Show Us Your Life - Master Bedroom

Kelly's Korner hosts a weekly Show Us Your Life series and this week's topic is Master Bedrooms.
We decided to get a king size bed and move into our guest room earlier this year.  Both rooms are about the same size.  We switched rooms because the guest room has two windows and our former master bedroom had one.  This old house doesn't have a master bathroom so that wasn't a consideration.

September 2010

Now let's step back and see where we started...

Master Bedroom in 2007 (Guest Room at the time). 
Sorry about these crappy cell phone photos that were taken at night. 

Master Bedroom in 2009 (Guest Room at the time)

Our New Master Bedroom in January 2010

Back to NOW! Master Bedroom in September 2010

Why do sunny rooms look dark on camera?  Any who, we painstakingly removed some pastel 80s wallpaper from this room and painted it Brown Sugar by Kilz in 2006.  I can't find any of those before photos.  The room appears smaller with this furniture layout and bigger bed but I like it.  Before we purchased the new bed, we did our due diligence.  We took measurements of the new bed, removed all the existing furniture from the room, and used painters tape to outline the new room layout on the floor.  Then, we walked around the taped areas and made sure it didn't feel cramped.

I'm still using the walk-in closet in the other room and Jake uses this closet.  

The simple off-white curtains used to be in the Living Room and were retired here.

 This was Jacob's wooden dresser from childhood turned TV console.  We sanded it down some and put a coat or two of white paint on it when we lived in our tiny apartment downtown eight years ago.  I was going to repaint it when we moved it in here but for now I like that it's a bit dirty and beat up.  This is the original hardware and I intend to switch it out but I haven't found the right hardware yet. 

The clever repurpose from dresser to tv console was simple.  Jake removed the top drawer and stowed it away in the basement.  Then, he used a hole saw bit to drill a hole through the back wall of the dresser to feed through the DVR and DVD player cords.  I'm planning to paint the inside of this cubby.

I haven't decided what to do with the empty corner on the other side of the window.

We bought these night tables for our original master bedroom because we wanted something a bit slimmer and taller.  They were being sold as bathroom storage on clearance at walmart.  I liked the beadboard detail on the sides and we thought they'd work.  We were right because they've held up well for five years.

Mine - I've got the alarm clock and a reading lamp.

 Jake's - He has the remotes.

Oh how I love our king size bed.  The sleigh bed is the Louis from Bob's.  We bought it with Bob's Black Label pillowtop mattress and a split foundation in January.   We got it all for under $1,000 because we purchased from their scratch and dents section and rented a truck to take it home.  The sleigh bed simply needed to be cleaned and had a small scratch (full price $499, our price $250).  The mattress had a tiny tear in the gauze-like fabric on the underside (full price $1,099; our price $550).  The Love Story low profile split foundation was discounted because they don't offer split version that matches our mattress  (full price $258, our price $100).  The split foundation was a must because we have a turn in our staircase.  We just barely squeezed the mattress upstairs and Jake was trapped underneath the beast and pressed against the stairs for a bit.  Of course, I was at the top of the stairs and our cell phones were downstairs.  There's a window over the stairs that our neighbors look in from their deck sometimes and I'm sure they were laughing their buns off at us.  Any way, it is a dream to sleep on, we got it all for $950 off the discount furniture store's prices, and it is one of our best purchases ever!  :)

The bedding is a mix from different stores.  The brown quilted coverlet was a $20 clearance find at Kohls.  The patterned duvet set was $50 at Ikea.  The euro shams, decorative pillows, and dust ruffle are from Target.

We found the sheets on clearance at Target in January; an ivory 400 thread count king size sheet set with four pillowcases for $10.  We couldn't believe they rang in at that price.  We went back and got them in chocolate brown too.  Sometimes it's hard to find a decent king size pillowcase for ten bucks.  What a steal! 

This is the Alvine LJUV duvet set from Ikea.  Inside is a black and white Martha Stewart comforter but this duvet provides good coverage.  Here's a closeup of the pattern.  The vines are dark brown rather than green.

We have six Kusiner underbed storage boxes($7.99 each) from Ikea under the bed.  You can find them in the children's section.  We like that they're completely collapsible and that you can get into one without pulling it completely out.  We've only had them for a couple weeks but soon they'll probably be filled with spare bedding, off season clothing, and extra pillows.

We made the wall art above the bed and have another post planned to share the details. UPDATE: you can find my wall art tutorial here.

I like to watch tv and read in here while Jake watches sports in the living room.  Of course, the pups like to hang out in here too.

You can check out our living room here.  Next week's topic is Dining Rooms so I'll be linking up.  Thanks for stopping by and come again soon!  :)