Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Viva Las Brookdale!




Here is a quick virtual tour of "What I Did With My Summer Vacation."
Part One.

I had a terrible room in my house. My Bedroom.

Originally when our house was a fishing cabin.. It had been the living room.
It never looked good. I couldn't seem to get it right.
I had it painted a soft warm peach color. SOOOO Gross..it looked like skin.
Then I put a tangerine orange glaze over all the walls and painted the floor dark blue to "cool it off"... Sort of inspired by the "Mexican/ Moroccan" look that had been the rage... We lived with that for a year but one morning we woke up turned to each other and blurted out:" We need to paint the bedroom!"
I mixed up some paint from leftovers we had in the garage. It ended up green. I started painting but unexpectedly I got a "reorganization" (read: big bunch more work) at work... and I didn't have much free-time anymore. It stayed partially painted for about 2 years, mostly green except for orange patches here and there, and I had painted the floor brown to cover the blue.I had not, however, painted under the furniture because I had done it when my significant furniture lifter was out of town... as a surprise. Surprise ended up being that it looked Pretty Bad and it stayed that way for a long time.

Finally in June of this year we hauled everything out and spent 10 days really painting the room properly.

I picked bright colors because this room had been perpetually dark and dreary. I may have gone a little mad.
I threw caution to the wind and just went for bolder colors, "eggshell" sheen to the paint, to capitalize on available light, and even big wide stripes painted on the floor. We finally painted the wood paneled ceiling white. The whole color scheme was chosen to feature my Grandmothers great velvet bedspread and to brighten up the place.

I must admit, I was nervous while painting. I "wasn't sure" about 45% of the time. With our previous track record of "wrong choices".. it wasn't a good sign. But I trudged along... Motivated by a little faith and a mounting desire to stop sleeping in the living room.




It came out a little "Vegas" which is a surprise in a bedroom... But I have to say, after 2 months, I wake up and I am so pleased we did it. I guess there is some tinsel and glitter down deep in my soul. I'm a Bit Bolder than I thought I was.

As a very flattering bonus it is even going to be featured on another blog:
Gussied Up
It's not up there yet, but Chrissy has some other cute spaces ( including where Posie gets Cosy) and a link to a "gentleman" who has the biggest moustache I have seen in a long time.. and a life that looks more fun than mine.

There was a bit o' craft involved with My Big Summer Project as well: I did decoupauge the back of two plexiglass half circles to use as "handles" on the sliders, and I decoupaged the switch plate cover as well. The fact we got to that point and FINALLY got trim installed is the living end. Seriously Like a Dream Come True.



Bright light city... gonna set the world ... gonna set the world on fire....Viva Las Brookdale!

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Honestly, if it were Vegas I'd expect lots of gold, carpet with a dizzying pattern so no stains would show, and no windows.

This, on the other hand, is incredibly lovely. Colorful, but not garish at all. I love the vaniety area--well, really, I love it all. & how flattering to be featured for your design skills!

plaidshoes said...

I think your room turned out beautiful!

Claire said...

It is absolutely beautiful! Wanna come to my house? Its awful here.

stuffed said...

Wonderful. :0)

Green Kitchen said...

I'm glad you stuck to your idea of the red nook even though I had an obvious lack of enthusiasm. As my husband likes to say, "Everything you say is N.E.G.ative (spelled out so the kids don't understand).

Kerry said...

I love it! The green color came out really nice - a great contrast to the red. I love that little rolling cart bedstand too. Congrats on getting it done!

Katie said...

Ooooooo. Nice!

Can I have your closets???? :)

Anonymous said...

I really like it! Might be biased as the green is pretty much the color of my kitchen and bathroom : )

Anonymous said...

What a fabulous room! I enjoyed the story behind it, your thought process (and doubts), and the plexiglass slider door handles are a touch of brilliancy.

Thank you so much for sharing your room.

futuregirl said...

Man, oh, man ... it's beautiful! I love the circle/half circle motif. The colors are wonderful, too. What an energizing place to wake up every morning. :)

Anonymous said...

I like the color combinations especially your use of red. It's gorgeous.

Sonya said...

I AM SO IN LOVE WITH THOSE HANDLES!!! That is vegas baby - but really you have far too little glitter. Love what you've done with the place. I was involved in a similar project, getting ready to do my own reveal. Now that the dust has cleared, want to try and get together again, another adventure?

Brandy said...

Woohoo! That room looks great! Lots of fun and interest. Awesome job. I love it!

Anonymous said...

so gorgeous! you definitely perfected it this time around.The doors handles are amazing.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful Bethany, just beautiful! I love the closet handles - such a great idea. Your alcove is gorgeous too; how did you do the wall behind it? It is all so glamorous!

sulu-design said...

Love it, love it, love it! Actually, the first thing I thought when I saw it was, "This reminds me of a motel I stayed in in Vegas." And that's a huge compliment - I loved that room. The little vanity area is awesome, and the whole vibe is a bit retro, but polished. Seriously nice work.

Anonymous said...

It's gorgeous! I love that bedspread.

We started painting our bedroom jadeite-ish green about three or four years ago. We'll get around to finishing it one of these days. That painting the floor around the furniture is exactly the kind of thing I'd do.

Angelina said...

Oh my god. I am so jealous I can't stand it! Your bedroom looks fantastic!! I'm having struggles with mine as well. Ranch houses have the smallest bedroom windows so my room is dark. Plus it's tiny. I MEAN TINY.

I think, given time and inspiration from people like you, I just might make something of it.

As always, I love my Bitter Betty fix.

Heidi Ann said...

I LOVE it. It's gorgeous!!

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