extreme makeover: bedroom edition

My friend Jo was sick of her dark master bedroom and asked me for some direction. The first thing I told her to do was de-junk. She has a huge walk-in closet, but it was so crammed with stuff that clothes and shoes were trickling out into the bedroom and making unwanted piles of clutter.

Jo's organized closet

After Jolona de-junked, we worked on furniture placement. She had too much furniture on the wall opposite her bed. She also had a treadmill in front of her window.

 She sold the treadmill and we moved things around.

Her bench took its spot at the foot of the bed. Notice the paintings sadly tacked to the wall above Jo's bed. She bought those in the Dominican Republic 3 years ago while visiting her parents on their mission. She had fallen out of love with them and was just sick of the conglomeration of stuff she had going in there. 

 Bottom line: Her room had become a catch-all with no clear theme. The happy vibes of her paintings were lost amongst the other random decor, dark paint, and clutter.

Our mission was clear: we needed to

• paint!
• update curtains
• frame those awesome paintings!
• reupholster the bench
• add complementing decor

 We worked/played our guts out for 7 days and transformed the entire room!

I love the new look. It's got island vibes with Latin influence.

We found this cool orange ship painting at Savers and decorated with some of Jo's husband's mission souvenirs from Brazil. If you have a whip in your master bedroom, it totally takes it up a notch!

These woven baskets hung over the archway sing Spanish love songs to me! I found all of them for around a dollar each at DI.

a nod to Latin decor

If you peek through the arched doorway, you can see into Jo's new bathroom.

Before the makeover, Jolona's favorite thing about her bathroom was her laundry shoot cabinet.

My favorite thing was her soaker tub.

So she worked on the wall adjacent to her cabinet...

bathroom accent wall

And I worked on "installing" a wood beam over her tub...

painted faux wood beam

BEFORE: 

 AFTER: 

BEFORE:

 AFTER:

 I think a big fancy tub needs candles! I found these AWESOME solid brass candlesticks at DI for $10.

a few more shots...

 before:

 after:

The whole project took about 7 days (crazy!). We painted and decorated the whole thing for $200. That is so inexpensive when you think about at all the things we used in the makeover:

• 4 gallons of paint
• curtains, curtain rod, curtain clips
• 4 throw pillows
• upholstery fabric
• art and decor
• plants
• wood glaze
• pillow cases
• wood for framing artwork
• bedspread

Jolona is thrilled with her new master and I am so happy with how it all came together.

One more before and after:

What do you think?

spending freeze: week 1

We made it a week! It wasn't so bad! I will admit, by day 3, I was thinking of excuses to buy things. Dax had one oops on day 5. Here is a run down on a week with spending ZERO.

Day 1: Fast Sunday/Superbowl Sunday- A colleague of Dax's invited us over to gorge ourselves and watch the game. Ridonkulous amount of yummy food. As soon as Quinn started cheering for the Peach Rings (Patriots), the game took a turn and then they won.

Super Bowl Food

Day 2: Lana and I helped Jolona paint her bedroom. That evening for family night, Dax told the kids about all the times he'd got sent to the principal's office in Elementary. They loved it and it was the most attentive they've been during any family night lesson. Dutch oven potatoes/carrots/sausage for dinner.

Day 3:

100 days of school!

I checked the grocery ad at my local store and was tempted to buy the great deals. I restrained myself; fridge and pantry still stocked. We ate bratwurst sandwiches leftover from the Superbowl party and a fresh fruit salad with greek yogurt. Today I tried my hand at painting faux wood grain.

Day 4: Went run/walking outside with 2 friends: glorious. I painted Jolona's bathroom and started on 2 accent walls in there. She fed me and my kids. Dax was out of town for work. Jo's husband is also on a work trip and we're trying to finish her master before he gets back. We have 1 day to finish. My niece Jennekah came home from her mission today! I can't wait to see her. So happy!

Day 5: Skipped Insanity workout and went over to Jo's to crack out the accent walls in her bathroom. Dax went to Trader Joes and purchased things while in SLC! He was excused for breaking the spending freeze..it is tough when you are out of town (and don't have a project to consume your life). Mack and I cooked and took dinner to his school teacher. Mack wanted to do something for her because she broke her foot and has been home healing for a few weeks. Together Mack and I grilled chicken, cut and steamed broccoli, cooked rice, and made cheese sauce. His teacher was so happy to see him and Mack was so happy to serve his teacher. Dax came home from his work trip as I was finishing reupholstering Jo's cedar chest cushion. After the kids were nestled in, I took the cushion and a few decor items over to Jo's. We had 30 minutes before her husband came home. We reattached the lid on her cedar chest, hung 2 sconces and a painting, and cleared away the tools. I grabbed my stuff and was just walking out the front door as I heard her husband coming in the back door. WHEW. I'm thankful for how it all came together. I will post some pics when the dust settles!

Day 6: Dax and Hunter packed up and went to Klondike which is a winter scout camp, only it was near 60 degrees today! I moved the brass bed out of Preslie's room...bye bye for now..*sniff*

I moved in a nice king mattress that I inherited. The full mattress that she was sleeping on was 30+ years old and terrible. It will be chucked. I'm holding onto to the beautiful bed, though.

Gas is under $2 per gallon. It is putting quite a few people out of jobs where I live since our local economy is very dependent on oil and gas.

Day 7: I tied quilts at women's conference. Took the kids on a bike ride around town. We rode to the park and through some alleyways and side streets and saw some details of the town that we normally miss. Made nachos for dinner and fresh pico de gallo. I made it one whole week without spending. Let's go for double!

Day 8: Bonus Sunday. We already don't shop on Sunday in observance of the sabbath day. Hunter and Dax were both feeling a little off. (Scout camp?) Mack asked Dax if he could watch Nacho Libre this afternoon. He reasoned that it's kind of a Sunday movie "because people don't think he knows a buttload of crap about the gospel, but he does." Of course Dax said yes. But it was no longer on Netflix.