Bedroom makeovers!

Since before Jude was born, I have been planning for the "Big Bedroom Switcheroo!" We only have two bedrooms in our house, so knew that Sophia and the baby would have to go in together at some point.

Well, John and I sleeping in the living room moved that timeline right up . . . the kids have been in the same room since last Tuesday, and we are back in a bedroom! Thank goodness for my mom and sister coming over to help . . . we were able to get the rooms done in an afternoon!

Now for those of you who may never have gotten to see the kid's room "before," here you go:

Yes, it is completely necessary to show you all three pictures, so you can appreciate exactly how dramatic an improvement has been made! (At our closing the homeowners actually commented about how embarrassed they were by this room . . .)

We painted the room blue before we ever moved in, and I left that color for this room switch. While John and I were in the room it never did really work very well, as it is a big room and our furniture just kind of floated in it. And not in a good way.

And now, the "after!"

Drumroll . . . .

Ta-da!!!

Thanks to a lot of painters tape, this mural wall was an easy day's project. My inspiration was this wall from HGTV's Design Star. The green paint was a mix I made from my dining room paint, 2 darker green sample pots I had on hand, a pot of florescent green paint, and a hefty squirt of yellow. Fortunately, it came out just the color I wanted, so I didn't have to buy any!

The metal butterfly was $2 in the gardening section at Goodwill, and just needed a good couple coats of white spraypaint (had on hand!).

The bed is one that I used to sleep in as a girl at the vacation house we went to every summer. When my dad and his two brothers sold the house, we kids each got to pick one thing to have, and I chose this metal bedframe. I thought about painting it white, but decided I liked the contrast, and it has such sentimental value just as it is.

The quilt was a lucky find from JCPenney, on clearance for $30! Add in a bedskirt I made for free as I already had the fabric, and voila, Sophia has a whole new "big girl" bed.

I was trying to think of what I wanted for wall art, and decided on animal silhouettes when I found these canvases at Big Lots for $3 apiece. Then all I had to do was paint them all gray, print off the silhouettes, trace them onto the canvases, and fill in with paint. And of course I already had all the paint, so I got 4 art pieces for $12! I am planning to hang them a little lower, but if I waited for the room to be perfect I might never post. (And they are a little crooked for the picture, but what do you expect over a 2 year old's bed?!)

The folks who owned our house before us left a bunch of things, some helpful, some not so much. This little stool was one thing that fell into the "helpful but ugly" category, as it was only half painted, and the painted part was an BRIGHT red. Fortunately, I had some paint left over from the mural wall, and two coats later I had a new stool!

I was at Walmart one day while I was trying to figure out what to use as a rug between the beds when I came across these flokati rugs for $20. They are machine washable and so cozy, but were a bit small, so I sewed two of them together. Perfect size!

The other rug in their room is an 8x10 woven Pottery Barn rug that needed a good washing after being puked on multiple times by Sophia. Getting a rug cleaned can be pricy, but I took it to the dry cleaners, threw on a bunch of Oxyclean and ran it thru their biggest washer. That got 95% of the stains out, and the only one left is under furniture.

Sophia's bedspread - $30

Painter's tape - $10

Rugs (1 bought and 1 cleaned) - $50

Wall art - $14

Curtain rod - $16

Total cost of kid's room makeover: $120

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Now on to our room . . .

Our room was previously Sophia's, and before we moved in it was the castle room. Remember what the castle room looked like?

Yup, instead of "the mustard bottle threw up on the wall" you've got really hard to get off fake castle wallpaper complete with super glued turrets. The room did have a marvelous transformation into a nursery for Sophia . . .

. . . but has now been reborn as a serene retreat for John and me.

Ahhhhhh!

After sleeping in the living room for weeks and folding up the couch every day, I have decided that I can put forth the effort make the bed. Especially when I'll be rewarded with a room that looks this good!

Our across-the-street-and-down-the-road-a-little-bit neighbors were getting rid of four chairs that I snatched up a couple months ago. They've just been sitting in our basement, but now two of them are being repurposed as our bedside tables . . . conveniently already painted white, not bad for free!

I took this picture while on vacation a couple years ago, and used a groupon.com deal to get it made into a photo canvas for our room.

Hands down my favorite thing in the room! I found this beautiful sunburst mirror at Home Goods for $25 and snatched it up . . . love, love, love it!

(Can you see the little cutie running around my bedroom reflected in it?!)

These seashell art pieces will be featured in an upcoming blog post after Christmas. I am planning to change up the background behind them to something a little more sophisticated . . .

Curtain rod and sheers: $36

Photo canvas: $39

Sunburst mirror: $25

Total cost of "Serene Retreat" makeover: $100

And now here's where I make the shameless plug . . . these low cost makeovers were done with NO furniture purchases! My mom and I are all about using what we already have to maximize a home's look . . . if you are interested in finding out what we could do for you check out our website at www.getinspiredinteriors.com.

End of plug, and end of post. Don't forget to become a follower so you can be entered in the January 1st drawing, prize TBA!