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29th Avenue: A Dark Master Bedroom Gets a Colorful Makeover – Part I

by on May 12, 2015

We bought the 29th Avenue house at the end of 2013 and have been slowly giving this 1920s bungalow a facelift, room by room: first the bathroom, then the office, and now the master bedroom! The previous owners had painted every room in, apparently, the darkest colors they could find. Considering our home has tiny rooms, even smaller windows, and we live in Cloud City, USA aka Portland, the dark and dismal vibes just weren’t going to cut it. So, “Operation Cheer Up” was born.    

The master bedroom is the next room on the list to get a cheery makeover and I’m super, super happy with how it turned out. Before the reveal tomorrow, let’s see where this room began, shall we?

A poorly lit, messy bedroom.

Um… so, yeah. This is the before. Pretty awesome, right? And by awesome I mean awful. Bile-colored walls, broken IKEA blinds, the world’s ugliest fan, and THAT BED.

Let’s talk about that bed for a second. It looks fine in these photos, sure, but it’s actually totally busted. The slats had broken years before and our mattress was just sitting on the ground. The frame itself was essentially a glorified box — just there for decorative purposes, with no actual function.

A messy olive green bedroom with a fan light turned on.

Oh, and speaking of mattresses, before our makeover, we’d been sleeping on a 10-year-old “memory foam” mattress we got from an online discount store when we first got married. I don’t know that it was really memory foam (I highly doubt it), but it was the most uncomfortable mattress on the planet. Period. It was definitely time for an upgrade after a decade of terrible sleep! Needless to say, we were SUPER STOKED to team up with YogaBed to test run their new luxury foam mattress. Words cannot even express the difference! Gah! Seriously. But more on that tomorrow.

The light is on in a ceiling fan above a slopilly made bed.
We bought the 29th Avenue house at the end of 2013 and have been slowly giving this 1920s bungalow a facelift, room by room: first the bathroom, then the office, and now the master bedroom! The previous owners had painted every room in, apparently, the darkest colors they could find. Considering our home has tiny rooms, even smaller windows, and we live in Cloud City, USA aka Portland, the dark and dismal vibes just weren't going to cut it. So, "Operation Cheer Up" was born The master bedroom is the next room on the list to get a cheery makeover and I'm super, super happy with how it turned out. Before the reveal tomorrow, let's see where this room began, shall we Um... so, yeah. This is the before. Pretty awesome, right? And by awesome I mean awful. Bile-colored walls, broken IKEA blinds, the world's ugliest fan, and THAT BE Let's talk about that bed for a second. It looks fine in these photos, sure, but it's actually totally busted. The slats had broken years before and our mattress was just sitting on the ground. The frame itself was essentially a glorified box -- just there for decorative purposes, with no actual function Oh, and speaking of mattresses, before our makeover, we'd been sleeping on a 10-year-old "memory foam" mattress we got from an online discount store when we first got married. I don't know that it was really memory foam (I highly doubt it), but it was the most uncomfortable mattress on the planet. Period. It was definitely time for an upgrade after a decade of terrible sleep! Needless to say, we were SUPER STOKED to team up with YogaBed to test run their new luxury foam mattress. Words cannot even express the difference! Gah! Seriously. But more on that tomorrow Other than a new bed situation and paint color, this room desperately needed some cozy accessories (a rug would be a good place to start), some actual lamps, blinds that weren't all janky, and a fan that didn't look like a piece of whirling poop on our ceiling. Y'know, the small things. Enter LampsPlus, Blinds.com, Target, and Loloi Rug Just for fun, and because I thrive on visual references, I pulled a few images that help depict the overall vibes we're going for with this makeover. Vibes like this Curious how this is all going to come together? Check out the 29th Avenue bedroom makeover Pinterest board! But first, here's a little mood board to whet your appetite We started from the bottom, now we're here: the 29th Avenue master bedroom makeover REVEAL! As a refresher, this is what we began with. Blech. Just... no. Obviously this dark and dreary and totally lame bedroom wasn't going to cut it. Fast forward a few weeks and THIS is where we are now

Other than a new bed situation and paint color, this room desperately needed some cozy accessories (a rug would be a good place to start), some actual lamps, blinds that weren’t all janky, and a fan that didn’t look like a piece of whirling poop on our ceiling. Y’know, the small things. Enter LampsPlus, Blinds.com, Target, and Loloi Rugs.

Just for fun, and because I thrive on visual references, I pulled a few images that help depict the overall vibes we’re going for with this makeover. Vibes like this:

A colorful room has blue walls and orange chairs.
Armelle Habib

OoOooh!

And this:

"Master bedroom with table,carpet and plant."
Armelle Habib

Ahhh!

And this:

A bedroom with a pink coverlet covered by a grey fur blanket and pink, yellow and orange pillows on the bed.
via Home Design Board

SWEET.

Curious how this is all going to come together? Check out the 29th Avenue bedroom makeover Pinterest board! But first, here’s a little mood board to whet your appetite:

Different pieces of furniture with a white background.

Oh heck yes. Color! Plants! Cozy things! Ponder on that for a minute then check back tomorrow for the big reveal.

Disclosure: YogaBed, LampsPlus, Blinds.com, Loloi Rugs, and Target provided products for this makeover. All views and opinions are mine alone.

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