Using your wits | Three Tips to Update a Room

Happy New Year Readers!

It's a new year and that means it's a new year of new projects.  Here's 2013's accomplishments just in case you missed them.  And thanks so much for your support!

First project up-- our Master suite.  After all, this is the place I sleep, work on some of my posts, surf the web for clients and relax after a long day of work. My nest...

My ultimate goal was to create a sophisticated comfortable look that is child and dog friendly.

When I met my husband over ten years ago, he owned a very lovely traditional bedroom suit.  It has definitely served its purpose over the years (17 years to be exact) and I have been longing for a new bedroom suit that speaks my language.

After all, we are coming up on our 10 year  wedding anniversary and it would be nice to love the furniture in "our" bedroom.  Are you with me?
                                

We have gone back and forth about selling or painting the furniture.  It always seems like something else on our "to do" list prevails every time the conversation comes up.  Naturally.

What's a girl to do?  Well, when all else fails...you gotta use your wits.  Or in my case "your pennies".

Here are 3 tips to update a room inexpensively. (of course!)

Change out your hardware: It eventually clicked with what to do with Mr. House's furniture, change the hardware, duh. So I did.

I instantly fell in love with the furniture, not again, but enough.  And Mr. House was pleasantly surprised at my solution.  That, my friends, is called a compromise; The story of my life.

The old hardware had a 2 inch space between the 2 holes that screw into the drawers which is a size the local hardware store doesn't carry. I did a search on Goggle for "2 inch mount drawer pulls."  I found many sites with reasonable contenders.  These aged brass handles are what I decided on. This is a perfect solution when you don't want to paint or make major alterations to an existing piece of furniture.

New Paint Color: Honestly, our Master bedroom is the one place that hasn't ever been really finished.  Every other room has it's flair, but this one hasn't quiet found its voice. In 2012, we painted our bedroom a deep oatmeal color.  To prep for that, we removed the curtains and I never hung them back up.  (We move quick around here people.)  Really, I tossed around with the bare windows with wood blinds thing for a while.  What do you think of the new paint color?

New Curtains: Our windows need 102 " length curtains and that can be very pricey when purchasing curtains.  I have seen some pins on Pinterest using the canvas painters drop cloth for curtains.  What have I got to lose, right?  I found that these drop cloths come in lots of sizes and almost exactly the same lengths I needed for our tall windows.   You just have to measure your windows for the desired length and buy the appropriate measurements in a already sewn drop cloth.  I need 102" panels, so I purchased the 6ft by 9ft drop cloth.   The only sewing required is the hem.  

The drop cloth comes very stiff once taken out of the package.  I washed mine and to my surprise, they became this beautiful textured linen-like material.  I hung them on clip rings immediately after coming out of the dryer and never even had to iron them.  Perfect.

In my approximate dimensions each panel costs $20.   I needed 6. That's $120 for 6 curtain panels.  

Extra tip: When I hang my curtain panels, I always keep a clip on the other side of the curtain rod arm.  This way when you close them (or a toddler pulls them) they always stay all the way to the end making for a neater look.

Here's more painters drop cloth curtain ideas on a board I created on Pinterest.

Do you have a room that isn't finished?  What do you think about canvas drop cloth curtains? Is your dresser screaming for new hardware? 

Contact me at HousebyHolly@yahoo.com for a consultation.  Let this be the year your rooms get finished!

From my house to your house, Happy Hunting!

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Linking to:
Thrifty Decor Chick, Savvy Southern Style