Tag Archives: bedroom

Our Small Bedroom Makeover

Small Bedroom Man, this bedroom makeover has been a long time coming. As you may or may not remember, we completely ripped out all of the drywall in our home and took it back to the studs a little less than 2 years ago. Since then, we’ve painted bare drywall (which is a huge pain in the a**), hung new doors, put up lighting and a fan, built new closets, built the bed, built bedside shelving, hung blinds and curtains and created art. Not to mention all the cleaning and organizing! I’m tired just thinking about it.

But today, well today is a monumental day because today, I can say we’re finally finished with out bedroom! It’s only the second room in the house that’s completely finished, so this feels like a win. Continue reading →

Design Dilemmas: Putting a bed in front of a window

I’ve been pretty confident in my design decisions up until now. I know what I like, and I’ll search the ends of the earth to find it. (Once a librarian, always a librarian.) But the predicament in our master bedroom has me stumped. There’s no other way to arrange it, the bed in our “master” bedroom has to go in front of a window. The room is fairly small and I think the best arrangement will be putting it under the window on the left side of the picture below.

A Small Home: Before Pictures: Back Bedroom

The “master” bedroom, before we tore it to shreds

Ok, so that’s settled, right? Well, yes and no. Truth is, we’re running low on funds (a huge post on budgeting is coming soon), so I’m not keen on spending even a couple hundo for a bed. I also want a bed that is low to the ground, as to not block all the natural light from the window, so we’re going to build something ourselves. I’d like a bit of storage underneath the bed for socks and undies– a simple box with drawers will do. (Similar to what we built in the Airstream.) Buuuuuut, here comes the hard part, what should we do for a headboard?

Here’s the options I’m thinking: Continue reading →

Airstream Update: Bed Buildout Tips

Humble brag time! In the past week, we’ve accomplished so much on the Airstream that I have to break up this update into two posts!

Above you can see a before shot of the bed area. Below you can see the bed build progress shots.

In this photo, you can see that George first built the initial frame. It fits a queen size bed! He built the bed by taking measurements of our current mattress and our new “bedroom.” Then, he built a box to house the mattress. He made it easier on himself by building a rectangular frame for the bed, then cutting rounded side pieces to fill in the curved areas.

For extra sturdiness the bed is attached to the wall. This will be helpful in case we want to haul our home on our next adventure!

George also built a really great front cover for the bed. This will allow us to hide junk under the bed. (Speaking of junk, please excuse all the mess! It’s hard working in a small space!)

I asked George if he could give any tips for building a bed in an Airstream and he jokingly said, “Just buy one!” It was a difficult and frustrating process. But in all seriousness, his tips were:

1. Measure carefully
2. Be prepared to cut the curved boards more than once
3. Realize that it will never be perfect. Working with curved walls is difficult.

I am so proud of the hard work he put into building this bed. I’m also proud of myself for the paint job!

I can’t wait to eventually sleep in here!

Have you ever built furniture? I’d love to hear your tips in the comments!

love,
melanie

Before and After: Cedar Chest

before

Most of the things that live in our house are either thrifted, handmade or gifts. Rarely do George and I buy any home goods full price. We both grew up on the low end of a middle class households. When I was little, my mom made all of my clothes and George grew up in the country (’nuff said), so the DIY attitude has been engrained in us.
before2 We thrifted the chest above to use for George’s t-shirts. He has amassed quite the collection since he began working for a clothing company– one of the perks! We knew that Lane Cedar Chests are good quality, but the finish was in bad shape. We thought it might be fun to paint the chest instead of staining the wood. I really liked the bones of this piece, just not the surface. So, instead we sanded it down, primed it and painted it. (We didn’t paint the inside, of course. Cedar smells too good!)

We decided to highlight the different panels of the chest by using a different color. I love the color combination of grey and yellow. Although, I did make poor George go to the paint store multiple times to get the right shade of grey. Grey is such a hard color to get right!

Here’s the after shot! TA-DA! It’s amazing what a little paint can do.

Do you have any Before and After Projects to share? Show ’em to me in the comments!

love,
melanie

Home Tour: Bedroom

It feels like it has been raining for the last month. I have the hardest time getting out of bed when it is raining. Rain pitter pattering on my tin roof is one of the best sounds in the world. Since I’ve spent so much time there lately (and I’ve cleaned a ton!), I thought I’d share my boudoir with you! I don’t think it will ever get any cleaner, so I had to document the occasion.

George made the moon backdrop for our wedding. He free-handed it. That man is amazing.
My dad made this nightstand in woodshop when he was 16. He gave it to my grandma, and after she passed, he gave it to me. It is one of my most precious things.
I love our little bedroom and our home, but I do hope spring will show up soon! I need to get out of this house!