Inspiration & Plans for a Master Bedroom Refresh

I mentioned it in my last post, but this month I am jumping back on my home projects schedule and starting with the master bedroom. Last year I tried out a new approach to updating and refreshing different areas in our home. I loved the outcome in Ben’s room, Max’s room and the living room.

Here’s how it works: I limited myself to one room per month that I could make changes in. At the end of the month, I had to move on. This really allowed me to focus on realistic possibilities instead of thinking full scale makeover plans which never seem to materialize. The timeframe and accountability of posting the outcome on the blog motivates me to have something to show.

There are several key things I enjoyed about the challenge and restrictions from the new approach last year. The biggest plus is that it helped with my attention-deficit of wanting to do all the things at once. So tackling one room at a time was the most helpful aspect.

The other benefit to the new approach was that I had to get realistic on what I could do with the budget and time I had. That meant prioritizing so that I could get the biggest bang for my buck. Here are the rooms I would like to tackle in 2017:

• Master bedroom
• Laundry area
• Garage
• Master closet
• Living room part II
• Entryway

A warning: do not expect Fixer Upper level transformations here. You will be seeing real-life, bite-size budget, manageable changes that will get me closer to the ultimate vision. Progress over perfection is the goal.

Now, on to my March project – our master bedroom.

March Home Update Focus: Master Bedroom

Our master bedroom has been high on my list of spaces I’ve wanted to update for a long time. I can tell that this is going to take me a couple years to make all the changes I envision, but certainly we will have made some noticeable progress by the end of the month.

The best place to start when making changes to any room is identifying your inspiration for the space. Pinterest is a great place to do this. Every time I come across a bedroom that I love, I pin it. When I start looking at all the rooms I’ve pinned, I can see some common threads. It’s those elements that I try to incorporate in my plans.

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Master Bedroom Inspirational Elements:

Although some of these spaces could be labeled minimalist, others mid-century, eclectic or traditional, they all have some things in common that appeal to me:

• light/bright spaces
• layered, but not overly crowded with accessories
• grays, whites, blues
• sculptural lamps, mirrrors, overhead lights
• solid colored bedding
• low profile or minimalist bed
• area rug for pop of color/texture/pattern
• simple or no window treatments

Now, in a perfect world I would whip out the ol’ credit card and make it all happen. Since we are dealing in reality, I will do the best I can with the budget I have this month.

To help you visualize the space before I started working on it, here are a few before pictures with my notes. I can tell you that these will definitely not all happen in March, but I will tend to as many as I am able to:

As you can see, they are not the WORST before pictures ever but the room is a long way from hitting all the inspirational elements on my list.

Like & Dislikes

After inspiration, the next thing to do it identify what is and is not working for you. First, let’s start with what I do like. My absolute favorite part of this room is the gorgeous natural light it gets. I love opening the blinds first thing in the morning and letting it wash in. I also like the size of the room. The color is staying too. I painted it Sherwin Williams Sea Salt several years ago, and I still like it. At some point, I would like to go bright white (like the second inspiration picture). But for now, I will enjoy this color for one more year.

Now for the stuff that irks me. My biggest beef comes from all the matching furniture. Breaking up the set will be my #1 priority. You can see in the picture above that I got a head start last summer when I painted the dresser. When we got married, I was working part-time at Pottery Barn. Since I had the sweet discount, I pretty much bought everything there. Hence all the matching wood tones which I don’t like. I feel like matching bedroom sets lock you in so much. And they can quickly look dated.

What will have to wait:

After watching all makeover shows on HGTV, sometimes it is hard to come down to the reality of what a full-scale makeover takes. A LOT of time and A LOT of money. I have to remind myself that the goal is noticeable progress with these monthly room updates.

The biggest ticket items: new bed, area rug, and window treatments will probably have to wait until my next go around at this room. I definitely want a new bed and have been saving tons of different options on my Master Bedroom Pinterest board. Right now, my #1 contender is THIS one. Problem is, we keep going back and forth on whether to stay with a queen or go to a king-size bed. If we do switch, it will mean a new mattress and bedding. Since I am not ready to take on all of those changes right now, we are going to keep this one for a little while longer.

Master Bedroom Refresh Priorities for March

With all that in mind, here is the list of priorities I would like to address:

• break up the matching bedroom furniture
• lighten/brighten the space
• bring in textural elements
• style the surfaces for a more welcoming space
• figure out the reading corner

The moodboard below captures the direction we are heading.

What do you think? I will get as much as possible wrapped up in the next few weeks and I will post pictures to show you how far I got!

Posted by Ale & filed under Home Decor. This post has 5 comments.