Campaign Dresser Boost

I spy with my little eye...

a pair of vintage campaign dressers.



But with feet?



I wonder if the designers at Carrier and Co had legs added to these vintage dressers? I would love to do something like this with my campaigners.

Box Spring Covers

One of the commenters from yesterday's post reminded me that I forgot to explain the box spring cover solution in my mom's room.

I read about the idea of using a fitted sheet to cover box springs in Martha Stewart Living several years ago and have used the idea in many bedroom projects. We used a simple blue-gray fitted sheet from the clearance bedding section at Bed Bath and Beyond to cover the box springs of my parents' bed. While I love a good bed skirt, sometimes they are just fussy looking. This is an easy and inexpensive solution.

If you want a streamlined look, but don't want to use a second sheet, I have a client who uses and loves these matelasse box spring covers from Restoration Hardware, available in many different colors.


And if you do use the fitted sheet idea, do yourself a favor and pick up some fitted sheet clips to help everything stay nice and tight.

My Parents' New Bedroom

Are you ready for a crazy amount of pictures?

Welcome to my parents' new bedroom...

You've come a long way, baby.


The drapes are really the focal point of the room. I love how they turned out. And the yellow Home Goods lamps really pop against them.

Someone asked why we didn't buy vintage lamps and just paint them yellow. The idea crossed my mind at one point, but between the cost of lamps, paint and new shades, I thought it was a better use of our time/resources to just spend the $39 on these. Also, I wanted a ginger jar shape, or something similar, with a smooth surface. Anything with more pattern or texture would have been too much with the drapery fabric.

The nickel alarm clock is from Target. The blue decanters are vintage and the tray is from IKEA.

Here's the other side of the bed. Do you spy the tins we spray painted from Home Goods? The side tables are painted in RL's Hopsack and the bed is RL's Smoked Glass. Many of you asked about painting the furniture here. It's always a good idea to prime and put a coat of sealer on furniture that gets a lot of use, like bedroom furniture does. Remember that the secret to a smooth and long-lasting paint finish is multiple thin coats with drying time in between!

The small sunburst mirror is from the Home Goods clearance section ($10, I think). The yellow rosette pillow is by Dwell Studio for Target.

The white duvet is from IKEA. It has a lovely pleated detail that makes it look more expensive than IKEA bedding usually looks. The quilted coverlet at the foot of the bed is from Home Goods.

We bought the down Euro shams on clearance at Home Goods and made new covers out of the Robert Allen yellow ticking stripe from Home Fabrics and yellow piping from Joanns. Mom was so sick of sewing that she decided not to put in zippers and just made envelope slips.

The botanical prints series is one of my favorite parts of the room.

If you'd like to purchase the same book we used to make this print series (Wildflowers in America), there are sellers on Amazon basically giving copies away. Some are only a penny, plus shipping. Not bad for 400 botanical prints! There are all sorts of gorgeous, colorful prints in the book. We went with yellow, white and blue flowers for our print series here.

We didn't finish this project before I left, so my mom just sent me pictures of this little footstool that she reupholstered in the subtle leopard print.

It belonged to my great grandparents years and years ago. I think my mom swiped it from our old family cabin. :)

In case you didn't notice, my parents' bed is really high off the ground and this small stool helps the little kids climb into grammy and granddaddy's bed for morning cartoons.

My Grandpa Russell made my mother's cedar hope chest, so it has a lot of sentimental value to us. It really needed a paint job though.


And I think the addition of some decorative moulding did just the trick to break things up a little. We also reupholstered the seat cushion with a soft floral. The pale blue bolster is from IKEA.

My parents' en suite bathroom got a serious make over too.


New paint on the oak cabinets (Zinsser primer first, then two coats of Martha Stewart's River Mist).

New black marble floors. Bath rugs from Home Goods.

A new shower curtain that my mom sewed using the Lee Jofa Hollyhock from Home Fabrics. I had her sew it extra long (about 85"). We re-installed the rod at the taller height. It's amazing how that simple change really opened up the room.

Then, of course, there was the mirror project. We hung this IKEA mirror on top of the old boring sheet mirror using 3M picture hanging strips.

It really took things to the next level and I can't wait to use this idea again in another project.

And lastly, here's the vanity area. My mom turned a second hand (and broken, I think?) dining table into a console table by cutting off the end and adding a pair of legs to the back. Looks great, right?

It used to be an antiqued white color, but we gave it a fresh coat of Martha's Magnolia Yellow. The little bench was purchased at a vintage shop for $12. We reupholstered the seat in a pretty damask that mimics the wall color.

Didn't the circle mirror project turn out pretty? I think it's sort of like a feminine version of a Captain's mirror.

The floral wooden appliques were purchased at Michaels and adhered with a little wood glue before painting.

We hung the mirror low enough to be useful while sitting and high enough so that you can see yourself while standing.

The photoless frames (whoops! ran out of time!) are from Home Goods, as are the blue lacquer boxes. The curvy gray box on the end used to be a hideous gold (from Marshalls clearance aisle), and I think it looks great now, painted in Hopsack. The tray is from IKEA and the other accessories are vintage.

Phew! That was a lot of photos! :) Last ones:

Hope you enjoyed this little tour of my parent's overhauled master bedroom. True that it was a lot of work to accomplish in a week's time, but we had so much fun doing it together.

How to Decorate a Bedroom in a Week: Steps 1-4

Last week I posted this picture of Barbara Barry's Poetical fabric and a few paint swatches that were the inspiration for my parents new bedroom.


I posted that picture prematurely because we ended up going in a little bit different direction with colors after going shopping for complimentary fabrics. So pretend that I never posted that first image and I'll start over with my process. :)

Step #1: Assess the Room.

Take a critical eye to the space and figure out what's working and what's not. If you're having a hard time putting your finger on what's wrong, ask a stylish friend to come over and give his/her opinion. Sometimes it just takes a fresh set of eyes.

My parent's room hadn't been redone in years and it was time for something more current. It was funny how as soon as we laid out some of the new fabrics, my mom started tearing the room apart. "All this red has to go NOW!"


The bed needed to be centered on the wall. The TV cords needed to be inside the wall. All the furniture needed new paint finishes.


The bathroom was in for a complete overhaul, including new flooring and a new paint finish on the cabinets.


Every single wall needed fresh paint. More lighting, art arrangements better suited to the scale of the room, and all new bedding.


And we had less than one week to accomplish all of it. So I left Grace and Claire with my mom for some fun Grammy time. Then my sister, Ali, and I took our two babies shopping.

Step #2: Fabric Shopping.

I always, always start decorating a room with fabric. Nothing inspires me like textiles. And while I love to buy fabrics online, there is nothing like shopping for fabrics in person to get a true sense of the color and feel. I get nervous about buying expensive fabrics or lots of yardage online without seeing the fabric in person first.

My gorgeous sister, Ali, who makes the best design assistant in the world. Miss you, sister!

I brought a swatch of the Poetical fabric to Home Fabrics last week and my sister and I did some scouting for secondary fabrics. Originally we were looking for something with that aubergine color. But then I spied a whole roll of Suzanne Rheinstein for Lee Jofa 'Hollyhock' for $6.99/yd, which was great with the Poetical. And just like that the color scheme changed. We ditched the purple and took on yellow.


{Which is a mini step just to keep in mind: Be flexible. Don't get so attached to an idea or color that you make poor decisions or miss out on better options.}

After grabbing the Hollyhock, it was easy to select other patterns from all the great options at Home Fabrics. We got a few yards of a Robert Allen yellow ticking stripe, a gray, blue and yellow floral, a subtle leopard print and a lovely pale aqua damask. All of these were less than $7.99/yard.


These secondary fabrics would be used for pillows, a new shower curtains and small upholstery projects.

Step#3: Commit to Paint Colors.

Make sure you always buy your paints after you have your fabrics. It is so much easier to match a paint color to a fabric than the other way around.

We kept some of our original paint ideas. Ralph Lauren's Mauntauk Driftwood, Smoked Glass and Hopsack were purchased. But the other colors were traded out for two colors in Martha's new line at Home Depot: Yellow Magnolia and River Mist.



Step #4: Shop for Accessories.

Here's the really fun part. Bring your fabric and paint swatches with you. Don't forget to take some measurements of your space before hand and bring along a tape measure. And make a list! Don't buy something just because it matches your color scheme. Make sure you know where something will go in the room before you purchase it. Though if you're at a store with an easy return policy, its probably just worth it to buy anything that might work and then just return the no-go's later.


We scored majorly at Home Goods. I had my fingers crossed that they would have a pair of yellow lamps. And it was a good day:


I know these lamps are a much brighter yellow than the mellow marigolds in the fabrics we selected, but I think it's so important to layer shades and tones of colors in the room's palette. That's how you get depth in a room.

I needed a large and interesting mirror for the vanity area. At first I liked this huge, thick wooden mirror from the clearance section, but I worried that it was too heavy, even if we painted it out in a lighter color. We needed something with more mirror surface and less frame.


This 36" circular beauty was $40 on clearance and I knew we could come up with something fun to spice it up a little (and to cover the scratched up surface).


Other accessories were piled in (three carts worth!!) at Home Goods and then we hit up a vintage furniture store that was going out of business. There we bought an old vanity stool for $12 and a bunch of accessories (and some other goodies for clients back home - thank goodness for the extra suitcase!). We also went to some used book stores looking for art books and to Target and IKEA.

Once we had all the major items on our list, it was time to sit down and brainstorm a second list that included all the components we would need for the projects of the room. Most of the items from this list were at Michaels, Joanns and Home Depot.

The car was JAM PACKED and it was time to get started on the actual projects for the room.

I took this photo while I was loading up at Home Goods. Two mature ladies in gold sweat suits walked by and said "Oh my goodness! Are you a decorator? Or just a serious shopper?" I said "yes."


Come back tomorrow for all the DIY goodness.