Before & After: Our Bedroom

I have always been a small bedroom type of gal. I like my bedroom to be just for sleeping and napping and chilling. I like it to be a serene, quiet place where no one will go unless they also plan to be silent. Luckily, B feels similarly.

When we first moved in to our apartment, our bed was located in a room that had a bathroom connected to it. This was my first time sleeping in a bedroom with a master bath and I quickly realized I hated it. Is there anything more embarrassing than having to use the bathroom in the night and wondering the whole time if your sleeping significant other is actually listening to you tinkle? And don’t even get me started on other bathroom possibilities. Yuck.

So when I began to rearrange and redecorate our apartment, I began trying to think of ways to make that bathroom off limits. But B’s practicality always prevailed…

Me: Let’s just shut that door and NEVER use that bathroom.

B: But that toilet has the most powerful flush.

Me: Yuck. Well, then fix the other two toilets, so we can shut that door and NEVER use that bathroom.

B: The toilet across the house is fixed, but it is too far away to walk to in the night, in the dark, when we have a toilet RIGHT HERE. (Gestures to toilet that can be seen from bed.)

Me: But that’s the problem, it is RIGHT HERE. (Now I gesture, but construing it as a negative thing.)

B: Seriously, babe, I am not going to walk across the house when I stumble out of bed at 2 in the morning. If you don’t want to see or hear me, then you are going to need to move our bed away from the bathroom. (He shrugs and leaves me to my plans.)

But honestly he had just given me a genius idea; I could move the bed into the office room. The office room has one small window and four walls. No bathroom, no noise and just large enough to fit one king size bed. Perfect.

Thus began the redecorating of our bedroom. First I replaced the curtains, because I genuinely hate mustard yellow – it is in my top 5 most hated colors ever. Next, I painted the walls gray – which I loved. It gave the room a very mellow vibe, good for sleeping, napping and relaxing. I decided to keep the walls mostly empty, except for right above the bed, where I created a small gallery wall of prints we had collected throughout our travels that year.

I hung my first ever shelf and placed a few books, a candle and vase upon it. The room looked great. I was so proud. Then B’s practicality came walking in.

B: You hung a shelf full of breakable things directly above where I sleep.

Me: I totally did! All by myself! Doesn’t it look great?

B: (Tugging on shelf.) It looks dangerous. Like it might kill me in my sleep. Is this screw stripped?

Me: Maybe. I messed up a bit, but it’ll stay up there.

B: (Lifting heavy vase.) This looks heavy. Seriously, are you trying to kill me? Why would you put glass candles and a heavy vase directly above my head?

Me: Stop worrying. And because it looks pretty. And it does look pretty. Admit it.

B: Yes, it looks nice. (Smiles.) Want to bet how long it takes the kitten to break everything on that shelf by dropping it on my head?

Me: No.

The final additions to the room were a standing mirror and a banner from our wedding. I hung the banner on the wall we would wake up to every morning. That way we could be reminded of our “much love”. I placed the mirror in the room because we have a very vain cat, and I knew she would love spending hours curled up on the corner of the bed, basking in the sunlight, admiring her beauty. And she does. That is basically where she spends the majority of her time now. (But, of course, she is a cat, so when I wanted a photo of it she hopped off and walked casually away -  such a very "cat" thing to do.)

Except for every Saturday morning, when she jumps on to the shelf above B’s head and drops books, candles and plants on him. Turns out we were both right: the shelf is dangerous, many things have been broken, but nothing has killed him, not yet.

Before: Our Apartment in Kuwait

It was recently pointed out that I have never really given a “before” home tour of our Kuwait apartment - the way it looked when we arrived. Since I am planning to do a “Before & After” of each room, I thought it might be fun to show where it all began.

The great/terrible thing about teaching abroad is that more often than not your salary includes a "furnished" living space. The great thing about this is that you don't have to try to find a place to rent in a foreign country where you may know little to none of the language (you also don’t have to pay rent). The terrible thing about this is that you have no choice in the matter, you get, what you get and you don’t, throw a fit. End of story.

B and I were very lucky upon moving to Kuwait. Since we were married we were eligible to live in the ‘family’ building and since we were hired early we received an apartment near the top of the building. Therefore, we walked into an 11^th floor, 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom apartment. It was huge. I thought we would never fill it. (Oh, how wrong I was.)

It came “furnished” with some essentials: a bed, two end tables, a couch, a loveseat, a chair, a (gorgeous) dining room table, two dressers, a coffee table, a TV stand (no TV), an oven, a fridge, a washer, and some cupboard space. Beside the bed and the table, everything was very mismatched and showed its age.

The furniture was situated throughout the house so as to give you an idea of what room was what. The dining room table was located as you walked in the front door, the kitchen was located down a hallway past that, as was the laundry room and a bedroom with a bathroom.

The other half of our large living space held the couches, end/coffee tables and TV stand. Beyond this space, was a room identical to the first bedroom, but with a bed in it, there was also a guest bath and a small room at the end that became known as the office. There were no closets in any of the rooms but there were these five ginormous, ugly, but practical, wardrobes.

The absolute best part of our apartment was the view. One wall of the living room was floor to ceiling windows. It was awesome. Even with the construction, the apartment buildings, the roads and the smog, the view was fantastic. Even better we could see the sea touching the sky. This view became the inspiration for the living room. I wanted to bring that sense of endlessness into our space.

The absolute worst part of our apartment was the color. Everything was a version of tan. The walls, the floors, the couches, the pine furniture, the curtains, it was like drowning in sand. I understood the logic, tan doesn’t show the sand that coats everything, but I knew I couldn’t live in this sea of tan. I needed color.

And so began the transformation…

If you like this post, then check out:
How to Make a House a Home
Before & After: My Craft Room
Before & After: Our Bedroom

Before & After: My Craft & Clothes Room

A few days ago I posted my 4 Simple Goals for 2014. It was exciting to post, because it forced me to start working toward them.  After a bit of reflection, I chose to start with number 2, because I love decorating and the idea of carving out a space just for me to create and lounge and work and play sounded amazing. It took 2 days and its not quite finished yet – I still need to add photos and art - but already I love it - and can’t seem to leave it.

My space is an odd shaped room in the back of the apartment. We have two rooms this shape, both with bathrooms coming off of them (B uses the other one for his hobbies, which can be quite messy). Originally, this was our bedroom, simply because that’s where the bed was when we moved in, but a few months ago, I decided to dismantle the bed and move it to a different room and that’s when this space became mine.

The first thing I did was paint the walls a bright white and replace the heavy mustard curtains with sheer white ones. I love how white brightens up a space and makes colors pop. It just inspires me.

Next, I hauled all the furniture I wanted into the room. The space is quite big, but not shaped well at all. The wall with the window is actually curved, so nothing can lay flat against it. I also have two giant, ugly wardrobes that I must keep in the room, because, as much as I hate them, they serve the necessary purpose of holding my clothes.

Once I had everything in the room, I began experimenting with arrangements. This took the better part of a day, with B occasionally wandering in and laughing at me as I tried to manhandle the enormous wardrobes into various positions. Finally, I managed to make them take up as little space as possible, and began the fun part – drilling.

Both B and I are so grateful he taught me the skills needed to drill into concrete. Thinking back to just 6 months ago, when I would have had to ask him to hang every shelf, picture frame and screw, makes us both shake our heads in disgust. That was never fun for either of us. Plus, there is just something so powerful about holding a pulsating drill in your hands and crushing through concrete. (I am WOMAN, hear me ROAR!)

The final step was to organize the mess that is my life. I boiled old Ikea candles and took the glass cups to hold bits and pieces. I found some fun bowls at a market and sorted my earrings and coins and rings. I draped my necklaces, scarves and hair accessories on hooks and hung all my dangly earrings on the window screen. I sorted my embellishments, strings and such into baskets a friend gave me.  The room began to look bright and colorful and fun. I threw myself on the couch and admired the effect. B, somehow sensing the end was near, stuck in his head and whistled.

So cheers to me. I have successfully produced a space I feel happy and creative in – now it's time to get messy.