Ready, Set, Move In Part VI – Master Bedroom
When we bought That 70s House we knew we had a few challenges in the master bedroom. While the master was a good size, there were some awkward things about it.First, the bedroom had these really strange “windows” that over looked our family room on the main level. This just seemed so odd to me……..why would anyone want an opening to the master like that? Privacy, hello? Was this not always used as the master back in the 70s? So confusing to me! So obviously this needed to be addressed.
The previous owners had installed a really long blind over the “windows” which was no longer operational. This was not an acceptable solution for me. The most baffling part is the previous owners had three kids! Back to the privacy thing……..this just seemed so wrong. Since it’s just Barry and I and our fur child, this wasn’t as big of a privacy thing, but it would still be awkward if we had family in town, etc. Since our timeline was tight and so was the budget, dry walling over these “windows” was also not the solution, but I was pretty stumped on what to do with them. I moved on to picking some other things while still pondering this annoying issue in the back of my mind.
We already had bedding, so I needed to pick paint and furniture that would go well. As I mentioned in my bedroom posts, we gave up what used to be the master bedroom furniture in our old house because it wouldn’t fit in the moving truck we drove out to Colorado. This was ok with me since I was ready for something new anyway. I had it for a long time and I wanted something “fresh” for our new house 🙂 I started looking for furniture but was already set on the idea of having a darker wood since our previous furniture was blonde wood. I found a really simple dark set I really liked at Crate & Barrel in the Oliver collection, but it was a bit more than we wanted to spend so I kept looking. Finally, I found something that looked VERY similar. Where you ask? IKEA! Granted, they are not quite equivalent in construction, but lets be honest, I don’t need furniture that will out live me. Why? Because chances are I won’t even still like it in 10-15 years and I will be ready for something new anyway. And with the Ikea option coming in at only $600, this was an easy decision. We went with the Malm collection and bought the following pieces, 2 three drawer chests, 2 four drawer chests, 1 six drawer chest and the glass pieces to go on top of all of them. If you have ever shopped in Ikea before you probably know most of the furniture there tends to be small scale and lower to the ground, as a big part of their business is geared toward city living in very tight spaces and shorter furniture gives an illusion of additional space since you are not visually blocking your sight lines. Anyway, we found some of the pieces were too short for us. For example, the actual nightstand they sell in the Malm collection is only 21 inches tall. We have a big pillow top mattress that also sits on a frame and box spring, totaling 30 inches. Using a 21 inch tall nightstand would have just been too short. As a result, we decided to go with the 3 drawer chest as our nightstands which are just the right height at 31 1/2 inches and a more substantial piece. The other height problem we ran into was with the long dresser in the Malm collection. We were planning to put this on the wall opposite of our bed and this would be where our TV would go (yes, we are TV in the bedroom people). At 30 3/4 inches tall, we were almost looking down to the TV, so we opted to put two four drawer units together. This was the same as the long dresser option, only one drawer higher, which was perfect! These are the pieces I found at Ikea.
Next, I had to pick paint. I wanted something a little darker and rich but not too dark that our furniture would blend in. So I headed to Lowes to pick the paint. I NEVER pick a paint without taking the paint chips home first. I go through all the samples and grab everything in the realm of what I am thinking and take them home. I usually leave with about 25 paint chips. I swear, one day they are going to tell me I have taken too many! I decide on a color called Java by Valspar in a satin finish and we got to work painting.
Now that I had my paint and furniture squared away, I could re-focus my energy on those stupid “windows”. I had to come up with something because I really wanted to put our bed on that wall and quite frankly, these things just drove me nuts! I also really wanted an extra tall headboard, so my first thought was to just make a headboard that covered the openings. One problem, the “windows” are wider than the bed. Of course they are! Hummmm…….. I was also contemplating doing something decorative behind our nightstands, like long mirrors, but the “windows” were in the way. I still wanted something behind the nightstands though to give some contrast between the walls and the furniture. Ahh-ha! What if I did curtains? This would add some color and hide the rest of the “windows” that wouldn’t be behind the headboard! I liked it! to make sure the windows didn’t look silly from the family room view, I screwed in a piece of thin plywood from the bedroom side that completely covered the windows. I painted both sides of the wood so each side would match the wall color of the corresponding side.
Here is the finished product! I made the headboard to accommodate the dimensions I was after.
