Blog Meet Bench, Bench Meet Blog

I have a story to tell you... it is about a woman who wanted to freshen up her master bedroom. She had already investing a lot of time and money, especially money, into this bedroom. And yet she hated it.

HATED IT.

She decided she had WAY too much invested to hate the room so she set off to TJ Maxx with the intention of spending about $100 to get what she needed to upgrade the bedroom.

And it worked!!!

She found everything she needed, a new quilt, pillows, a curtain panel and a few accessories. But wait... what is that over there. Over there in the furniture section.

A bench.

A glorious bench, nothing like that the woman would typically buy. It was very different. Iron base... which was good, the room already had too much wood. Zebra upholstered top.... ZEBRA I TELL YOU!!!

It was too different. It was too much.

She left it.

She went home and feel back in love with her bedroom as the new items fixed all that was wrong with the bedroom. Paint landed on a desk and her workspace was transformed.

But, she coveted the bench. She couldn't live without it. It was all she thought about.

So just few days later she returned for the amazing bench.

It. Was. Gone.

GONE I TELL YOU!!!

She visited every TJ Maxx, Marshalls and Home Goods in the area. She enlisted the help of friends (Hi Cass!!!), Googled herself silly.

No bench.

And then, last week... she returned to TJ Maxx with her good luck charm (Hi Cass!!!) and what did she find... no, not the exact bench, but just about as close as you can imagine. This one, has a brown base, not black, and the top is brown and black zebra not white and black.

Oh yes, It because mine!!!

Blog Meet Bench, Bench Meet Blog.

 

Soooo now... the question is, do I just live with this bench, or do I try to transform it into THE bench... I turned to my friend photoshop for some advise.

Here is the bench with black legs:

 

 

Me likey.

And here is the bench with the black legs and white and black top:

 

Wow.

Do you have any idea how out of character this bench is for me??? Do you have any idea how much I love it!!!

I'm going to live with the pictures for a while and see what I want to do... either way, that tag is coming off. The bench is MINE!!!

They Never End

Circles that its... they have no beginning and no end. And while adding circles to our master bedroom wasn't something we planned to do, they were on two of the first elements that I found to reinvent it a couple of months back.

As the room was coming together I remember the minister who performed out wedding referencing our wedding rings and how they had no beginning and no end and it clicked... circles were something I wanted to bring into the room. It isn't an overt romantic gesture, like the dreams sign, but they bring a smile to my face as I look at them.

 

Some Dreams...

Ok - so I'll be the first to admit, this project is a bit on the mushy side. But it is for our master bedroom and if there is any room in the house where you shouldn't be afraid to go mushy, it is the bedroom.

I wanted a sign to go over our bed. Something romantic, but not overly so. Lets face it - we aren't really the romantic type. We went to Disney on our honeymoon...

Being ever budget "aware" and desperate to reduce some of the "junk" we've accumulated over the years, I decided to just grab some of the scrap wood we have in the garage. The only issue, it was already stained, nothing some sandpaper couldn't handle.

Ta-daaaah

Next up: Paint.  I picked 3 colors, a brown for the base, cream for the 2nd coat and a soft green as the top coat.

And here is where I stopped taking pictures. I'm still getting the hang of this...

But I can talk about what came next. I wanted the sign to have age, character... so I roughed it up a bit prior to adding the words. Then, I printed out my quote to use as a reference for my lettering. I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

Here is a close up of the detail:

You may wonder why there are 2 pieces of wood, having not done this before, I wasn't sure how it would turn out. Figured it was easier to make 2 as I went along than to start over if I messed up along the way. As luck would have it, I got it right the first time. So now I've got a roughed up green/cream/brown piece of wood and nothing to do with it.

Our Bedroom Improvements

So I blogged a couple of weeks ago about how unhappy I've been with our master bedroom. I realized through that post how completely insane it was that we were living with a bedroom that we didn't like. I don't even want to hint at how much we've got investing in this room. We spent way too much on the furniture.

And to have spent all that money and not love the room???

Crazy I tell ya, crazy.

You can see by the general condition of the room, how we felt about it. We weren't taking care of it. Piles of stuff on the dresser, end table... the cardboard still on the mirror 3 years after we bought it. (Embarrassing...) Here are 3 before and afters:

Before, entering the room:
After, entering the room:

Before, coming out of the bathroom:

After, coming out of the bathroom:

Before, from the closet corner:

After, from the closet corner:

The most amazing part to me, this transformation cost less than $100. Everything was bought at TJ Maxx:
- Green Quilt - $29
- Cream Blanket - $19
- Red Panel - $16 (I bought 1 and cut it down the middle)
- Red Pillows - $19

There it is... $83 to turn a room we hate, into a room we love.

WHY on earth did we live with hating it for 4 years???

We've still got more to do, but we're going to take it slow. Rushing is what got us into the miss, and we're going to be patient coming out of it.

My new/old "real" workspace

I've posted about my other workspace, where I go to get my "craft on."

But that is just a portion of my creativity - 40 hours a week, plus an additional 20 or so a month, I get paid to be a creative professional. I have a bachelors of fine arts in graphic design that over the years I've applied in a variety of ways. Right now I manage the publications/marketing department for a trade association. I also freelance as a designer for another trade association creating their monthly 4 color newsletter from home.

Up until this week, while I worked at home I worked in this pathetic corner of our bedroom:

Depressing on many levels. Lets ignore the condition of my bedroom, that's another post with a happy ending as well. The desk didn't match our bedroom, or compliment it anyway. The desk was too wide so that neither our bedroom door or our closet door could open fully. And that chair... what bedroom looks like a bedroom with an office chair like that?

While revisiting options for our master bedroom, I remember this desk we had in the basement. It is from Ikea, their Alve collection I believe. We bought it when I freelanced full time about 5 years ago.


Why didn't I think of this sooner? I love the fact that the computer portion of the work station out of sight when not in use - I wouldn't have to see my work when I'm not working. I don't know why I dismissed this as an option when we moved to this house...

Either way, I'm thrilled with what I did to transform it for my bedroom workspace:



Can you see my smile from where you are???

Though I'm sure the photos tell the tale, here is what I did:

1. Removed the back panel
   
2. Sanded down the piece lightly - probably too lightly, the paint had issues adhering in some places.
3. Painted everything with 2 coats of black paint
4. Rather than painting the back panel, I decided to cover it with fabric, a sage green microfiber type fabric that I love the texture of. The fabric was supposed to be curtains years ago but didn't end up that way. Again... I don't know why. (Something is wrong with me)
5. Next up, 2 coats of varnish - something I wouldn't have previously done but it was turning out so well I wanted to take the steps to protect it.
6. Back panel goes back on and...
   
7. I have a wonderful new workspace.

As for the chair... I now have a folding chair that I store in the closet, it is quite comfy.

(Please ignore the accessories, I am on a quest for the perfect accessories but for now I just threw a few homeless items from around the house together to fill it up.)