Welcome to My Boudoir!

On top of starting this blog, renovating our basement, getting my business in order to launch and growing a human being, (and doing all the other daily activities in life like laundry and dog walks and swiffering our dark brown floors from all the dog hair about twice a day and...oh yeah, working to make the benjamins) I am also in the midst of an interior design program in hopes of becoming professionally designated one (glorious) day. The program I chose is an online design program so I can work from home and at my own pace. So far, so good! I actually enrolled in the course back in the fall but found myself working two jobs instead of my usual one (part-time) job and also in the battle for my food and general sanity against morning sickness in my first trimester. Let me tell you, that comical vomiting that you see pregnant woman do on TV shows as an indication that they are knocked up is not at all funny when you are going through it yourself. It hit me like a ton of bricks and there were weeks when I threw up twice a day everyday and wanted to stay in bed (and therefore unconscious to the urges of nausea) for the whole afternoon!

There you have it, my feeble excuse as to why I am not as far along in my design course as I should be. I am actually only now doing the first unit. So I thought I would share my various projects and assignments as I complete them. Not the whole lesson (I don't want to torture you with readings and handouts) but my inspirations and thoughts on the assignments themselves.

That brings me to the first exercise which is to start a designer's journal about redesigning a bedroom. I actually want to redecorate my bedroom, so this was great timing! Our current master bedroom is lovely, don't get me wrong, but I am tired of it. Since the three years ago that we did it (and the 4 years ago that I bought the furniture for it) my design tastes have changed and I no longer want the intensity of colours or the blandness of the accessories. I also loath the white bedding which gets so dirty so easily since my husband doesn't mind if he sleeps on top of it with his drywall dust covered clothes for a nap!

Here's the bedroom after we painted and put the floor down, but before we moved any furniture in:

(all of my before shots are covered in floating dust particles)

Bright eh? Yeah, that was everyone's reaction at our paint party when we started in this room (which was the first room). My father in law called me crazy and said I would never stick with it. Well, he was half right. I am crazy. But I did stick with it for this whole time and probably a little bit more to come.

Then we started moving the furniture into it with the help of some burly men:

That dresser weighs A LOT! They were pretty pleased with themselves when they were finally able to set it down in the right spot:

Then it was time for the fun part. The decorating. Here is the whole room as it stands today:

 

I like it still, don't get me wrong, but there are elements I really want to change. The bedding: no more white. The wall decals: too overdone. When I bought them, wall stickers were fairly rare and still a unique alternative to wallpaper and these babies matched the motif on the bedding so well that I couldn't pass them up. However, now you can find wall decals everywhere! They are even at the dollarstore for crying out loud! They have to go! I want a headboard---aka: a real bed. But I will be DIYing one for sure.

Here's another angle so you can see the nightstands that I want to keep. They are from Pier 1 and they are totally unique and I still love their colour and style so they are staying!

So that brings us to my design journal. I want to create a relaxed yet spirited bedroom styled with modern accents and a mix of both calm colours and visual enticing accents. The walls, bedding and window treatments would be a subdued palette of greige (a grey/beige mix) and soft sage green (for the night stands!). The accents and accessories would be a step brighter and pattern would be introduced in the headboard upholstery. The room would make me feel calm yet cheery. 

Here's the inspiration board:

Green and Greige Bedroom by alyssatevlin on Polyvore

 Clockwise from left:

1. Ocean Mosaic Mirror--Pier 1

2. Teal Honeycomb Lamp--Pier 1

3. Throw Cushions--Bouclair

4. KAS Bluebird Upholstery Fabric--Joann Fabircs

5. Broxburn White--Benjamin Moore Paint

6. Beige Shag Rug--Target

7. Kylie Minogue Duvet Set--Sears

8. Citrine Stripe Throw--Pier 1

9. Bamboo Roll Up Blind--Bouclair

10. Contempo Window Panel--Pier 1

What do ya' think?