My Master Bedroom Refresh / Part 2

Nothing ever turns out exactly how we plan, but that’s what makes life fun, right? I’m liking most of the changes made to my master bedroom, but a few things didn’t work out.

Most importantly, though, is I LOVE the Persian quilt set. The pattern is subtle and reminds me of a richly colored Persian rug. And speaking of color, the reds and oranges seem to read together as coral—many soothing shades of coral, if that’s possible.

If you’ve slept since Part 1, before you proceed with Part 2, consider a review to see how we got here.

Pillows get the slip

Remember these pillowslips my mother and my grandmother embellished?

I don’t love how they look with the rest of the room.

I don’t even like them just a little bit. They seem, well, out of place. The room is taking on a decidedly Moroccan flair, and they look odd to me. Hubs agrees, so back into mothballs they go.

Speaking of Chris, first thing he says after I make up the new bedding, neatly folded down at the top so the patterned sheets and contrasting coverlet peek out, is, “You’re not expecting me to make it that way every day, are you?”

Well, yes, you can learn, I think but don’t say aloud.

I made the bed for years before Chris started working from home. Now that his office is in the room down the hall, he makes the bed every day because, he says, “You did it all those years. Now it’s my turn.” Sweet, huh? That’s why I held my tongue.

I then spent the whole of Sunday looking at the one day of bed-making I slaved over, pulling and shifting, ironing and stuffing. And guess what I decided? I really don’t like that turned-down look on MY bed, even though I practically drool over magazine photos of beds styled that way.

Agreed?

Then in my Internet search for just one more accent pillow, I stumble across this:

“Bed styling for a catalogue/advertising shoot is something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. It takes a certain brain with a lot of patience and at times eagle-eye super-powers. In fact, there are a few really famous bed stylists that get flown around the world just for their bed styling skills…You need special home-made ironing boards (to fit in tiny little areas for touchups), different kinds of tapes and lots of sprays that would probably give my unborn baby a really cool fifth limb. You have to make sure that each wrinkle looks ’natural’ and ’organic’ but not harsh and distracting. For everyday living you want your bed to look nice but not have a million pillows to manage, nor do you want to iron the sheets daily.”

Emily Henderson, interior stylist and HGTV host

 

I don’t know about you, but I don’t plan to iron sheets PERIOD. A bed stylist I could never be. As for the over-styled bed? I’ll pass.

So on the second day of the new bedding, Chris makes the bed in the usual way, and I switch out the vintage pillowslips for the shams the quilt came with. I like it much better, though I’m still not sure about the pillowing…

  • Should I switch out those shams for three euro pillows? Or use all five?
  • Do I need one more, smaller, throw pillow in front of the two coral velvet ones?
  • How many pillows can I stuff on there before Chris revolts?

I worry I’m treading shaky ground already, but I forge ahead and find these purple velvet euro shams (solid ones in back with braid trim) “on sale” at Wayfair.

Wayfair

“On sale” is in quotes because when I added three of them to my online shopping cart it said they were $16 each and eligible for free two-day delivery. What a terrific deal!! But when I proceeded to checkout, the price changed to $23 each and only one eligible for free two-day delivery. WTF?! Still a good price, but the bait-and-switch ticked me off, so I removed them from my cart.

Today I went back to check them again, and now they’re $33 each!! If that isn’t a sign from the cosmos that I need to rethink my purchase, I don’t know what is.

Under cover

Turns out I could have saved the money spent on the jacquard Pickdot Coverlet meant to be visible in the “a la magazine” turn-down. But since I bought it on clearance and returning isn’t an option, I left it in place, worrying that Chris would find it too heavy (I’m always cold, he’s always hot). But we both slept comfortably temperature-wise. And Chris liked that it was more generously cut than our previous blanket.

One Kings Lane

Plus it gives me options. If I want, at some point, I can use it as a spread and fold up a patterned quilt across the foot. And because it’s a jacquard weave, each side has a slightly different look. It’s well made and quite lovely to the touch. And because of its natural color, it will work with any future bedding refreshes I cook up.

3 sheets to the wind

I keep two sets of sheets for each bed on hand so I’m not forced to wash the used set the same day I change the bed. I’d already bought one set I showed you in Part 1, the Violet Etched-Chevron Sheets, and was looking for a second set, as both of my existing sets needed replacement.

One Kings Lane

I HATE wrinkly sheets, but I hate ironing even more. These sheets, though percale, still come out of the dryer more wrinkled than I like. So after much thought and online browsing, I went back to Target and picked up two patterns of their Threshold Performance 400 printed sheets. I’d had good luck with these before.

Target

I absolutely fell for the lavender flower print (2), even though I wasn’t sure how it would mix with the bed quilt. I’m still not sure, but since I’ve given up on the exposed bedding look, it doesn’t matter. I washed them Monday, and they came out of the dryer BEAUTIFULLY wrinkle-free.

They’re not percale, but they have the feel of percale against the skin. Plus, they’re reasonably priced. Now I’m thinking I don’t want to return the other set (1). Or maybe I’ll exchange them for a second set of lavender-flowered ones. Hmmmm…

Layers of fun

Remember I said I hadn’t decided which or how many throws to work into my layering scheme? Well, after much fiddling, I settled on these two:

Karma Living via Zulily

The kantha quilt with the purple backing (2) I spread across the foot of the bed, and the velvet kantha with the colorful ball fringe (1) I angled on a corner.

I considered using the velvet throw as a window treatment, but it was too heavy for the rod. Then I thought about cutting it down to make a valance but decided I didn’t want to risk ruining it.

Shine a light on it

I’ve looked at a lot of lamps since last week. And once I dressed the bed on Sunday, I tossed out all the ones I showed you last time, including the purple Safavieh pair I favored. I had a feeling I’d change my mind once the room started to take shape. Here are some new ones I found (I left in the purple pair (6) for comparison):

| 1. Style Craft Retro Orange Glass Lamp | 2. Catalina Pebbled Mercury Glass Table Lamp | 3. Angelo Home Purple Mercer Table Lamp | 4.  Oriental Furniture Bamboo Blossom Table Lamp | 5. Style Craft Cinnabar Table Lamp | 6. Safavieh Mae Long-Neck Ceramic Dark Purple Lamps |

1 and 2 don’t fit the mood of the room when I hold pictures up next to each other. While 4 is drop-dead gorgeous and the right color SCHEME, it’s simply too busy. Though 3 looks great with the rest of the room, I didn’t want the same shape as my existing lamps. So the winner is…

Wayfair

…Number 5! The ceramic cinnabar lamp from Style Craft provides texture and movement without the distraction of a distinct pattern. I also like the elliptical shape because it takes up less room on the nightstand. And it’s tall—about 30 inches with the finial, compared to 20 inches for my existing lamps. Remember, I wanted the lamps to make a bolder statement.

I also snagged the pair for nearly half price on Zulily, one of my favorite overstock/closeout haunts.

 

A happy accident presented itself in the form of two pillow covers I found when searching through my linen closet for those embroidered pillowslips. I used these pillows in my living room long ago and thought I might again, so I saved them. The color matches the new bedding perfectly, so I put them in my inspiration pile, thinking maybe I’d need an additional accent pillow (which I do).

But then I decided they’d work on the nightstands better. They’re just big enough so that the zipper side invisibly drapes down the back.

And now I have an excuse to buy one more accent pillow!!

Curtain call

Chris prefers we stick with just a valance over the cellular shade rather than full-length draperies. Draperies do hang onto a lot of dust, which aggravates our allergies, so I’m good with this.

I prefer a cornice-style (ungathered) valance, but of course, I can’t find one I like. So I’m thinking of buying one panel of Target’s Threshold Fretwork Border Curtain Panel and making the valance out of the patterned sectioned.

Target

The color is listed as tan/coral. The design is raised in a sort of soutache trim. If I go with this, I’ll use the top of the panel with the hang tabs to line the patterned part so I won’t need to construct a rod pocket. It should be a simple redo, and it’s a great price. (Love that Target!)

The other idea I had was to repurpose a small rug with a Moroccan or Persian look to it, but I haven’t found any that would work. The window is 48 inches wide, which would mean a 4-by-6-foot rug—not always so easy to find. And it would need to be flexible enough either to drape over the rod, or to cut down and sew a backing onto for hanging. The rug is also likely to be more expensive than this panel.

Turns out Chris is amenable to changing out the bowed French-style curtain rod currently in place, and I’ve narrowed my choice to these three curtain rods:

| 1. Hayden rod set | 2. Kenney Marble Ball rod | 3. Threshold Wood rod |

The segmented round shapes of 1 and 3 blend well with the design on the curtain panel, and the art glass ball on 2 emulates the glaze on the ceramic lamp.

Which one?!! Help!!! Chris, of course, has no opinion.

Pillow party

Remember that “one more accent pillow” I said I needed? Well, I looked at so many Indian embroidered pillows my head was spinning, before I narrowed it down to these two:

| 1. Beige and Green Folklore Embroidered Pillow | 2. Floral Crewel Embroidered Bolster Pillow |

And because by then I was dizzy, I decided I’d worked hard enough and ordered both. How will I sneak them into the house past Chris? If only they’d arrive during his next business trip…

But even he will have to admit how great they look.

 

And so the puzzle starts to come together…

In fact, it’s all looking pretty great, don’t you think?

I can’t wait until the lamps come! And I can’t wait until the next bed-changing day to break out those sweet lavender-flowered sheets.

I’ll check back in on the blog once more with this project, after the window treatment goes up and the lamps are lit.

Stay tuned.

 

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