y'all ready for this redo?

So I promised a picture of the awesome mirror that Frances gave me. And months ago it seems, I promised to tell you about the curtains I made and the master bedroom redo. Well, today is your lucky day. (or not your lucky day if you hate long posts) I'm doing all three!

First the mirror.

My friend Frances gave me this beautiful mirror that had been in her home. I was stunned when she gave it to me, because it is so gorgeous. It was gold, which I loved, and I didn't want to change it.

Here is a before picture I snaked off of her blog:


As you can see, bee-yu-ti-ful!!!!

So I brought it home and put it in my bedroom, and there it sat for a month. Why? Because I could not figure out where to put it that the gold would look ok with the rest of my house. But I didn't want to paint it. However, it could not be denied any longer. I had to make it match the rest of my house, otherwise the gift would be wasted sitting in a closet somewhere unused.

I wanted to preserve the integrity of it, I didn't just want to spray paint it silver and have that be good enough.

So I used this 10 dollar bottle of paint. It's called Sophisticated Finishes. It's a metallic surfacer in Pewter. It took two coats, and careful painting of a pretty detailed surface. But the end result? See for yourself. (Frances-I REALLY hope you like it!!!)

To die for? Yes? Everytime I walk into my bedroom, I get excited looking at the mirror. It somehow brought the whole room together.

That tall dresser/lingerie chest? I bought it off of Craigslist for Nora when she was born. We did some rearranging and it ended up in our room. It was cream colored with gold drawer pulls. Well, I fixed that, on accident. When I was trying to hang the mirror by myself, I accidentally knocked over a little can of mint green paint that I had been using to improve my night stands. Luckily it didn't go onto the carpet, just all over my dresser. So I scooped up as much as I could, and not wanting any to go to waste, I just dipped my paint brush in the puddle on the dresser and started painted the lingerie chest. Then I used left over pewter metal surfacer, thank you very much, and painted the drawer pulls.

Oh, and the ruffled lampshade? I just used the same instructions that I did for the curtains I'm going to show you, and then hot glued it on. Don't worry, I'll link you to where I found the smarty pants who figured out how to make these bad boys!!

It's not a good picture I'm sorry. And you can tell that I did the one on the left first because it is not as good. Oh well. Here is a close up.

So I saw these fabulous waterfall ruffle curtains on A Beach Cottage(her bedroom is also the inspiration for mine). I looked them up on Urban Outfitters, and they were $80. A panel!!! That was not working for me, so I started googling ruffle waterfall curtains and found this gal.

I followed her directions exactly, EXCEPT, I didn't want each ruffle as wide as she made hers, so I cut them in half which kept the length of the curtain the same, but meant twice as much sewing. I ain't gonna lie. I spent about 16 hours on these babies. Admittedly, it would have been less if I had kept the ruffles wider, but I love them this way. And they only cost 10 dollars a panel. A lot less than 80, and I like them better!

And for the lamp shade, I used a sheer material thinking it would be all light and pretty. Which it is, but when you turn the light on, everything shows. All the mistakes,everything. So I would use a heavier weight material next time.

The rest of the bedroom has some together slowly. Some finds from goodwill and "junk" stores. Moving around things I already had, and yard sales. Seriously folks. I spend soo little money. I don't have a decorating budget. I have a 12 dollars here, 20 dollars a paycheck there, budget. You can do this. You just have to be patient.

Here is our little reading nook. I know that not everyone has such a stupidly oversized master bedroom. (it came this way. I would never design such a large bedroom. Although I love it now.) So you might not have room for a bigger area. But if you can squeeze a comfy chair in anywhere, I highly recommend it.

Don't you love that girl reading? It's a giclee that I found at Goodwill of all places. It's by Jean-Honore Fragonard and it's appropriately named "A Young Girl Reading".

I did splurge on lamps for our nightstands. They are from TJ Maxx and they were $30 each. But that included the shades. I thought it was a good deal. Oh, and a few clearance pillows I was fortunate to find. And the "iron" bed is from Ikea. It was 99 dollars. I sold something to pay for it. And the yellow crocheted throw was made by my great grandmother. It alternates between the ottoman and our bed.

And lastly, some windows from a 1920's beach house that I found at a garage sale. Jeff is going to hang them on the wall for me, and I have a picture of the temple to put between them. But for the picture, they're just propped up there. I love them!!!

My whole inspiration for our room was wanting it to look like a bedroom in a beach cottage. I feel like it ended up looking more like a beach cottage on the coast of France. And I seriously could spend waaay more time than I should just hanging out here.

Anyway, there it is. Oh, and I left the room grey from my previous bedroom makeover. (I'm a little embarrassed by that one now. But it truly is a work in progress)It just seemed to work somehow. And it saved me 100 dollars in paint, and A LOT of work.

There you have it. I love my bedroom. Let me know if you have any questions about anything. And I'll try my best to answer! Have a great day!