Rustic and industrial were meant to be together, kind of like Jon and Tiffany, the couple that owns the huge blank canvas master bedroom pictured above. Design bloggers and hosts of Knot It Off!, Monica and Jess, decided to blend the styles of both Jon (rustic farmhouse) and Tiffany (industrial loft) when
Hello and welcome to the saddest bedroom a teenage girl has ever called her own. It's dark and bare and completely void of any personality -- and certainly not reflective of its occupant's carefree, Bohemian-esque tastes and style. Which is why the 'after' is just so darn good.
What a neat, inexpensive makeover! Watch as the ladies from The Merry Thought makeover this $1 rummage sale buy. If you're not as lucky to find one Ikea have similar stools for $5, then using their tips and instructions get to work on customizing your own.
From designated dumping ground to serene, Scandinavian-inspired retreat, this master bedroom and bath combo recently underwent a seriously stylish makeover. See how a whole lot of elbow grease and some cleverly thrifty design choices transformed this space in this month's Makeover Tour below!
Name: Karin Newstrom and Jeff Hansen
About: Karin Newstrom is a Minneapolis-based photographer (www.karinnewstrom.com) who lives with her husband Jeff and three adopted, scruffy dogs. Karin and Jeff have fully embraced home ownership and the DIY mentality by completely ripping apart their first home and slowly putting it back together.
Project: Master bedroom/bathroom
Budget: Small!
Tell us a bit about this space and what inspired you to tackle a makeover! The day we closed on our house, we began ripping up carpets and general demolition. Since we had the privilege of having more than one bathroom with this house, we demo-ed the master bath quite early in the process and it sat unfinished for a long time. It definitely needed to be redone! There were cracked tiles covered in spilled nail polish, rotten floorboards, leaky plumbing, and the space was TINY. The bedroom was a much easier fix that was purely cosmetic - removing the nasty carpet, refinishing the original wood floor (which we hired out), painting, trim, and moving the light fixture (which, for some reason, was right in front of the closet).
Since we considered these "extra" spaces while the rest of the house was under major construction, we used the bedroom for storage while working on our kitchen/main level. The bedroom was filled with tools, boxes in need of unpacking, building materials, and lots of drywall dust that looked very "Hoarders-esque" until the beginning of 2014, when I made it my resolution to get this room in shape!
Did you start with a clear vision for this room or did the design evolve over time? What elements did you simply have to have? For the bathroom, almost every choice was made to help the room feel larger. I knew I wanted large format floor tile (less grout to clean!), a floating vanity to make the room feel larger, and lots of white. Even the toilet was picked for having the smallest footprint of the choices available locally. The vanity, from Ikea, had a couple extra benefits - because of the drain design, we avoided having to shift any of the wall plumbing and also got extra storage with the almost full-depth drawers on top compared to a traditional vanity.
The bedroom evolved as time went along around the central theme of "thrifty." The dresser is a Craigslist find, the bed and nightstands are from Ikea, I DIY-ed the walnut table top for the table base from Target on clearnace, and reupholstered the chair (which I got for $5 at a thrift store). I was searching for lamps for next to the bed and found these at a local store that sells discarded design prototypes from major retailers - they didn't match each other color-wise, but coordinated with the room and were a steal!
I knew right from the beginning that a rug from FLOR was the only way to go for us - we have three dogs of our own and frequently have a rescue foster dog as well. The ability to clean individual tiles (or replace them if necessary) is the perfect solution for pet owners, plus having the option to reconfigure the rug if desired or needed is so handy. Jeff and I were so thrilled to partner with FLOR for this remodel. We visited the FLOR showroom in Minneapolis and worked with one of their fabulous designers, Stephanie E.
We had a difficult time deciding, but eventually chose Point of View in slate because we loved how cushy it is and the graphic texture. FLOR is also made with renewable and recycled materials; plus, if you ever need to discard your FLOR rug, they will cover shipping and recycle them for you! They are super easy to install - once the tiles are positioned in the room where you like them, just lift up the corners and stick them together with the included adhesive FLOR dots.
What were your main sources for design inspiration? Clean, modern, minimalist spaces with Scandinavian and Mid-Century Modern influences tend to speak to me the most.
Any setbacks, hiccups, or unexpected design dilemmas? How did you solve them? Tell us the dirty secrets! The bathroom subfloor was in very poor condition - it was rotted in several places, but there was construction adhesive between parts of the subfloor and the joists, making it very time consuming to remove. I thought using large 12x24 bathroom floor tiles would make the tiling process go quickly, but those big tiles are very difficult to lay flat (which wasn't helped by the fact it was my first time tiling a floor). The bathroom also lacked an exhaust fan, so we installed one - I spent some quality time in the cramped, hot attic fishing for the wires... not fun! Thankfully my dad is very handy and patient, so he helped us enormously throughout the project (especially with the plumbing!).
After I hung the vanity initially in the corner of the bathroom, I realized that once the pocket door casing was installed it would block the drawers from opening all the way... oops! Luckily there was enough room to scoot the vanity away from door a few inches!
What is your favorite new feature of this space? For the bathroom, we stole some space from the closet to make it slightly larger and replaced the door with a pocket door - both made a huge difference, especially since the bathroom is just over 4 feet wide. For the bedroom I love how bright and calming the space feels to me. Although not an enormous space, this bedroom is so much larger than we had been used to with renting and we've never had a master bathroom, so just having this space all to ourselves is a wonderful and luxurious feeling!
Your proudest DIY moment? These rooms had a lot of personal firsts - tiling a floor, tiling a shower, reupholstering a chair, and stripping/refinishing a dresser. The walnut Mid-Century dresser was painted black (very poorly!), but with a lot of time and patience I was able to strip the paint and restore the original wood. And I had difficulty finding an extra-long shower curtain, so I made this one from an XL twin sheet.
Any advice for others about to start on their own room makeover? Our renovation style has been to piece things together as we go... I don't recommend that. I like to see how one aspect looks before deciding what else should go in the room, but having all the pieces/finishes selected, ordered, and on hand when you begin makes everything go so much more quickly. I am such a slow decision maker that I like to ruminate on one design choice for a painfully long amount of time before moving on to the next.
What’s next for you? Any other makeovers or exciting DIY projects on your list? We are just finishing up a complete basement gut and remodel that is my new photography studio with a new half bath. I hope to share that soon!
Thanks Karin!
See more of Karin's photography, home projects, and animal adventures on her site karinnewstrom.com. Also, be sure to check out the Makeover Tour of her amazing Scandinavian-inspired kitchen renovation!
Do you have a Makeover Tour you'd love to share on Curbly? Let us know by sending an email to tips@curbly.com!
Bonus: For those interested, Karin has kindly provided a source list for her bedroom and bathroom makeovers!
Bathroom:
Bedroom:
Disclosure: FLOR provided Karin Newstrom carpet tiles for use in this makeover. All views and opinions are hers alone.
We are thrilled to be a part of Sherwin-Williams National Painting Week again this year. It's one of our favorite weeks because it involves some of our favorite bloggers doing amazing things with paint! If you haven't had a look at all of the amazing things happening this week, please take a look at Thrifty Decor Chic's walk-in closet makeover and Recycle Consign & Design's chair makeover.
This room started with very little personality. The only bright color in the space, the marigold yellow wall color, clashed with the flooring. It was in desperate need of something to make it feel more cozy and inviting.
This Toronto penthouse loft might not look like it needed a makeover at all, but it's owners wanted to make a fresh start with its decor. Enter designer Golbou Rad who
Why does the 'after' come first? Because I couldn't subject Curbly's homepage to the 'before'. The vase in question caught my attention at my local Goodwill for two reasons. One: I liked the classic milk bottle shape. Two: because it was nothing less than hideous. So I plunked
Most before and afters I share start off with a very dark room that is lightened up with a coat of paint and great furniture. This makeover though, is kind of the opposite of that. The before is white and bright and the after is dark but cozy. Needless to say, the end result is a pretty drastic change - going from white to black.
Spruce up a plain basket with a fun, painted pattern and hand-stitched embellishments! It's an easy, inexpensive way to add a pop of personality to your home, while providing a simple solution for storing blankets and textiles.
This makeover gets the "extreme" label because, well, you'll see:
This makeover is kind of a cheat. The previous owners used it at as an office, so that's our 'before' picture. However, that doesn't undermine its lovely makeover. Brecklyn's mommy painted the walls grey three times because she couldn't get the color quite right. When she finally did
Although Deneen isn't a huge fan of yellow, that's the color she decided to paint this sweet little end table. She chose yellow as a tribute to the English royal family, plus she'd seen an influx of bright yellow