I think, no matter who you are or what you do for a living, that sometimes you lose a bit of fire for what you're doing. No matter how much you love your work, there are moments that flip the switch from, "Can't wait to get up and go to work" to "Dear Lord, please help me get through this day."
You know what I mean, don't you? Tell me I'm not the only one!
For me, when this happens I know it's time to really just get my hands dirty and do something nice for someone with very little expectation of "getting something out of it". Funny how when you do that you end up getting more pleasure than you could possibly ever anticipate and often releasing those creative juices that are the key to reviving your excitement and joy for your job.
So, at kind of a low moment a few months ago, my friend came to me and said she needed some help with her bedroom. Knowing her budget was tight, it simply wasn't an option to consider custom window treatments and bedding and high end accessories and artwork. This was gonna be a long, hard, get down and dirty search for bargains and steals and, for me, just what the doctor ordered. With a birthday coming up, we as a group of friends got together and pooled some money to boost her budget a bit and then I was given carte blanche creatively to just do what I do. So, I did. Want to take a peak? Well, here ya go!
Currently renting a small apartment, we certainly had some limitations that made the job that much more challenging. Like the fact that the carpet was pinky beige and the walls are a grayish white with no option to paint. The window treatments were a dated metal mini-blind and while she could have removed them and then replaced them before moving out, the budget didn't allow for custom blinds...or frankly even inexpensive bulk blinds from a big box store.
You can see how large her furniture is and so the challenge was to try to pull together the orangey oak color of it with the gray walls and give her a girly, colorful room that would put a smile on her face every morning.
After a slow and steady approach to looking for the right items and a few lucky finds, the room finally came together a couple of months ago. So, here's what I did:
You can see a little peak of my inspiration piece in the bottom left corner. This armless chair was my jumping off point and made my decision to search for a desk and a side chest even though some people might have thought the idea of adding even more furniture into the space was ludicrous. I moved the highboy chest to the center of the window because I really wanted to flank the bed with a bit more symmetry and balance and the highboy was throwing that way off.
This artwork was a bargain and also the bane of my existence. It was the very last item I found and until that moment I still felt like I hadn't found the perfect piece to pull my color scheme together. After taking the mirror down that was a bit too matchy, matchy and replacing it with art, the room felt lighter and livelier.
Giving up my precious "Keep Calm and Carry on" print was hard for me to do, but it also felt like passing the torch. With her job, believe me she needs this mantra daily.
Stock tie-top sheers and grommet faux silk drapes flank the back of the highboy chest and cover the unattractive mini-blinds while still allowing for their function of light control when needed.
I replaced her bedding with a fun mix of pattern and color. The chocolate brown duvet and shams have a classic tone-on-tone damask pattern and are covering her previous bedding for now until she can afford a down comforter to slide in. The fun floral was tough to find because it needed to have a different scale than the chair and I wanted to incorporate a bit of the turquoise. As you can see if you look really close a few of the buds have that color. A mixture of throw pillows and some pops of red and polka dot and the bed was done! Thankfully she is one of my only friends who I know without doubt will actually make her bed nearly every day and very well might have made herself a diagram to follow to make it look just like this.
This roller skate made me soooooooooo happy when I saw it and I knew it would make her happy, too. I think most people from our generation have fabulous memories of the skating rink and the beginning of all things break dancing, boys and freedom.
One more note about this area...I knew I wanted a pop of color on the wall here, but had the light switch to contend with. These kinds of architectural pieces are perfect for just such a dilemma because you get the pop and maintain the function.
Here you can see the way the pattens of the chair and bedding are different enough in scale that they work.
Not sure why I placed the pillow on an angle for the pics...looks kinda forced and staged. I'd straighten it out.
Happy Birthday, my friend! You deserve it!
Do you need a total room makeover? You can reach me at Interior Image at 563-355-7663 where we can create the space of which you've been dreaming.
Have a wonderful day!
xoxo
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