Master Bedroom update

We 'finished' our master bedroom a year ago. I was happy with how it turned out but I always felt like it was a bit too blue. I bought the blue bedding before we moved into the house, and then we decided to paint the walls a light gray color. The color we chose is called "Light french gray" but when we put it on the walls we discovered it was more blue than gray. Luckily we love the color but combined with the blue bedding its a bit of blue overkill.

So for the past couple of months I've been thinking about how I can switch it up a little without buying a bunch of new stuff.

I found these pillows at Target and did a happy dance in the aisle when I discovered they had been marked down to $10 in the after Christmas sale! I think technically they are 'winter' pillows but since I am drawn to cool colors I think they can work year round.

Unfortunately they didn't work with the blue duvet so I started looking for a light gray one. I checked Ross, Home Goods, TJMaxx, and Marshall's regularly with no luck, and then finally I found a dark gray set at Home Goods.

I was worried it might be a bit dark and masculine, so to soften it a little I made white pillow cases for our big square pillows out of a twin sheet. They aren't perfect but for $8 and a little time they are perfect enough for me!

And that's how we made the change from this:

To this:

I love it! It seems so much fresher and modern and the gray doesn't seem too dark at all!

Next I wanted to spruce up the bay window a little. It looked like this for a while:

Then I moved the ottoman downstairs so it has looked like this for the past couple of months:

I thought some light and airy curtains would add some nice softness to the room. Originally I had planned to hang curtains on all the windows but I couldn't get the curtain rods to work on the small windows so I just hung them on the big window (does it look weird?). They are the same Ikea curtains I used in the living room and they aren't the highest quality but at $10 for 2 panels they're unbeatable! The black chair is relocated from the family room - we never sat on it down there. Its a little bulky for the small bay window but its free so we'll make it work!

I don't know what the deal is with our pets but they are constantly trying to get into the picture!

What do you think? Is it an improvement or is the gray too dreary?

Progress

A miracle has happened - we finally finished a room! I am very excited to share these photos and even more excited to have a relaxing bedroom.

Here are the 'before' photos, taken when we first moved in:

Things we didn't like:
1. Dirty, dusty builder white paint from when the house was built
2. Hideous valance and side curtains
3. Vertical blinds with many pieces missing
4. Eye-sore of a ceiling fan
5. Old-ish carpet covered in dog hair

What we did:
1. Painted the room Light French Gray (its actually more blue than gray)
2. Threw valance and curtains in the trash
3. Installed white faux wood blinds from Home Depot
4. Installed inexpensive white ceiling fan from Lowe's
5. Vacuumed the carpet numerous times with the Dyson (When we win the lottery we will rip out all the carpet upstairs and put down laminate - we both dislike carpet)

And here are the 'after' shots:

The 3 pictures above the dresser are a photo I found of the Philly skyline (Josh's home town). I cut it into thirds and framed each one individually.

I think the cat photos above our nightstands might be a bit much but we felt like we needed something above the lamps - any suggestions on what else to put in those frames?

In case you care where everything came from:
Dresser, nightstands, and standing mirror are from Ikea
Ottoman is from Target
Bedding is from Costco (sheets) and JCPenney (duvet cover and shams - on sale!)
Lamps are from Home Goods
Headboard is homemade

Speaking of the headboard (that I am very proud of, by the way!) here are some close up detail shots:

We were hoping make our bedroom a relaxing retreat and are pretty happy about how it turned out!