Over my 2-week blogging break, I suddenly got the urge to purge… and I literally purged every single closet, cabinet, drawer, shelf, nook, and cranny of our home.
Nothing was safe! 🙂
As I was purging our master bedroom, I decided to move our bed and dust really well behind the headboard. As I was dusting behind the bed, I figured it was time to rotate the mattress. And THEN after I rotated the mattress, I decided I really wanted to move the entire bed to a new location in our room (are you getting that “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie” vibe yet?)
After I moved the bed around, I realized all the other furniture needed to be tweaked and moved as well. And as I was moving the other furniture, I decided I wanted to swap some of our furniture with furniture in other places in our house.
Whew!
Believe it or not, Dave graciously helped me move ALL the bedroom furniture in our entire house one Saturday afternoon — and we ended up giving all 4 bedrooms mini makeovers without spending a dime!
The kids thought it was great to have “new bedrooms” and Dave and I are also thrilled with our mini bedroom makeover.
Even though I loved our bedroom before we made these changes, it was starting to feel “stale” after almost 6 years with everything in the exact same spots. Now, our room feels bigger, more open, lighter, and even “happier” with the changes we made.
It’s amazing that just moving some furniture around makes the entire house feel fresh and new again without spending any money at all!
I’ll share the kids’ bedrooms later… but today, you can enjoy a few pictures of our mini Master Bedroom Makeover.
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Now for a few Before + After pictures!
The top photos below are the “before” pictures; the bottom photos are the “after” pictures.
However, if you’d like to see the ORIGINAL before + after photos (back when our bedroom used to be bright purple) you can read all about that transformation here!
THE WINDOW WALL
It might just be because it looks “different” but I also think our new arrangement (bottom photo) feels more open when we walk into the room. And even though we have the same number of items in our room, it feels like we have more floor space to move around.
The photos above show how we moved my white dresser out and shifted Dave’s green dresser (which is shallower) into it’s place. We also moved the rocking chair and necklace ladder from another corner in the room. AND we removed the foot board of our bed — which might be one of the reasons things feel more open.
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THE SCREEN DOOR CORNER
I LOVED having the bed coming out of the corner on an angle, but as I mentioned above, the room really does feel much larger and more open after we pushed the bed against the wall.
We removed our bulky comforter and opted for a lighter blanket on top for summer. We have a white sheet, a thin cream blanket and a thin brown blanket — we always had the brown blanket on top… but I love the look of the cream right now (and we can always switch them around when Fall hits).
I like the look of the wicker bench under the window; and as you might notice, the ONLY thing in the same spot is the red screen door! I thought it might be weird to keep the door propped up against the wall (it’s actually screwed in so it won’t fall down) but I still really like how it looks so I’m planning to keep it… at least for now!
Also, the white side table below was my Grandma’s sewing cabinet. I repainted it years ago and we’ve been using it upstairs for the past couple of years. We swapped out the black stool we were using as a bedside table (behind our bed) for this larger table with storage drawers.
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THE CLOSET CORNER
You can see the red dresser better in the photo above — I LOVE how it fits just perfectly under the window and I’m not sure why I never thought of moving that in here before!
It serves as a convenient “night stand” for me as well and I’ve been using the top left drawer to keep chapstick, a book, and my phone charger — all things I never kept by my bed before. Plus, it’s a great place to set my water bottle during the night (I had previously just set it on the floor).
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THE LONG SIDE WALL
Dave and I both thought this long wall would look too bare and open once we moved his green dresser over (it’s the only wall in our bedroom without any doors or windows). But then I had the bright idea to move my necklace ladder and rocking chair over to the far corner of the room (it was over by the closet) and it doesn’t feel too open or bare for me. I think the ladder adds good height to that side of the room, and the wooden star decor adds some interest as well.
Dave thinks we should try to find something else to put up on the long wall… but I’m not sure what would look best. I definitely don’t want anything too small or cluttery. I have thought about finding a longer/shorter dresser for Dave so it takes up more of the wall, and then doing some sort of photo collage above it — but that would require buying something new, and this was such a last-minute makeover that we didn’t have time to look for anything new.
Maybe I’ll find something perfect at an antique store, but for now, this is good enough for us!
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It’s so interesting to me how much joy and satisfaction I’ve gotten from our mini makeover — and Nora has been obsessed with keeping her “new room” clean and picked up. Even Simon and James seem excited about the changes in their rooms.
It was definitely a worth-while afternoon of playing “musical furniture” in our house.
I’ll be back next week with another mini-makeover!
red2red says
Beautiful bedroom! So peaceful looking!
We are going to be some painting. What is the color of your walls – are they antique white?
Thanks!
Susan says
I am so intrigued by your comment of removing the footboard, and now I wonder if I can do it on my bed frame, too! That would not only make our bed more functional and user-friendly, but it would also open up the room and I would stop bruising my hip on it when I run into it about once per month! Ha! I’ve been itching to makeover our bedroom also, but am waiting until we replace the windows…I’ll have to move furniture at that time anyways, so I might as well wait. But I’ve been waiting for a year now, so I am hoping hubby gets on the window-replacing this fall!
Andrea says
We have our bed on a metal frame and just attach the headboard and footboard to that separately. So it was really easy to remove the footboard. If your footboard is actually tied into your bed frame, you probably won’t be able to remove it as easily.
Also, don’t wait for new windows — Just rearrange your furniture now. It will only take you and hour and you can always do it again when the windows come. 🙂
Chris says
I absolutely love it!
Maria says
Love the new look! So glad you kept the stars, screen door and rocking chair. I think they add a sense of whimsy to the room. I especially like the fact that you can transform a room without spending a dime.
Andrea says
Thanks Maria — the wooden stars might just be my favorite part of the whole room!
Michelle says
Vinyl cut wall words in the saying “Always Kiss Me Goodnight” would look nice on the wall above your bed. I like the new arrangement. I love your decorating style.
Denise Z says
LOVE the new look! I always liked your bed angled in that corner, so I’m surprised how much I like the change–it’s a whole new look and does seem to open up the room more. The red dresser next to the bed pulls the color out of the quilt even more. And I adore that screen door–glad you saved it!
Andrea says
Thanks Denise! I was surprised how much I liked it too. It’s been about 3 weeks now and I still feel happy every time I walk into my “new” space!
Debbie says
I like the changes you made in your master bedroom! I adore those 2 stars on the walls and it does give the room a bit of a wow once you walk in. I agree that removing the foot board on the bed gave the bed and the room a more open feeling. It’s one of the reason I don’t like foot boards in beds, plus all the tucking of linens would be such a pain. A low and long dresser on that long wall would look great! Leaning that same mirror and doing your photo collage idea will fill the upper half of the wall. For now, what you’ve done looks awesome!
Andrea says
Thanks for your tips Debbie. I’ll keep my eye out for a longer dresser 🙂
Lynn says
I love the bedroom, either way! Your decorating style is perfect! Thanks for sharing!
Andrea says
Thanks so much Lynn 🙂
mara says
LOVE moving around furniture!! Looks perfect 🙂
Andrea says
Thanks 🙂
Sarah says
It’s amazing what a little rearranging can do to change the landscape of your room. Looks great!
Andrea says
Thanks Sarah 🙂
Gabriela says
Looks great! When I was a teenager I use to change my bedroom furniture every year or a few times per year – and that included my huge posters that sometimes covered the walls (Backstreet Boys, Leonardo diCaprio. 🙂 🙂 ). Fun times!!! But now……I don’t know why I don’t do it. Maybe I don’t want to confuse either hubby or daughter with new placement of things! I like the change of rooms – more exciting!! 🙂
Can’t wait to see the other bedrooms. 🙂
Andrea says
Thanks Gabriela!
I never EVER moved my furniture growing up — in fact, my bedroom at my parents house is still arranged in exactly the same way and they use it as a guest bedroom 🙂
However, after Dave and I bought our first house, I quickly realized how much I LOVED rearranging things for a fresh new look and feel. I love that it’s frugal too!
Erin says
Very nice!!
Sue says
Maybe you could just hang the mirror to the side and move an 8×10 or a couple 5×7 pictures to the top of the dresser? Unless of course you need more storage for your husband!
Anne says
Hi Andrea,
I have not commented often, since many times I think the same as many other readers 🙂
However, I just wanted to comment today as I love how David just got along with your “impulse” ideas (impulse in a positive way) and helped you, and how you are trying to accommodate his wishes for the long wall. Not that I’m amazed since you both work well together as per your years of posting… but I just wanted to highlight it today as it warmed my heart.
I love that you show positive family and couple interactions 🙂
Andrea says
Thanks so much for your kind words, Anne! And don’t feel bad about not commenting — I’d guess that less than 1% of readers actually leave comments 🙂
Tina says
Love the way it looks! You’ve inspired me to do my room!
As for the long wall, how would it be to put the screen door where the ladder and stars are. And then the ladder and stars where the red door was. That might add some width to the long wall.
Andrea says
Good ideas Tina! I’ve thought about that — but I just LOVE seeing that screen door the moment I walk into the room. Plus, it’s screwed into the wall over there! 🙂 We’ll keep tweaking things and see what we come up with. I also want to put something over the bed headboard as well.
JoDi says
Love the changes! It really does look more spacious!
Andrea says
Thanks JoDi!
Tara says
Well, I don’t tend to do it often, but when I work up the motivation to do a deep cleaning of the house (behind and under large furniture) I often end up “remodeling” like this too.
I recently re-did my front room by completely rearranging furniture and taking a grouping of pictures (similar to your barn photo shelves but much larger frames) off my mantle and hanging them on the wall. Then I had fun curating a collection of unique vintage white glass and brass vases and bowls from garage sales and thrift stores. In small containers, I arranged small driftwood pieces and agates/semi precious stones/shells etc.e’ve collected on our trips to the Oregon coast and large pinecones from Eastern Oregon to display on our mantle.
We all love it. The kids are so pleased that I’m displaying their “treasures” and I’ve started keeping a large brass vase of inexpensive fresh greenery in the center of my mantle – makes the room feel so fresh to have all that nature indoors. I feel like it’s a very “Pacific NW” style of decor now. No new furniture or accessories, and maybe $40 over a few months of collecting vases. Everything seems brighter and more spacious. So much fun!
Andrea says
haha — I don’t dust under or behind the bed very often either, but I’m sure glad I did it a couple weeks ago! We’re just loving our new bedroom arrangement (and it sounds like your family is enjoying your “new space” as well!)
Chris says
Andrea it looks fantastic! I especially love the red dresser next to the bed. I wanted to do the same in my bedroom but my wall isn’t long enough. I have ALWAYS enjoyed rearanging rooms to give them a fresh look and, I’m always moving smaller pieces from room to room.
Andrea says
Thanks — I love the red dresser too. It’s always been my favorite dresser in the house and now I finally get to use it 🙂
Stephanie says
I like it this way better! And I think not having too tall dressers along that wall makes your room look bigger and less cluttered. I would be afraid to add anything else because it would be cluttered. How fun! I too enjoy rearranging rooms!
Andrea says
yeah, I never liked how that long wall looked before — and it’s still not totally 100% in my opinion, but I like it better 🙂
Karen says
I love moving furniture around. Your room looks great!