Master Bedroom

At our old house, the master bedroom was a room that was never finished. Since most people never see the master bedroom (unless the owner blogs ;D), there wasn't a reason to spend money on it. Also, we had a lot of stuff in a small house, which led to our bedroom becoming a catch-all.
A lot of the things DH and I would like to do to this house are things that will have to wait. When we had our house inspected, the inspector mentioned that we would need to re-roof in the next few years, so we're trying to save up for that. Not to mention we now have a larger mortgage payment. With all this in mind, I wanted our bedroom to be fairly close to done. That way, I could at least go there at the end of the day and relax, without looking around and making a mental list of things to do.
There is one problem, though - the furniture. DH and I have never bought any furniture for our master bedroom. Instead, we use the French Provincial furniture that my parents bought for me when I was a little girl. I love the furniture and I can't bear to part with or paint the furniture. At some point, the furniture can be moved into the guest bedroom, but there are no funds to replace the furniture at this time. So I have to decorate with the furniture, which means that DH is stuck with a girly bedroom.
When we moved in, the light fixture below was in the master bedroom. I think it goes pretty well with my furniture, but it was a bit much for DH ;)

So we swapped it out for the light fixture below, which not only has a fan (a must for summer), but is also brighter. The best part is that it was clearance at Lowe's :)

The walls were painted Strawberry Malt by Valspar. At some point, we would like to paint the ceiling (a previous owner painted it a beige color) and add some crown molding.

A view from the doorway. The master bedroom has a 60"L x 35"H window. I was stumped as what to do with it initially, until I realized that our queen bed would fit perfectly under the window. While Z and I were at the Habitat for Humanity resale store, I spotted these shutters for $3/set. They just happen to fit the window. DH installed them using a track set designed for a closet bi-fold door. All in all, I think we spent around $30 on the window. In the future, I might put something else up to disguise the hardware mounted on the wall and the track along the bottom of the window. As always, I'm open to suggestions.

The closed door leads to the mater bathroom. You won't see pictures of the mater bathroom until it is redone. Harvest gold and brown are all I'm going to say. That, and 30-year-old sink and toilet. Must save up for a roof. Must save up for a roof...

At some point, I'd like to fit a small but comfortable chair in this room. Perhaps by arranging some of the furniture, I will be able to fit it in this corner where the lamp is.

The door on the right leads to the closet. Our old house had the closet adjoining the bathroom, and it is so nice to have the two separate. To the left, out of the photo, is the bedroom doorway.
That's all the photos of the house for now. I hope to be able to show you our front room next week, but that all depends on how productive we are this weekend.

Take Note

Those of you who read my blog by going to my blog site (as opposed to a reader) may have noticed the "Make Merry" picture on the left sidebar. I am participating in Kingdom Twindom +1's Make Merry Gift Swap. If you aren't already a regular reader of Kingdom Twindom +1, I encourage you to go over and check it out. Especially if you like cute kids, funny stories, and Biblical teaching about marriage.

WFMW: Moving Tips

Inspired by our recent move, here are my moving tips.
1. Don't pay for boxes. Call stores to set aside boxes for you. Not all stores will do so, you might have to call around, but it will be well worth it. Boxes are expensive. You can also try internet sites such as Craigslist - just use common sense when collecting them. If you do need to buy boxes, get them from U-Haul. In addition to U-Haul buying back any boxes you don't need, their boxes are also extra sturdy. Their dish boxes and dish-packing kits are excellent.
2. Use linens to pack fragile things. Not only will you have fewer boxes to move, but you will also help reduce the amount of paper and bubble wrap that you have to buy. Used newspaper is also a great (and free!) wrapping source. Keep older blankets out of boxes to use to cushion furniture during the move.
3. CLEARLY LABEL boxes. Just writing "kitchen" isn't a good label. A box labeled "kitchen - cookie cutters, rolling pin" is much clearer. And while we're on the subject:
4. Color-code your boxes. Assign each room in the new house a color, and place that color on your box. U-Haul sells color-coded moving tape, but I just buy a multi-pack of plastic tape. As an added help, put the corresponding color in the room of the new house. For example, I assigned BB's things blue. The boxes for his room had blue on them. If I had actually remembered the day of the move, I would have placed a sheet of blue construction paper on the door to his room. As it was, I found my construction paper with my packing tape after the movers left. And speaking of movers:
5. Ask friends and family to help you move (when possible). Don't forget to reward them for their trouble. Throw in a few pizzas, sodas and such to keep your movers going. It might also be a good idea to ask your moving team to bring bungee cords, rope, tarp, old blankets and hand trucks. Better to have too many than not enough!
6. Triage your boxes before you move. Once the moving team has left, it can be hard to know just where to begin. Even if the boxes are sorted by room. My best tip for avoiding a mental meltdown is to label the boxes of necessities "OPEN FIRST." In these boxes, have 1 set of bedding for each bed, mandatory toiletries, TOILET PAPER, and anything else that you might need soon. A good way to find your necessities is to look at what you left out to pack up the last minute. Don't forget to label these boxes on more than just one side!
These moving tips worked for me, and I hope they will for you too. Don't forget to check out We Are THAT Family each Wednesday for a variety of helpful tips!

BB's Room

Moving day - the walls were painted River Mist by Valspar prior to moving in. We managed to paint all but 4 rooms before we moved in, thanks to the help of my dad and my friend Z.

BB when he first walked into his room. He loves having the extra floor space!

After we had unpacked a bit, DH put up wall stickers that match BB's bedding and curtains. The stickers are removable without causing any damage to the wall. In the space above, BB's train table is supposed to go there, but he tore the tracks off of the table and it is awaiting repairs.

Hopefully in the next few weeks, I'll have a project to post about concerning this bookshelf, but this is it for now.

Another view of the shelf. If anyone has any old license plates they want to send my way, I'd be more than happy to have them.

View of bedroom from doorway.

Another view. Within 5 minutes of my taking these pictures, the room resembled a tornado's after-math. I have found the best way to keep BB occupied is to clean his room. He will then spend hours in his room undoing my cleaning ;)

BB's Bathroom

Now that we've been in our house for almost a month, I thought I'd show you what we've been up to. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this post should make up for my recent lack of blogging (although it wasn't entirely my fault).

This is the vanity in BB's bathroom. The blue vanity and sink match the toilet and bathtub ;D Since this is a boy's bathroom, I have no problem with all of the blue. After all, given that the house was built in the late 70's, I could be trying to decorate around avocado green!
I am curious, however, why there is a 60" vanity and the sink is crammed over against the wall. What was the builder thinking? If (when?) we gut this bathroom, I'm centering the sink on the vanity and opting for a cabinet that doesn't have the awkward middle section. What is this hole for?
These are the mirrors that the previous owners had up in the bathroom. I think the retro style of the mirrors went well with the retro light fixture that is original to the house.

The original mirror for this bathroom was in the garage, so DH and his brother reinstalled the big mirror. There's some damage around the mirror edge that we're going to fix with MirrorMate. The lights are going to be replaced just as soon as I find a light that I like. I am open to suggestions! Most bathroom lights are wall-mounted, while these lights are ceiling-mounted. I don't want to have a patched ceiling if I can help it. Currently, the only light that I've given serious consideration to is a florescent light, such as this one.
For the bathroom wall, we selected Valspar's Grand Hotel Mackinac Blue. This color is not as green in real life as it appears to be in these pictures. I selected this color for the bath after seeing it used in the kitchen (by the previous owner) and then seeing it again on this plaque:

When I saw how this sign combined Mackinac blue with the blue of the bath fixtures, I knew I had my wall color and theme picked for this bath.

The shower hooks are from ebay, the shower curtain from KMart.

BB's bathroom has the same Snoopy accessories that were in his old bathroom. The pictures that you see on the shelf in the cabinet are going to be hung on the wall at some point. When we redo the master bathroom, this etagere will be moved to our bath.
Other than finding a light and hanging some pictures, this bathroom is pretty much done for now. We are getting a new sink for the bathroom (Christmas present from my parents), but for now we are holding off on replacing the other stuff in this bath.