Before & After: Master Bedroom

I'm finally ready to unveil Step 1 of our Master Bedroom Redo!

The redecorating of our master bedroom was no small feat... if anyone remembers, the previous owners had some very eclectic taste which they exhibited masterfully in the master bedroom.

The room was a mix of sponged-on mustard yellow walls and large vertical stripes of red and green fabric separated by gold ribbon a la Christmas wrapping. Hm. Interesting.

What we did: We used Stone 2 by Laura Ashely (from Lowe's) on the walls. I saw the color on a design blog, where it was used in a nursery and I loved it. It's surprising, because it's a pretty neutral color for me (I'm generally a bit more dramatic and bold) but it was so soft and pretty and completely unlike the look of the room that we wanted desperately to undo.

The paint is a kind of pinky-taupe that I think looks amazing with our bed (which I've had dreams of for years and we finally got from Humble Abode). I realize most of these after pictures are bed-centric... but we don't have other furniture, aside from a dresser, and it's not a huge room so the bed really is the focal point.

We have so much more to do to bring the whole room together (Step 2) - curtains, pictures of walls...but for now this is what we've got!

Before Pictures









After Pictures

Before & After: Kitchen (Step 1)

We went back and forth deciding what color to paint the kitchen (the first of many steps in fixing this space up).

We were going to go for white, because we want a clean, open, light space...but decided on the same pale blue (Behr's Cool Sky) with white trim (Behr's Creamy White) that we used in the living and dining rooms. One reason is because the first floor of our house is very open and you can see each room from the others. We wanted things to feel connected, cohesive, and not broken up (since the rooms aren't huge and don't need to feel smaller than they are).

Another reason we went for the pale blue/white combo is because it's just so pretty. Every time I look around at the walls I say, "Isn't this so pretty?" So, why not spread that love to the kitchen?

Before
After
Before
After
See how light it is now, without that dark green keeping everything in shadows?
The blue might not go with things yet, but soon it will all come together.

The next step we plan to take is to paint or stain the cabinets white. I say paint, Andy says stain so they're kind of white-washed with the wood grain still showing through. I'm open to anything - does anyone have experience/knowledge pertaining to this? Please share!

Eventually we'll also (over who knows how many months) replace the sink (I hate this one!), replace the counter (probably with granite, though a big part of me yearns for butcher block), put up a tile backsplash, and change the floor. Speaking of which - what do you think of the floor? Sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it...