The blue room - painting the mid-century master bedroom

Painting, painting and painting. It's all we ever really do around here...actually, I lie. We've had a few jobs completed, so I will get you all up to speed with our goings-on over the next few blog posts. But firstly, today is all about our blue master bedroom.

A few weeks ago we painted our bedroom a lovely shade of 1960s light blue. Again, we are trying to match the original colours of the house. Jason has been the chief colour matcher and he seems to be nailing the choice each time he goes to buy the paint. Go Jason!

Our bedroom was a mix of the original light blue colour and white - it seemed to be incomplete, like someone gave up when they were doing the job (and for a change it wasn't me!). We were planning on painting the room white however as with our laundry and kitchen we decided to embrace colour.

Blue suits the space and exudes a nice calming ambiance. We're loving it.

The following is a pictorial of our new lagoona teal coloured bedroom.

This is an after photograph of the painting. This shot is of our built-in dressing table.

Jason also re-painted the door which opens out to our backyard.

A corner of our bedroom with the blue coloured walls

In progress shot of Jason painting the walls

Painting white walls blue

 We still have a few things to do in this bedroom, such as changing the window coverings, and painting above the window frames (it just needs to be freshened up with white paint)...all in good time though.

Revisiting the boys' bedroom makeover

It's been about eight months since we renovated the boys' bedroom (read here) and I thought it was timely to revisit what we did and show you how the room has fared with its two energetic occupants.

Too often one just reads the before and afters in blogs or magazines, but you never really hear how the 'afters' cope with day-to-day living. So, here is my review of what worked well and what didn't...

It would be safe to assume that there are still lots of toys which make its way under both the boys' beds. I was fooling myself to think their Lego stuff could be contained in little wicker baskets...it can't...especially with a mum like me who does not possess a 'picking-up-after-the-kids' mentality.

I just have to get on their back and tell them to move their toys to the playroom under the Sow's Ear. They don't need to bring so much into their room. It is however better than it was.

The white on white colour palette is standing up well. It is still fresh and bright and has given the room a great lift.

The white painted frames which we bought for the vintage Cuban movie prints are looking good and we are really happy with them.

The reality of our children's toys under the bed situation...

The pale wool rug in their room has been okay. It is still shedding wool after all these months which is quite a pain... The rug does adds some extra warmth to the room and stops some of those winter draughts coming through the cracks in the floorboards. One day it will be fur ball free...I hope.

rug fur balls

The block-out blinds we purchased, on the other hand, have been fantastic. They cut out the morning glare and have probably bought us an extra 15 minutes of sleep time in the morning. Those boys are such early risers! The blinds are in great condition despite the heavy-handedness of the boys.

We love a floating shelf but sadly this particular brand of floating shelves has not worked out. They do not sit flush to the wall and have a noticeable lean to them...and that was even when there was nothing on the shelves. Shelving fail! We will probably remove them and buy something that is better designed.

floating shelves in the boys room

Shelving fail when they have a severe lean to them.
The bag hooks we bought for near the bedroom door have also worked out well

All in all, the room is still a lovely space...when it is tidy. If I could find a tidy potion to feed the kids, I would...and then I'd take some myself!

Have you discovered things which don't work out after you've renovated or bought something too? Tell me all...

Buying Florence Broadhurst bed linen

It's mid-year sale time in Australia and I've finally bought the Florence Broadhurst bed linen I have always admired. As my regular readers know, it is my mission in life to never pay full retail and also to not enter a big shopping mall (they depress me).

So it was win, win all round when I discovered from a friendly commentator that Adairs online stocked some of the Florence Broadhurst range and that it gets discounted at sale time. Hooray!

The Japanese floral bed linen with Chinese Key pattern backing

I scurried to the computer and ordered the Japanese Floral quilt cover, Florence Broadhurst Chinese Key pillow cases and some random flannelette sheet set (there is free delivery until June 30).

I really love the pattern of our new quilt, although the overall quality and general finish of the product is not as great as I would have expected...which is a shame...Thank goodness it was heavily discounted...

The Chinese Key pillow cases, on the other hand, are fabulous. I'm kicking myself that I didn't buy the whole sheet set because it is just gorgeous. The sheet set I was after is now sold out.

Florence Broadhurst Chinese Key pillow cases

It is great having some new bed linen this winter. Nothing like a new quilt cover to freshen up a bedroom.

Boys’ room: details

Sponsored by Nuffnang

As you saw in the previous post, the boys’ room is finally done. Thank you so much for all the lovely comments. We are all finding an excuse to hang ‘round in the room to enjoy the newly renovated surrounds. The abomination that was previously their room… is now one of the nicest spaces in the Sow’s Ear.

And it couldn’t have happened without the vouchers Masters Home Improvements generously threw our way. There is no way we would’ve been able to complete the room this year given all the other work we’ve undertaken around here. Thank you Masters.

We are so pleased to have the room renovated and the boys are thrilled to have a bedroom to be proud of. This post will give you the details of some of the items we used to decorate the room (all the hyperlinks will take you to the Masters products we used).

Renovated boy's bedroom in a Queenslander house. 
We wanted a  cleaner more minimal look for this space using a white on white colour scheme for the walls, windows and ceiling.

The room was sanded to remove the very worst of the flaky paint. Jason replaced the window architraves so that they were consistent to the other rooms and he also removed the picture rail which was not original to the house. We replaced all the damaged window fittings too. He bought some reliable new safety goggles for the deconstruction phase, but I think he just wanted to complement his hi-vis uniform.

Beautiful ceiling rose has come up nicely. Vintage Danish glass pendant was purchased second-hand 

We spent a hefty portion of the room budget on paint and painting accessories which we purchased in-store at Masters. The room is painted in our signature Dulux Acrylic Wash n Wear Vivid i.e. straight outta the tin. It works for us and makes a great palette for a crisp looking interior - one coat of undercoat and two top coats on all the walls, doors and windows. 

Freshly painted white walls are a perfect match with framed art work

We framed some vintage Cuban movie posters we had using the Masters white timber picture frames. The frames come with a mat board already to go, making them an easy and cheerful option to display prints and photos.

One of the main problems with the room was the lack of hanging and shelf space. We would trip over school and library bags which were strewn across the doorway. Now the bags have a handy place to reside on a port rack near the door. We bought the black contemporary satin hook board to keep their bags off the floor. No excuses for bags to be anywhere else now!

The boys have a place to hang their bags when they enter the room

Some stylish floating shelves to display their treasures. Attractive baskets make for good sneaky toy storage under their beds.

For some reason, we have a penchant for floating shelves. We installed two for the boys to display their collected items, as they are into figurines and models. It is also handy for their books. 

Another big change we instituted was a brutal cull of the boys’ toys in their room. We’ve rationed them to a couple of square storage baskets for their special things. It’s attractive storage for under the bed. Their bigger toys are under the house now.

The boys have been using the room for nearly two weeks and so far they are keeping it tidy. Hooray! (It might be a different story when they are back at school and kindy though...!)

Gloss white doors make the built-in cupboards disappear in the room. 

The built-in cupboards were also repainted. From brown to white, it looks like a completely different room. Adding new door knobs improved the overall look too.

I also bought some new coat hangers for their built-in cupboards. They store all their shoes in the cupboards, as they already had shoe racks. A cull of their clothes and shoes occurred while we were renovating the room too.

Sleek door knobs bring a new edge to the doors. These knobs are my favourite and are similar to the Arne Jacobsen designed Vola knobs.

The architectural glass and decorative architraves need only the simplest of window treatments. The blinds are always up during the day.

We don’t have any window coverings in the Sow’s Ear but we thought it would be prudent to get some block-outs for this bedroom and the early rising occupants. The boys’ bedroom gets the morning sun! The white Roomaker Oscar roller blinds were by far my favourite, discreet and unobtrusive for the lovely coloured windows.

Neutral rug adds warmth to an all white room. It will also match any bedding we may end up choosing down the track.

I liked the range of affordable wool rugs Masters had online and thought it would be a good way to give warmth to the room. The rugs must be popular as most of them were sold out when I went to order it. The Jora rug comes in a fairly neutral tone blending well into whole scheme. A nice vibrant green rubbish bin is a practical way to inject some colour into the all white room.

Most of the decorator items were chosen and paid for online, which I then organised to pick up at the Masters Tingalpa store when it was ready. This was such a convenient way to organise a bulk purchase, as it meant that I could be in an out of the store when I had Son#3 with me. Quick and easy. And friendly!

Obviously we didn’t purchase every single thing from Masters to renovate the room, but we did try to use as much as possible to get bang for our buck. We had a lot of the timber and brass window hardware already and we made use of a lot of the furniture and soft furnishing items we had in other parts of the Sow’s Ear.(I love using the old Italian military blankets on their beds, with crisp white sheets and their favourite cushions. The blankets are also something they can keep when they are older.)

With vintage pieces, op-shop finds and Masters Home Improvement purchases, I think we’ve made a fairly attractive room which the boys just love.

And compared to the before and during pictures , it’s come a long way, Baby!

P.S

The winnner of our Masters $500 voucher giveaway JenJen QLD is planning to spruce up her home after it had been rented out when they were overseas. She said there was a bit of damage from the tenants, so the vouchers will be put to good use.

She is currently negotiating with her family the following options on which to splurge: a fancy chicken coop which the kids are vying for, a new rug or light fitting or some safety glass fence panels for the pool. So much to choose from!

Boys' bedroom: before and after photos

I was planning on publishing a big long blog post about redoing the boy's bedroom today...but instead I'm just going to show you a big long pictorial of the room. You'll be able to read all the details in the next blog post.

What we have is a bedroom that our two youngest boys can share for the next few years until we build in some rooms underneath the house. Son #2 is seven years old, while Son #3 is four and they are little rascals!

This room would have originally been the Sow's Ear's master bedroom, given it is such a generous size. We are able to comfortably fit two king single beds into the room and it has good clothes storage in the built-in cupboards that were here when we moved in.

I hope you'll enjoy the little tour of the room's evolution.

So here are the afters:

Renovated boy's bedroom in a Queenslander house

Repainting the ceiling has freshened up this room no end. Vintage Danish glass pendant was purchased second-hand 

Freshly painted white walls are a perfect match with framed vintage Cuban movie art

The boys have a place to hang their bags when they enter the room

New shelves and if you squint you'll see Obi-wan riding a horse. They have a collection of Simba knights and horses. There is also a sprinkling of their own artworks.

Gloss white doors make the built-in cupboards disappear in the room. 

The architectural glass and decorative architraves need only the simplest of window treatments. 

Vintage Anna Castelli  Ferrieri componobili cabinet which used to be in Son#1's room. We swapped furniture. Neutral rug adds warmth to an all white room.

Now these images are the befores. (As in the year that we moved to the Sow's Ear in 2009)

This is the bedroom when we moved in. You'll note the cot and change table. This room has evolved from a toddler/baby room to two growing boys sharing a room.

Brown louvre doors. What can I say?

The young occupants back in 2009!

These shots are the during and how the room looked just before we renovated!

Flaky paint work. The 80+ years of paint layers which we added to.

deconstruction phase

sanding and scraping phase

Some gratuitous shirtless Jason shots. For the fans! Don't thank me.

This is a before shot of the room when it was tidy (which was practically never!) in 2010.  Mouldy ceilings and tired colour scheme.

The room as it was a month ago. A great big mess!

So, what do you think?

If you want to find out the details of how we transformed the room, tune in for the next blog post!

Storage, cushions and meatballs

We did a quick trip to IKEA today...that is, with the kids in tow as it is the Spring school holidays. I know. What was I thinking?

Since we've been busily working on the boys' room, we needed an extra IKEA wire storage thingy for the boys' built in cupboards...but do you think I could find the one I was looking for? Unless you know the name of the design, you're stuffed!

The system we've used in the past wasn't on display and I went searching for it online but couldn't for the life of me find it. Admittedly, I was quite confident I would find it on the shelves...again what was I thinking?

In the end, I bought a completely different storage 'solution'... but failed to make sure it would fit in the cupboards. And wouldn't you know it, after 'allen keying' it into its form the stupid thing is too deep for the cupboard by a a couple of centimetres. Aye, yai, yai!

Maybe I can use it for when we renovate the laundry...because I don't fancy taking it back without all the original packing.

Anyway, all was not lost. I let the younger boys choose a cushion each for their room.

ikea cushions which the boys chose

Also, tonight we're having Swedish meatballs for dinner. (Guess who couldn't be bothered doing the grocery shopping? IKEA food will just have to do) I've never had them before, I hope they're ok...

Hoping the Kottbullars are an ok dinner option!

Just one final thing. The Master's promotion I've been spruiking here ends tonight. You can win $500 worth of vouchers to undertake your own refurbishment project. Click here to win. There's only 30 or so entries, so your odds of winning are great.

It is such a useful prize...I know that we've put our vouchers to good use...and here is a sneaky peek of part of the boys' room.

boys' room - still need to finalise a few things before it is completely done.

Boys' room progress

I always say this when we renovate a room...but it is amazing what a difference a coat of paint makes to an entire space. 

We painted the boys' ceiling and are now on to the final coat for the walls. We've undercoated it and have done one top coat. We'll finish the second coat tonight...because we are groovers and spend our Friday nights painting...cra..cra..crazy!

Boys' room being painted

White, white, white room

I'm also organising some of the decorative elements for the room. Last year, my mate Jo from Desire to Inspire gave us a few reproduction Cuban movie poster prints which are just amazing. I've been meaning to frame them for a long time, so this room renovation is a perfect excuse to get them ready. The boys' are cool with them as well and I've been given the green light to hang them in their room.

Moby Dick Cuban movie poster

More Cuban movie posters

This weekend we plan to paint the windows and install new window hardware. And if time allows we'll remove the louvre doors from the built-in cupboards and give them a coat or two of paint.

Anyway, that is the state of play with the boys' room at the moment. Hopefully we're on target to get the room ready for the final reveal in a couple of weeks time... Stay tuned!

P.S Don't forget the Masters giveaway where you have the chance to win $500 worth of Masters gift vouchers to spend on your next home and garden project. Click here to win!

The back of the linen cupboard

The things you find when you are cleaning up the linen cupboard...

I had an organising bug and de-cluttered the linen cupboard and some of our wardrobes.

Linen cupboard

And I found this old embroidered lace bedspread I bought on sale from David Jones about 16 years ago. I know. It's so girly and fussy - not something that would be normally associated with this blog!

white on white embroidered bedspread

I've used it about twice in the time that I've owned it and had quite forgotten about it. Yesterday it had an outing.

I left the drab Italian military blanket on the bed and placed the white on white embroidered bedspread on top, tucking in the sides. I really like the look of it in our room. (I didn't ask what Jason thought).

Maybe I'm turning shabby chic?

Maybe the reason the bedspread is never used is because I should iron it...ha!