Master Bedroom/Bathroom Makeover!

If you've ever watched TLC's "What Not to Wear," you know that at least half the episodes are about moms who spend all their time and effort on everyone/everything else, and consequently walk around looking like total hags or Plain Janes...until Stacy and Clinton transform them, that is. Our master bedroom and bathroom were the home decor equivalent of those women: I spent all my effort making the rest of the house look decent, because those are the parts everyone else sees, and never bothered much with our own room. The walls were unpainted, clutter was everywhere, the girls brought random stuff in and out at will, and it was totally blah.

Last month, after living in this house for three years and swearing I would never ever attempt painting our huge bedroom after the epic saga of the hallway, I suddenly felt compelled to transform our reject of a room into something lovely...and tranquil...and free of Dora stickers,Lego pieces, or Cream-of-Wheat-colored walls.

I must warn you: I have no decorating expertise whatsoever. If you are someone who frequents home decor blogs or Martha Stewart magazines, you may be horrified to find that our home is occupied by actual humans. We have noses and allergies, and thus there are Kleenex boxes and trash cans to be seen. Although the approved equation for the number of pillows on one's bed seems to be (number of pillows actually needed) x (number of people who sleep in the bed) + 26, we each have two...and I'm not buying more so I can spend a minute of my life every night unpiling them onto a decorative chair that serves no purpose, either. The books on our bookcase are not carefully selected to make us look highly intelligent yet slightly whimsical. Most of our furniture is hand-me-down and isn't necessarily matchy, and we're OK with that, too. In short, this may not be impressive to anyone other than us, but I must say, I am in loooooove with this room now. Like, if I wasn't already married to Bear...and if I couldn't figure out a way to bring Spike from "Buffy" out of my TV and into this world...and if Darren Criss, the newest jailbait totally legal young man from "Glee," called me a cougar and spurned my advances...and if Andre Ethier refused my demands that he leave his family, shave his head, and always wear his batting helmet...wait, what was I talking about again? Oh, yes. The room. I love the room.

Here's the master bathroom before (and yes, I totally did that thing they do in magazine makeovers, where the person is all pasty-white and slumped over in the "before" pic and then has a fabulous tan and a huge, winning smile in the "after" pic--in other words, I did no cleaning or foofing prior to taking the "before" pics, though obviously I did so for the "afters"):


And here it is now, in "Swan Sea" by Behr:


Here's the bedroom before (you can see our paint swatches above the bed, evidence of our lengthy quest for a color that didn't look like a baby's nursery, our living room color, or a dungeon):


Bedroom after (also Behr's "Swan Sea"):


The wall color looks slightly less green and more blue in person, and it's exactly what we wanted: spa-like and relaxing, and not at all reminiscent of mushy breakfast foods!

Best of all, the whole makeover cost under $300:

Paint: 2 cans = $50
White curtains: $60 for 6 panels at Target
Wall art: $80 at Home Goods and $25 at Big Lots
Bedding: $70 at Target

Not bad, eh? Someday, we'll get newer furniture and replace the ugly lighting fixture in the bathroom and such, but for now, it's a HUGE improvement, and I'm pretty proud of it. Our room feels like a retreat now, and not like a dumping ground for junk and toys...and that's worth the little pang of guilt I get when I spend money on Unnecessary Things!