A cozy, traditional primary bedroom is the perfect place to unwind after a long day. Here are plenty of ideas for creating a primary bedroom retreat with an adjoining sitting area.
It's been ages since I last wrote a plain update post, and it feels good to share our decorating plans for our home. I feel like I've lost the knack for sharing my home with you all, and I want to get back to it!
Walk Down Memory Lane
If you'll indulge me with a bit of backstory, I'd love to share it. (I feel pretty rusty, so please bear with me.)
I've been writing about my life and home online for more than a decade. Can you believe it? I started sharing my treasures and decorating journey 13 years ago this week. Back then I had a toddler and was figuring out how to be a stay-at-home mom. I posted almost every day about my decorating adventures, and I loved it!
Eventually I started earning a little money from this hobby, and over time it grew into a full-fledged business with more than just me behind this little blog. Along the way, experts told me to stop writing so many personal stories and updates and to focus on SEO for the sake of the business.
So I became more deliberate about my posts. They needed specific keywords and a focus that would keep earning income long after I hit publish. That approach worked for a while, but it began to feel cold and far from what I originally set out to do with this space. I felt I had lost my first love for home decor blogging.
Maybe I'm going through a midlife blog crisis or something. Ha! I'm 13 years old now, so please forgive the awkwardness.
I wrapped up my three-room makeover last year with the laundry room, dining room, and butler's pantry. That project spanned two years, and afterward I realized I had no more home projects lined up. Honestly, we were focused on other financial goals, so making over my home wasn't a top priority. (Although it should always be, because it's truly what keeps this business running.)
So, that brings us to now. I've been dipping my toes back into updating more spaces in my house, starting with my daughter's bedroom. I've also been pinning and saving ideas for my primary bedroom for years. I think once my daughter's room is finished, I'll tackle it next!
I went ahead and started ordering a few preliminary things for my bedroom makeover, because I couldn't help myself.
We've lived in our house for five years now. When we first moved in, I quickly chose a paint color to cover the pistachio green walls: a tried-and-true favorite, Revere Pewter.
It's a lovely green-beige greige, and it has worked well in the room. But after five years, we've realized how bright the room is with seven windows. A bedroom should feel cozy, though, so I've been brainstorming a new wall color.
Someday we'd like to gut the primary bathroom. In the meantime, I want to fully decorate our bedroom. We've hung only one piece of art on the walls so far, the one over the bed. It's time to make the room feel homey, cozy, and beautiful!
Thanks for letting me vent and share how we got to this point. I should probably post a full house update, since we've been here five years now!
The Bedroom Progress So Far
Let's look at what we've already done in the bedroom. You can read all about my original bedroom design plans from when we moved in HERE. I typed them up less than a year after we settled in. Here's how the bedroom started:
When we moved in, we had a DIY headboard and DIY-upgraded IKEA nightstands. They had a very farmhouse style, so I swapped them for a new bed frame and new nightstands.
The rest of the bedroom furniture came with my husband when we got married, and we brought the rug from our old house. Here's how it looks today...
I have two pieces of art that I rotate above the bed by season: the coastal art for summer (above) and the pine art for Christmas and winter (below).
We bought the Frame TV for our bedroom and mounted it across from the bed, but that's really as far as we've gotten. I don't even have lamps for this room yet, since I've been saving up for the ones I really want. (The lamps in the photos are borrowed from my teen daughter's room, and we normally use random lamps in here.)
The NEW Bedroom Design Plan
The current view of the room is good, and I love plenty about it, but I want to do more!
I want to hang pictures on the walls and really focus on making this a warm and cozy space for us. The original plans were for a coastal, restful retreat. But with all this natural light, we can totally go for a darker wall color!
I want to change the greige to a rich brown. I know brown walls are trending (and can be controversial), but hear me out.
I like to stick with a whole house color scheme when I decorate. My options are fairly limited to a dark green, dark blue, or dark beige/brown. I can't imagine adding any other color to our scheme. We have navy in the living room, and between the living room and bedroom sits the powder room, which has dark green walls. That leaves a dark beige, brown, or taupe.
See how it looks when I lay it out:
My husband reminded me that I've loved brown for a long time, since our wedding bridesmaid dresses were brown! How did I forget?! Ha! They had brown dresses with blue sashes. So it seems fitting that we'd end up with a blue and brown bedroom, right?
I know the ivory curtains and brass picture frames will really stand out against the darker walls. Here's my vision:
I'll share more about the exact paint later, but I've collected a lot of samples and narrowed it down to two colors. It will probably be either Davenport Tan (Benjamin Moore) or Mouse's Back (Farrow & Ball).
Much of this bedroom makeover comes down to saving money for the items I want. I may do some DIY work, but mostly we just need to buy the pieces and add them to the room. I've shared before how I budget for home projects, and this time is no different.
The Sitting Room Plans
I'll just say it right off the bat: I LOVE having a sitting room in our bedroom. It's a great secondary living space that we use often for phone calls or for escaping the main living room. We also use the sofa to hold our clean laundry, which is handy, too!
It started out as a lovely blank space.
And now it looks like this...
It won't change too much, because I love the sofa and the rug. We got the sofa for $200 from a neighbor who was selling it at her yard sale. It was in perfect condition! There isn't much wall space, so it won't look too different. But I'd like to swap out the chair for something else, add new throw pillows, and maybe add a small coffee table. We'll see!
Final Thoughts
I'm excited to finally give this room the attention it deserves after five years in this house! I really thought we'd focus on this room first, but adding things a little at a time and taking it slow has worked fine.
What do you think of the new potential wall color? Yay or nay to brown walls?
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