necks beneath it. 😉