While he was out...

My husband just returned from 2 weeks in Germany and Hungary for work. Two weeks is a LONG time to be without Hubby/Daddy!!!

But, I kept busy.

On top of motherhood, school for Logan, Cub Scouts, soccer and play dates, I decided to take on a "While You Were Out" kind of project.

We have lived in this nice big house for a year now, but our bedroom was kind of blah. I called it "vanilla." I have been waiting all my life to have a nice big bedroom and I really wanted to do something nice with it.

In the old house, our room was so tiny that, with our queen bed pushed up against two walls, we could barely squeeze the dressers in there. We couldn't open the drawers all the way. It was tiny.

See the cramped room at the old house?



So, I've wanted to re-do our bedroom for a while, make it OURS, make it pretty, because it's a nice big room with a large east-facing window and a cathedral ceiling. I love the room, but it just had cream walls, cream carpet, cream curtains and the quilt my mom made us ten years ago for a wedding gift. I wanted something new, and I wanted to get rid of the green. Even though it's my favorite color, I've had green in my bedroom since I was in high school.

Anyway, I started browsing at bedspreads and I decided I wanted to do a light purple and brown. At first I thought I was going to keep some green in there but I decided not to.

I found a bedspread I liked. Actually, I went out and bought it pretty much the second Hubby left. I chose a paint color that night too. Then, I decided I wanted a big, ornate mirror over the headboard and I looked around on craigslist and stumbled across an antique mirror that I thought sounded neat. It once hung in the State Theatre in Detroit, and I looooove local and Michigan history. It also wasn't all that far from my house, so I contacted the owner and went to take a look. As soon as I saw it, I wanted it. The frame is carved wood and it has LOVEBIRDS on top of it! Perfect for my bedroom!







I had our neighbor, who has worked as a professional painter, come over to help out with the painting and also hanging the mirror.

I enlarged three photos I took while Hubby and I were hiking on North Manitou and made them sepia toned, then put them in some frames I bought last year because I saw them on clearance and liked them. They've just been collecting dust in our basement but they worked well in the new bedroom!

These are the photos that are in the frames:







I finished it off with a really tall purple vase I found on super clearance, in which I put some twisty twig things I had leftover from doing our mantel arrangements in the living room. I got a new lamp at Target and some purple doily things to go under the lamp and vase. I found some curtains that matched really well and even got purple sheers. Because everything else was new, I splurged on some high thread-count purple sheets too. Ahhhh luxury!

and... VOILA! A much warmer, prettier room!

BEFORE



AFTER



Once it was done, I loved it but got a little scared because my husband isn't exactly big on surprises... or purple! Logan looked at it and proclaimed it "girly" and said he didn't think Daddy would like it.

Oh dear, what had I done?

The room project took a week from beginning to end, so I had a week to wait until he got home to see it. I was soooo tempted to e-mail him photos but I managed to hold back.

Well, when he got home and walked in, he said it looked "super" and he even complimented the color choices. He said I did a great job and said "I actually like walking into this room now!"

Woo hoo!

So, it turned out well. I can't believe I pulled this off!