Master Bedroom Renovation is Done!

When D and I first looked at our house during March 2007, we already had a vision for the front-to-back bedroom that we would use as our master. The room was a long rectangle with a small closet in the back corner. We both envisioned putting up a wall in the back part of the room and building a nice, big walk-in closet. Well, just a few days before the 1-year anniversary of moving into the house, that dream became a reality!

This is what the master bedroom looked like in January--it was full of junk (mostly mine) and D had started to pull up the mauve carpet in the area that would be the closet. The carpet really made the room look dark. The previous owner told me that the entire 2nd floor of the house had been covered in this mauve carpet when they moved in in 1998 (they had since replaced the carpet in the hall and the other 2 bedrooms). The paint in this picture was done by the previous owners the day before we looked at the house for the first time (it had been painted light pink).

This is what the master bedroom looks like now:

The new closet is in place (we still need to put up the ClosetMaid system), there is crown molding along the ceiling, a new ceiling fan, and a new maple hardwood floor.

The paint is Benjamin Moore Aura in "Prescott Green" on the walls and "Monterey White" for the trim. The colors were inspired by the bedding I had picked for my shower as well as some pictures I tore out of a Pottery Barn catalog and some magazines. If I hadn't seen these pictures I probably would have gone with white trim instead of the creamy-colored trim.

The ceiling fan is by Casablanca and is so quiet that unless it's on high I can't hear it at all! It's a huge improvement in style and quality over the helicopter propeller fan that had been in the room!

The floor is a 3/4" by 3 1/4" maple select hardwood from Bellawood. Originally we were thinking we would do a natural cherry floor, but once we picked natural cherry furniture we knew we would need more color contrast. I think we made a great choice--not only does it look great with the furniture, but it also makes the room look much lighter.

The furniture is from a local manufacturer/showroom called Cherrystone Furniture. All except for the bed was made in their Littleton, MA factory. The bed is from Lyndon Furniture in Vermont. There were a few things that really sold us on this furniture versus others we had looked at. First, the drawers are all dovetailed. Second, the drawers are on european glides (like kitchen cabinets) and are self-closing (I tend to leave my drawers partly opened and it's probably D's biggest pet peeve about me). Third, the drawerfronts on the dresser are made from one plank so that the grain matches across the drawers. And, finally, the owner matched the price we were given on a different set of furniture we had looked at somewhere else. This saved us maybe 20% of his regular price, and 20% on furniture is never something to scoff at!

We also got a new mattress. It's a Nature's Rest latex faom mattress. We spent some time deciding between the latex and Tempur-Pedic but settled on the latex. Both were very comfortable, but latex feels more like a traditional bed (it bounces).

Not pictured is our new bedding that I received last year for my shower. It will come out in the fall when it's not so hot in the house. Right now it's way too warm for the thick comforter!

I've still got a lot of decorating to do (window treatments, lamps, artwork), but it feels really good to be sleeping in this room! It's very serene and comfortable.