Updates in the Bedroom + What’s Next

Updates in the Bedroom + What’s Next

A couple weeks ago we shared the DIY for the really awesome platform bed that Andy built, so we wanted to follow up to that with what else we’re planning for this room and what else we’ve changed in there recently.

Oh, hi Ruby!

It’s been a long time since we shared photos of this room (August of 2016 to be exact!). We’ve been slowly making a few changes over the last few months. It’s not the most impressive before and after, I know, but hopefully you can see a few differences…. It’s like one of those photo comparisons that come in Joey’s toddler activity books where you have to find what’s the same and what’s different! The curtain rods! The rug!

First we replaced the old curtain rod with a pretty black one. When we moved in, the very first thing we did was rip out all the curtains in this room (for the very dramatic transformation, see what it looked like back then!), and then found ourselves desperate for something to cover the windows, so we could, you know, sleep in here and stuff (am I the only one who can’t sleep if there aren’t curtains? It’s too weird. It’s like sleeping without a blanket, another thing I could never do.) So in a pinch we bought the cheapest rods at Target, which get the job done… but aren’t so attractive.

Curtain rods can be crazy expensive, but I found these really affordable, pretty black curtain rods on Amazon — and did I mention they’re affordable? Less than $12 each! The color we got is called “espresso” but it’s a nice matte black with no brassy or brown undertone. Instead of using the rod pocket on our curtains, we switched to some black curtain rings. It looks SO MUCH BETTER. It looks so much more intentional and stylish, and I like how the black matches the hardware on our sliding bathroom door. They say curtain rods are like the eyebrows of a room, and now we have some good brows.

P.S. See the Olympic torch hanging out on my dresser? NBD. You can read a little more about that on my Instagram if you’re curious!

When we installed the new bed, we also put in a rug. Can you believe this is the first time we’ve ever had a rug in our bedroom, in either of our houses. It’s such a luxury, you guys! We added this taupe flatweave rug in a small diamond pattern, and it’s so nice. It’s cotton and thin, so it’s kind of like a blanket on the floor. Which I support for a bedroom, 100%. (If our bed weren’t there to hold the rug down, it would slide all over the place, though, just FYI if you’re considering it. A rug pad would be a total necessity.) It also makes the room feel so much more put together and welcoming. The taupe color and the cotton texture add a sense of warmth and comfort. I always thought we’d need a huge rug to fit under a king bed — and huge means expensive, of course — but once I started measuring I realized an 8×10 would fit this room best, and this rug was only $125! (It’s $135 now.)

The other change we’ve made is a MAJOR upgrade to our sheets. I haven’t had fancy bedding since my mom got me a Laura Ashley bedspread in ninth grade. (Cabbage roses, you guys, it was so pretty.) I normally am just too cheap to justify anything beyond Target sheets — we’ve always liked their organic cotton sheet sets. But then! THEN! I won a giveaway on another blog. I never win anything! But I won a gift certificate to Saphyr Pure Linen. Have you heard of them? It’s a company founded by a mother and her two daughters to offer the highest quality pure French linen bedding. I think linen can sometimes be kind of scratchy … but that’s cheap linen, you guys. These sheets are so soft, so luxurious, so … fancy! But yet they have a really casual, comfortable feel about them with unfinished edges and that bit of wrinkle you always get with linen. (Ok, fine, I’ll admit I totally ironed the edge to take this photo!) We use white top and bottom sheets and pillowcases in natural, for a bit of contrast and warmth against all that white. And so I don’t stain white pillowcases when I’m too lazy to wash my face before bed, which is pretty much every day.

And can I just mention our pillows real quick? I was having the hardest time sleeping last summer. I was using two pillows and finding myself fighting with them all night, tossing and turning, often waking up with my head not on the pillow at all. They were too lumpy, too hot, too high, too low… I didn’t want to spend a fortune on a new pillow and had no idea what kind of pillow I even wanted. Then one day on a complete whim I couldn’t take it anymore and ordered a gel memory foam pillow from Amazon. I had never even seen a memory foam pillow before. What can I say — I was pregnant… It’s the weirdest pillow. But it’s good. I like it. It’s almost hard, but your head just kind of sinks in to exactly where you want it to be. It feels crazy at first, but I’ve been sleeping a ton better since I bought it in July. It also stays cool, which is key. Andy tried mine and decided to get one too. We have queen-sized pillows, which is bigger than standard but smaller than king. With this size, there’s room for Mocha the cat to sleep between our pillows like she does every night!

(But hey, does anyone know of a comforter/duvet that actually fits a king bed?! I hate how they’re never quite wide enough to cover the sides of the mattress, UGH. Drives me nuts.)

So that’s everything that’s new… but what’s still to be done? Besides find a new comforter.

New headboard — we’re still finalizing our design and have to wait until spring before we can start building anything anyway (it’s too cold in the garage and our cars are in there). I’ve had about a million ideas (imagine that!) and have debated between an upholstered headboard vs. wood and then white vs. stained wood. I *think* I’m leaning towards wood, just because it seems like with the white curtain, the white bedding, the rug, it’s just a lot of fabric, and I think I want to do at least some dark wood, to match the base of the bed. I’m not sure right now if we’ll do a combo of white and wood or only wood. Do you have any opinions?

New nightstands — we have a mishmashed collection of nightstands that we’ve been using since forever. The one on the right I’ve had since I was six. Yes, six. The other one I bought at Target about 15 years ago and doesn’t fit together right so the door almost never stays closed. It’s SO SO SO time to replace them. Finding something the right height will be tricky because our bed is fairly low and I’d like the top of the nightstand to line up pretty closely with the top of the mattress, so we may have to DIY something if we can’t find the right thing. We’ll see.

New lights — I actually really like the lights we have. They’re “dipped” concrete lamps from Target a few years ago. I like how they sort of mimic the look of our half-painted wall. But I’d love to have swing-arm sconces on either side of the bed — something similar to this — that we could swing close to read and then swing back out of the way. Plus dimmability is absolutely necessary. (Is that even a word?!)

So that’s the update on our bedroom now. It’s a slow process, which means there aren’t any super dramatic before and afters, but I love the direction this room is going. We’ve done a good job of sticking to our initial moodboard for a “modern, minimal, beachy” look. I think we’ve done a pretty good job of touching on all those. What do you think?

P.S. Paint color is Valspar “Warm Breezes” from Ace on bottom wall, and Sherwin Williams “Snowbound” on the top wall, trim and bed. Curtains are Ikea Ritva, only $24 for a pair. We have them in almost every room of our house.