Our Bedroom: Before and After

Posted: September 10th, 2009 | Author: ab | Tags: , ,

I don’t have much to say about this except 1) I’m so happy with the result, 2) “Down Pipe” is my new favorite color, and 3) I am very tired.

New things bought for the room: Paint, roller shades, and throw pillows. I bought the antlers on eBay.

bedroom_beforeafter

If you have any questions I’ll try to answer them!

53 Comments on “Our Bedroom: Before and After”

  1. 1 Abbey said at 4:35 PM on September 10th, 2009:

    Stunning!

  2. 2 ALH said at 5:01 PM on September 10th, 2009:

    My only question is: how’d you get so good? It looks fantastic!

  3. 3 Marie said at 5:11 PM on September 10th, 2009:

    Hi, Ab! Where did you get the bench, and what plants are those? You are just amazing!

  4. 4 ab said at 5:19 PM on September 10th, 2009:

    Thanks! I got the bench a while back online — google Nelson bench and you’ll find plenty. The plants all came from Home Depot.

  5. 5 Morgan said at 5:32 PM on September 10th, 2009:

    Oh. my. god. I think I love you.

  6. 6 the brick house said at 5:35 PM on September 10th, 2009:

    wow. this is fantastic.

    just ditching the curtains made a HUGE difference. It’s actually more light and airy even though the paint went dark dark dark.

    I love that color and may have to use it to paint my exterior. What brand is it?

  7. 7 lily said at 5:44 PM on September 10th, 2009:

    hot damn! i literally had one of those “dong!” looks on my face once i scrolled down to the ‘after’.

  8. 8 darling dexter said at 6:02 PM on September 10th, 2009:

    i just can’t get over that light! it’s heavenly..

  9. 9 Anna H. said at 6:04 PM on September 10th, 2009:

    Looks gorgeous — the quality of light in your room is fantastic now!

  10. 10 Marie said at 6:33 PM on September 10th, 2009:

    Thank you so much!

  11. 11 va bene said at 6:38 PM on September 10th, 2009:

    That looks great! The natural light makes such a dramatic difference!

  12. 12 anh-minh said at 6:40 PM on September 10th, 2009:

    OK, that “after” shot is gorgeous. It looks straight out of a shelter magazine. LOVE IT.

  13. 13 ab said at 7:37 PM on September 10th, 2009:

    @brick: the color is from farrow & ball, but i had benjamin moore match it for me. it came out so gorgeous.

  14. 14 jodi said at 8:34 PM on September 10th, 2009:

    dude. it looks sooooo gooooood.

  15. 15 the brick house said at 8:57 PM on September 10th, 2009:

    oh great - thanks. i just requested a color card.

  16. 16 Wanda said at 10:17 PM on September 10th, 2009:

    Amazing! I love it. Down Pipe rocks.

  17. 17 Christina said at 11:47 PM on September 10th, 2009:

    Holy shit. I mean…[something intelligible].

  18. 18 Benita said at 12:25 AM on September 11th, 2009:

    B e a u t i f u l !

  19. 19 Nicholas said at 5:56 AM on September 11th, 2009:

    The difference between bef and after is really big. Pretty!

  20. 20 beauty comma said at 7:34 AM on September 11th, 2009:

    I don’t have much to say either except: Congratulations on a job (extremely) well done!!

  21. 21 Lindsey said at 8:36 AM on September 11th, 2009:

    I just now realized that roller shades are exactly what I need. I was thinking roman shades, but they are slightly more frufru than I was really looking for. Where are the roller shades from? Easy to install?

  22. 22 Michelle said at 9:51 AM on September 11th, 2009:

    Wow, with the darker color, the room actually looks bigger! How do you do that??

  23. 23 chelle said at 10:25 AM on September 11th, 2009:

    Just one question: how did you double the square footage in that room?
    Seriously, it’s gorgeous. It looks twice the size and it’s just delicious.

  24. 24 ella said at 10:28 AM on September 11th, 2009:

    i would love to know where your rug came from.

  25. 25 i suwannee said at 11:00 AM on September 11th, 2009:

    dude. this is hotness.

  26. 26 jill said at 2:57 PM on September 11th, 2009:

    Do you ever do anything that is crappy? I think not. Sigh… You’re taste is to die for.

  27. 27 jill said at 3:00 PM on September 11th, 2009:

    and speaking of crap… of course I meant to say YOUR taste is to die for. And that YOU’RE fabulous.

  28. 28 Lauren said at 3:50 PM on September 11th, 2009:

    hawt.

  29. 29 ab said at 3:51 PM on September 11th, 2009:

    Y’ALL R NICE.

    @ella: It was my grandmother’s, so I don’t know!

  30. 30 Elissa said at 3:55 PM on September 11th, 2009:

    you kill me! I look at your before pictures thinking “hey that’s a really cool after” then I see the after and it manages to get even better. damn!

  31. 31 Meg said at 11:48 PM on September 11th, 2009:

    I’m so stoked that this is the first thing I saw when I ran across your site. What a way to convince me to come back every time you post! Congrats on a job extra super extremely well done. :D

  32. 32 juliet said at 1:03 AM on September 12th, 2009:

    It looks great, as does all of your work. I totally would have painted the trim around the windows white… and would have been so wrong! I’m learning so much here!

  33. 33 juliet said at 1:18 AM on September 12th, 2009:

    By the way, did you use the same finish on the walls and trim? Again, it’s so purty!

  34. 34 ab said at 10:34 AM on September 12th, 2009:

    I used flat latex on the walls and oil-based semi-gloss on the trim.

  35. 35 LindzML said at 5:32 PM on September 12th, 2009:

    Amazing. My only question: how would you like to decorate my new house in January? The depth of the room now is just incredible.

  36. 36 monica :) said at 7:09 PM on September 12th, 2009:

    wow, this is truly magnificent. as a young, wannabe designer, i draw a lot of inspiration from you and you work. thank you!

    oh and what did you do with the tv and the ikea cabinet?

    x

  37. 37 ysabelkid said at 5:05 AM on September 13th, 2009:

    Ohhhh, AB, you are truly amazing! Add my applause to everyone else’s - you’re a real inspiration.

    Spring is on the verge of a full blow-out here and you’ve inspired me to do a living room make-over. That colour will make my favourite brights stand out even more (and tone down the harshness of the summer light).

  38. 38 CC said at 11:13 AM on September 13th, 2009:

    It’s gorgeous! Just one question about the shades: are they thick enough to keep light out during the night/early morning? I noticed you used the same kind in your daughter’s bedroom and I was doubtful since I like to have almost total darkness during the night.

  39. 39 loopster said at 7:55 PM on September 13th, 2009:

    Delish. Where did you get the chaise? And yellow pillow. And yes, I’m obsessed with your room.

  40. 40 Viv said at 8:09 PM on September 13th, 2009:

    This looks fantastic. Well done!

  41. 41 ab said at 8:41 PM on September 13th, 2009:

    1. The roller shades are easy to install and they are very dark. I think you can buy them in different thicknesses, but these are medium-weight. The thinner, cheaper ones don’t hang as well and tend to curl at the edges.

    2. The tv ended up in the built-in bookshelf on the other side of the room. I should put pictures of that up too. The Ikea cabinet is currently…in the garage.

    3. My mother gave me the chaise years ago, and my dad is still trying to get it back. Heh. I made the pillow out of some silk velvet I ordered online.

    Thanks for your nice comments, everyone! Y’all are going to make me super conceited.

  42. 42 MEP said at 9:10 AM on September 14th, 2009:

    Wow, it looks great!! The dark blue does work with the panelling, but I think painting the window trim the same color was the deciding factor. Less cottagy, more sophisticated. Awesome job!

  43. 43 jones said at 9:25 AM on September 14th, 2009:

    Amazing. We just ordered roller shades for all the rooms in our place and now I can’t wait to see them up. clean. perfect. so good.

  44. 44 Polly R said at 1:05 PM on September 14th, 2009:

    Beautiful room. Brave to use such a dark colour but it works SO well! xxx

  45. 45 jkc said at 8:09 PM on September 14th, 2009:

    This is absolutely stunning! I only have two questions:
    1. I’m in the process of buying a house; would you decorate it (c’mon, you’ve always wanted to come to Oklahoma, right?)?
    2. Have you heard about this contest; http://allthebestbedrooms.blogspot.com Didn’t know if this would be your kind of thing or not, but you would TOTALLY win!

  46. 46 jessica said at 2:32 PM on September 15th, 2009:

    oohhhh, girl! bee-u-tiful!

  47. 47 erin@designcrisis said at 4:00 PM on September 15th, 2009:

    Holy shit, this is amazing!!!! Love the paint color, love your end tables, love your windows (lucky girl) love the photography. Awesome!

  48. 48 karly / design crisis said at 8:42 AM on September 16th, 2009:

    I thought the before was pretty magical, but the after is AMAZING

  49. 49 ab said at 9:31 AM on September 16th, 2009:

    Thanks, ladies!

    @jkc I had not seen that contest, but now I am kind of interested. Thanks!

  50. 50 Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog said at 10:51 AM on September 17th, 2009:

    I’m going to have to echo that it looks amazing! Painting with such a dark color is a big step, but obviously it was the right choice!!

  51. 51 Vicky's Yard Sale said at 1:25 PM on September 17th, 2009:

    Wow! This is absolutely my dream bedroom. It’s delicious. Congratulations on the amazing transformation! This might have to be my new favorite color too… and I agree about it looking great before anyway, but this just blew me away. I WANT THIS ROOM SO BAD!

  52. 52 Anne said at 11:18 AM on September 21st, 2009:

    OK, I, too, had been looking at roman shades for our bedroom, but this makes me think roller shades may be the way to go. They look so simple and perfect! Could you tell me where exactly you got them?

  53. 53 ab said at 2:55 PM on September 21st, 2009:

    I got them exactly from Lowe’s. : )