So You Think You Can Decorate: Week Four Challenge~

Welcome to the Week 4 Challenge for So You Think You Can Decorate.


This week's challenge is to use the color white. "No problem", says I. I just love white!! Our Master Bedroom has received no love at all since we moved into our house a little over 2 months ago. My plan was to use a large dose of white in this room. Perfect for the week 4 challenge!!


Here is a before photo...and a perfect example of how NOT to use the color white.

No headboard, no curtains, lumpy-bumpy comforter. It reminds me of a bad dorm room...with the exception of the color on the walls. And because we are renting our home, the wall color had to remain...providing a little bit of a challenge, but I love a challenge!

So let's see... a list of everything I needed to get this room out of its bad-dorm-room-funk and into master-bedroom-retreat-mode...

• a headboard
• window treatments
• pretty bedding
• a bedside table
• art

Wow! That's a tall order...but here we go!!

Now here is an after photo....hard to believe it's the same room, huh?

The Headboard:
I wanted to use a piece of architectural salvage as a headboard. So off I went to the only architectural salvage store in the surrounding area. I decided to use an old 5 panel door. The problem was the price. Just a little more than I wanted to pay. Enter my dear husband who built me a "5 panel door" headboard out of a bunch of old wood in our storage room. We painted it out in a pale dove gray to match the gorgeous curtain panels I found.


Here is a closer view of the headboard. Join me here later this week, when I'll go into more detail about our design process and how we put this together.

Window Treatments:

I purchased the drapery panels ready-made from IKEA and actually ended up saving a lot of money over the amount I would have spent on fabric to make the same extra long curtains. I hung them at ceiling height to make the room seem taller. The curtain rods I used (not pictured...sorry) were pretty much the least expensive ones they had at IKEA...problem was that they were black...so I just spray painted them with Krylon spray paint in a brushed nickel finish...problem solved.

The Pretty Bedding:

The bedding is the thing that really makes the room and ties the whole color scheme together. I added the tan burlap pillow and the pillow with the crown motif to tie in the color of the walls. The pillow with the vintage french photography graphic ties in both the tan and gray colors while the charcoal pillow punches up the gray in the color scheme. The pretty rosette pillow finishes the grouping. One of the keys to using white in decorating is texture. The lovely coverlet on the bed adds that element beautifully and makes the entire bed seem elegant but comfortable.

Here is a close up of the ribbon detail on the pillow cases. Join me later this week and I'll tell you more about these as well.

A Bedside Table and Art:

The side table was in our basement and was old and beat up. I gave it a coat of fresh white paint and it became the perfect partner to the bed. To accessorize the table, I added a lamp that was previously black metal. I simply spraypainted it with the same Krylon paint I used on the curtain rods, and it looked perfect. I added a favorite photo of the Hubby and me in a silver toned frame, and for a bit of color some lovely pink stalks in a large vintage canning jar with a unique metal lid that added to the color scheme (and helped with the flower arranging.)

Finally, to finish off the grouping, I added a painting I made of a stylized damask motif. I found another piece of scrap wood in our storage room and used leftover paint from the headboard and table. It ended up being just what the room needed...a little modern but with a vintage feel. (You can see it a little better in the photo below.)

Now our neglected Master Bedroom is a pretty white retreat to relax in at the end of a busy day!

Please take a minute and go vote at So You Think You Can Decorate, you won't be disappointed!

Resources:

Drapery Panels, curtain rods (not pictured) and Ofelia Coverlet: IKEA

King Size pillows and white pillow cases (gray ribbon detail not inlcuded): Target

French Photography Graphic pillow, Crown pillow, Gray Ruffle pillow and White Rosette pillow: available in my Etsy store (theshabbynest.etsy.com)

Clock pillow was won in a drawing here.

xoxo

Wendy