Bedroom Progress and Plans

Hello, hello!  Happy Friday everyone.  I'm here today with an apartment update that I am just super thrilled about!  Those who read my tutorial for a DIY framed jewelry organizer on Wednesday may have noticed that things looked a bit different in the bedroom.  And the new setup for the dresser wasn't the only thing we changed in there, we have an entirely new layout!

Last time you saw my bedroom, it was almost 2 months after we moved into the new apartment, and it was looking something like this:

There was still junk everywhere.  The only thing we had really done to the bedroom was get our new bed all set up.  Besides that, everything was just kind of thrown in wherever it fit.

Even after we cleared up most of the clutter, and put everything where it all belonged, the layout still wasn't ideal.  The furniture just felt like it was thrown in wherever, probably because it was ;).

The bed pretty much visually took up the entire bedroom.  Even though our bedroom is pretty large, having it stick out right in the middle like that made the entire room feel small and cramped.

There was about three feet of walking space between the foot of the bed and the wall.  Since we had to be able to get to the other side of the room, we couldn't put anything on that wall.  Which just left a nice long span of boring white wall.

Initially, we put my vanity under the window.  It seemed perfect, since there was a little nook cutout in the wall for the window, so the vanity was kind of nestled in there.  I really wanted to like this placement, I really did.  I loved the idea of all the natural light streaming in when I was getting pretty.

But it just never felt right to me.  I hated those awkward spaces left on either side of the vanity since it didn't fill the whole width of the space.  I also wanted to hang some things up near my vanity area (a mirror, my framed jewelry organizer) but this space had very limited wall space for things like that because of the window.

The dresser also had to move.  This was probably the worst placed piece of furniture when we moved in, we just never bothered to fix it.  There was about two feet of room left between the right of the dresser and the wall for some reason.  This area quickly turned into a dumping zone for the last bit of clutter that hadn't found a home yet.  The left corner of the dresser was also uncomfortably close to the corner of the bed, so walking between them - while not impossible - was not the easiest thing.

The other side of the bedroom was pretty boring.  It was basically just our lamp (which had to go there to plug into the outlet connected to the switch), some laundry baskets, and a mirror we haven't hung up yet.

After coming up with a basic plan for where we wanted to move all our furniture, we dug in and started the heavy lifting.  With everything in it's new place, here is what you're now greeted with when you walk in the room:

It's still far from a completed 'after' view, but it still makes me feel 100x better whenever I walk in that room now.  It feels so much more open and welcoming, I love it!

Melissa and I initially played around with the idea of simply moving the bed to middle of the other long wall (the one the dresser, lamp and laundry baskets used to be on) but decided against it.  We figured we'd still end up with the same problems we were having now (the narrow walking spaces, cramped feeling of the room).  So we decided to move the bed to the window wall and see how we liked it there.

We were a little scared about how it would look with the off-center window, but we both agree we're glad we decided on this placement.  The only mild drawback about this is the weird maybe foot of space behind the right side of the headboard, because of the window nook.  But you can't even tell it's there unless you're literally standing there looking for it, so it doesn't bother me.  And maybe I can make it into some sort of secret storage space?

Now the only things left to do on this side of the room is to hang curtains, and get some larger matching nightstands.  I'm picturing something with a drawer on top, then open storage below.  I'm always drawn to white nightstands, but not sure how that will look with out black bed frame.  What do you guys think?

I'd also love to eventually get a nice long bench for the end of the bed.  Right now our laundry baskets, and Dakota's ottoman (so our munchkin can still get on and off the bed) are living at the foot of the bed.  But I've always wanted a bench at the end of my bed.  With the old layout, and limited floor space at the foot of the bed, it was never a possibility. But now, the doors are wide open and the possibilities are endless!

Moving on to the other side of the room, my vanity ended up where the laundry baskets used to be.  I am much happier with where it is now, especially because I can hang my huge mirror above it again, like I had in our last bedroom.  I also want to pare down what I have on top of the vanity (no one needs three jewelry boxes) and do a little styling.

One of the major things that needs to get done in this corner is painting the vanity.  I agreed that when we moved, we would finally de-pink our bedroom, so re-painting all the furniture has been on our list since we settled in.  I'm not sure what I want to do with it, but I'm thinking I'd like some gold or bling going on.  Definitely still feminine, just not punch-you-in-the-face hot pink.

We also need to get our floor length mirror hung up.  The HUGE brown thing behind the pink mirror is actually a gigantic mirror, which we plan to use instead of the dinky pink one.  Since the mirror is super heavy, we're just working on how exactly to secure it, so there's no risk that it falls onto a certain little munchkin that lives here.

On the other side of the closet door is where our dresser now sits, all decked out with the rest of my girly accessories.  This may be the most put together spot in the room.  I think the only thing that really needs to get done in this spot is repainting the dresser.  Again, don't really have a specific plan for what it will end up looking like, just different than what it is now.

The last wall in our room is completely bare at the moment, and we're still trying to put together what we'd like to do with it.  We want to put something on it, but don't want to block off the entrance from the door to the room.  We may add the large mirror to this wall, and we may be getting a dresser for Melissa to put there.  We'll see what happens.  For now this is Dakota's little area, with her crate and bed.

And that finishes up the tour of the new bedroom!  It is just a million times better than the old layout in my mind, which helps so much to feel that we are on the right path with this room.  So lets break down what is on the official 'Bedroom To-Do' list as of now:

• Hang curtains
• Replace nightstands
• Hang full length mirror
• Hang vanity mirror
• Re-paint vanity and dresser
• Re-paint and re-cover vanity chair
• Hang art
• Find a bench for the foot of the bed

It really doesn't seem like that much once I list it all out!  As always I'm pumped to see how this room progresses, and what shape it will take.  What do you guys think?  I'm always looking for suggestions, what would you do next in this room?