home | nightstands/bedroom update

As you may remember, we have been on the lookout for nightstands for several months. We wanted two matching nightstands for under $50, thus I figured whatever we ended up with would probably need some work. I had been watching craigslist and checking garage sales for about 5 months when I found these diamonds in the rough:

Solid wood, good construction, cheap, and electric blue. I love blue, it's my favorite color,
but these babies were BLUE. Like give you a headache if you look at it for too long blue. The picture doesn't even really do it justice, it was even brighter in person. They came as a set with a gorgeous mirror (also in, what I affectionately refer to as, "headache blue") and a large dresser. Since we already have dressers, I asked if they would consider selling the nightstands separately and we agreed on $40 for both night stands. I ended up taking the mirror home for free since the garage sale was ending soon!

I chose charcoal paint because I wanted a dark color but I didn't want jet black. I wanted something a little warmer, smokey almost, but not gray. This color is definitely black, just softer. We already have light gray dressers and I wanted something that would coordinate but add some depth since we also have light colored walls.

I also changed the cheap-looking white plastic handles to brushed silver. Big improvement.

Even with the addition of the new nightstands, I've been feeling a little blah about our bedroom and wanted to update without spending a lot of money. Basically trying to figure out how I could work with all our existing colors and linens but still update the look a little.   While browsing around the clearance wall at TJ Max last week, I happened to find a beautiful green quilt for $20 and a set of two pillow shams for $5.  With the addition of the printed shams and the punch of green from the quilt it really brightens up our room. The quilt is also the perfect weight for Spring/Fall when it's still too warm for the down comforter but not warm enough for just a sheet.

Before

After

Our new pillow shams remind me a lot of this gorgeous Pottery Barn Floral. Unfortunately, two shams = $78.

Next on the project list is painting our bed frame to match the night stands. Although we originally stained the bed, I wasn't completely happy with how the finish turned out. Pine boards take stain unevenly, even when using wood conditioner, and the effect is a little too rustic for my taste.