8 March 2012

Bedroom Makeover

Today I'm sharing more of our apartment makeover with you guys. 
(go check out the hallway, living room and kitchen makeovers too!)

Even though I had actually finished working on this room quite a while ago, I've been busy mourning the loss of ALL my before and progress photos which disappeared (along with the nursery makeover pics, pregnancy pics etc. *tear!) when I had a nasty virus takeover the laptop a couple of weeks ago.
I am so frustrated that I'm not able to show you what this room looked like before and all my little DIY's along the way, but lets just use our imaginations shall we?

The bedroom was probably my least favourite room in the apartment to begin with. The walls were a yellow/cream colour with a random brown half curtain and a horrendous-looking, old air conditioning system placed into a hole in the wall. 
The room was also totally empty with the exception of our 1 black dresser. (We had no bed since we were sleeping on our couch in the old Studio apartment).

Here is the room after some paint, furniture and TLC:


I went with a black and red colour scheme as a reminder of our wedding day. I also threw in quite a bit of grey which I think ties it together nicely. 
When it came to picking out paint colours, who knew there were so many greys?
I finally decided on a light (almost silver) grey and then a darker shade for the back wall to add a bit of interest and depth.

We replaced the broken and VERY dirty 1980's air conditioner with a brand new one, and although I think it's still a total eyesore, it was a lot easier then insulating the gaping hole and having to cover it up somehow.


You cannot even imagine how happy I was to finally get a proper bed (spending 1 year sleeping on a hard, fold out couch makes you appreciate a mattress). The most important feature I was looking for was a bed frame with drawers since we hardly have any closet space. After it being sold out for ages, I finally ordered this simple black frame from Target. 
The bedding is also from target and its a total miracle that the hubby and I finally agreed on a set. 

I kept all the big purchases to a black or grey colour and only accessorised in red so that if I feel like changing up the colour scheme later on down the line, it would only take some smaller items to do so.



Instead of a headboard, we added a floating white shelf from Ikea which stands out well against the darker grey wall. 

I quickly DIY'd some artwork using the leftover foam board from this project. I simply covered the board using old book pages and then drew on a couple of love birds. It was such a quick, easy project which I completed in less than 30mins and cost me nothing! 

The "K" and the "M" are leftover from my very first gallery wall I put up in our old apartment. I picked those up in the dollar section of Michaels ages ago. 
I also added some red candle holders (which are still waiting for candles) and a photo frame which holds our handwritten vows.


I saved some money by only purchasing one side table and then using our old dresser on the other side. I balanced it out by using the taller lamp on the shorter table and I actually like that its not completely symmetrical.

Do you see my dried wedding bouquet on the right side? It spent most of it's life hanging up in my old closet and now I have no idea what to do with it. I would break my heart to throw it away, but it's just collecting dust and breaking up more and more every time we more it around. 
Do any of you have ideas on how to display it?


The other side of the room is looking a little bare and boring at the moment. 
I DIY'd the dresser (which I shared with you here) and added those square mirrors (super cheap from Ikea) above it.

The black shelf on the wall is more practical then anything else. I needed somewhere to hang my handbag so I re used an old shelf which used to hang in the last apartment's doorway and hold keys. 

Sitting on top of that shelf are these guys:


Another reminder of our wedding is this cake topper which my very artistic sister made for our big day. The Springbok represents South Africa (me) and the Llama represents Peru (Mike).

I hope you have enjoyed following our apartment makeover so far. I only have 1 final room to share with you and that is the nursery! I'm still waiting for the bedding I ordered to arrive and I'm just adding a few finishing touches before the big reveal. 

10 comments:

  1. So in love with the birds! Our house has a bird theme (not sure if you read that post). Your DIY art is my favorite piece.

    http://mandycrandell.blogspot.com/

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  2. Oh that looks GORGEOUS!!!!
    Much love, Bailey from Vanilla Blonde

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  3. Stunning my friend <3 LOVE it

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  4. Hey! I stumbled access your blog via Pinterest and am just loving the home makeover pictures! Very, very good job with the color scheme in the bedroom! As far as the bouquet, I dried mine, then stuck it in a shadow box frame. It keeps it from getting dusty, and is a cute way to display it. Just a thought!

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  5. Hey Kate,

    Tra-lou put me on to your blog a while back and I love reading it :) An idea for your bouquet which could be really cool, but also quite possibly impossible, is to have it set in clear resin which can then be used as a lamp stand or book end. There are people who set all kinds of things, even taranulas, in the stuff so I'm sure there is someone able to do dried flowers... that way you can also avoid the fumes and flops!

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  6. Hi, there. I stumbled upon your blog about a week ago & am loving the pregnancy photos and updates. Of course the apartment makeover updates are great too. You've given me quite a few ideas! I just wanted to comment on your bouquet question...I've seen a lot of bouquets in shadow boxes, but I thought this one was quite creative as well: http://www.mbyalcantara.com/2011/04/06/wedding-bouquet-display/. Now, in case you're leery about opening up the link, it's a bouquet in a glass lantern. The one shown is actually from Ikea. It's "the Lanstalle lantern for candles." Anyway, just an idea! Looking forward to seeing what you decide to do! And really looking forward to more prego pics...and baby pics! :)
    Blessings,
    Shannon

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  7. I love your cake topper - it's so perfect for you guys :) And the bedroom looks incredible - from the description you gave of how it was, it seems that this was a HUGE transformation.

    The love bird DIY is one of the best I've seen - you should open an etsy shop :)

    xxx
    Jenna

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  8. Your bedroom looks awesome! And I am in love with your cake topper!

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  9. Love how you decorated :) Unfortunately for me, my mom and sister forgot to take the bouquets out of the cooler (while we were in Mexico) they were in after the wedding and they molded in the heat :( BUT! I was able to pick off and save some of the pedals that lasted so I put the pedals in a vase and tied my ribbon around the vase and it's displayed in our living room :) simple but a perfect reminder of our wedding day :)

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  10. The room looks great! I love that you took inspiration from your wedding photos. Very classy!

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