Rich, Saturated Bedroom Design Plan

Hi, there! Today I am sharing a recent bedroom design plan. This design is good for someone that likes to periodically change out their bedding and décor accessories. Let me share why below:

You can find each of these commissionable links by clicking the photo.

In this bedroom design plan I used neutral furniture and window treatments. These furniture pieces are the foundation of a backdrop that allows someone to change out colorful bedding and accessories without having to completely overhaul their room. If you are the type of person that likes to switch things up, I recommend investing in quality, timeless furniture pieces while finding budget friendly bedding and accessories.

To Recap: 1. Keep your furniture and window treatments neutral and timeless. 2. Opt to spend more on furniture and window treatments since you will be using them longest. 3. Choose budget friendly items for things that you might want to switch out seasonally or periodically.

As always, you can find these exact pieces on my LikeTOknow.it page. You can click HERE or click on the picture above to find the commissionable links. Tip: The artwork pieces shown are one-of-a-kind original paintings. If you wish to purchase them, don’t delay!

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What Are Your Thoughts on Wallpaper?

Wallpaper has come back in a big way! Some of us are thinking, “Wait, didn’t I spend hours of my life removing wallpaper?” You did, but what goes around comes around. And it’s baaaaack! Other than someone who might be considering moving soon, I say bring it on!

Wallpaper can add character, interest, and personality to any space – even your laundry room. In the design plan below, I am showing a wallpaper pattern that I picked out for a bedroom. It has a lighter background and uses several colors in the design. I feel that gives it more flexibility in furnishings for the space, but also if you want to change bedding, etc, in the future, you will have more options with a wallpaper pattern like this.

I’ve linked all of the sources for what you see in this picture on my LiketoKnow.it. You can find the commissionable links there by clicking HERE or on the photos.

The colors used for inspiration for this space are below. Even if you are not painting the walls of a room, I recommend that you have a color palette that you use. This will help you when you are picking out furniture, bedding, and artwork.

The color palette, wallpaper, and furnishings of this space were inspired by a pastoral, French country feel. These are heirloom, classic designs that don’t go out of style and can stand the test of time.

So what are your thoughts? Are you ready to wallpaper a room (or two) in your home? Or are the memories of 1980s wallpaper removal still too fresh to consider it?

You can click the photos to be find sources for everything pictured here.

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Tips for Designing Bedrooms in Modern Times

What if I told you that you no longer have to commit to an entire bedroom suite like our parents did? Gone are the days of walking into a furniture store to buy a matching bed, dresser, and nightstands. You will enjoy your bedroom space more and find it more relaxing if it has a “collected” feel to it.

I want to very quickly show you one example of how you can buy new pieces that don’t “match” and combine them with antiques, as well as modern pieces. The end result is a space that will reflect your individual personality and veer away from the cookie cutter bedroom suite of decades gone by.

Sources for all of these pieces are linked on my LiketoKnow.it. Click the picture to see more.

The first suggestion I have for creating a cohesive, collected look is to be intentional with your color palette. Search for and save a color palette that you like on Pinterest so that you can easily access it while shopping. Another option is to keep your paint chips in your wallet so that you can reference them quickly.

You will want to stick to your color palette for things like art, bedding, rugs, and furniture. If you wander from your color palette, the item you choose will boldly look out of place. You’ll find it visually disruptive to have it in your space, and you’ll become frustrated with your design.

The next tip I have is to pay attention to symmetry and scale. For example, if you are trying not to use nightstands that match perfectly, I suggest that they have something in common to tie them together. They should have similar size and color to balance the design. You don’t want one nightstand to be white and 30″ x 36″, while the other one is stained brown and is 28″ x 18″.

Those are all of the quick tips that I have for you today! I have linked sources for all of the pieces above on my LiketoKnow.it page. You can find all of the commissionable links there. To make sure that you don’t miss out on future design advice, you can subscribe to my blog, follow me on Instagram, and follow me on LiketoKnow.it.

Click the photo to see all of the sources for these pieces on my LiketoKnow.it.

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Fresh Flowers Teen Bedroom

Good Thursday afternoon, friends!

Just a quick note to show you some cheer I added to Samantha’s bedroom this morning. As you read yesterday, I’m finding little ways to appreciate her this week and show some love. Roses are on sale for $5/dozen at Publix, and I thought these pink ones added the perfect touch of pink cheer to her nightstand.

I’ve previously blogged about redecorating her bedroom, and you can read more about it HERE.

Today I put Samantha’s roses into a vintage midcentury hobnail milk glass vase.

If you want any of the links for bedding, furniture, or decor from this room, I’ve linked it all for you on my Like to Know.it page. You can click HERE or follow me there to never miss a post. (commissionable links)

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Cheerful, Winter Bedroom

Hello, friends!

Oh boy – it’s another chilly, gray winter day here in north Georgia. We may not get much snow (if any) during winter, but our winter days can be summed up with one word – BLAH. Do you get the winter doldrums? The seasonal scaries? Or maybe even seasonal depression disorder? The weather that seems magical during Christmastime gets down right moody when we take away the twinkle lights and greenery. In a blog post coming soon I will be sharing a list of simple things you can do to keep your own winter bright and joy-filled. But today I want to feature changes I made to our bedroom to chase away the gray.

The first thing I did was to add flowers. I’ve added bright, real flowers because I feel like it brightens things up during the cold, gray winter days. These were $4 roses from the grocery store. I’ve put them in a vintage sandwich glass that I picked up from the thrift store and tied it with a scrap of ribbon. If you change the water every 2 days, these will last 10 – 14 days. When these flowers need replacing, I will replace them with more bright, yellow flowers since that ties in with my color scheme. (I move the glass to the opposite, back corner when I go to bed so that I don’t accidentally knock it over during the night.

The next thing I did was to change out the throw pillows. I am using 3 pillows with yellow in them to keep the ambiance light and bright. If yellow doesn’t work in your room, try going with another color like bright pink, soft green, or orange. (Think of spring flower colors!) I know a lot of people like to use white, creams, and other neutrals right now, but if you are intentionally trying to cheer up a space, then you need to go with something much brighter!

You may remember that I had a wreath over each of our nightstands. I replaced it with a blue willow plate, which makes me happy. Find something you really love and decorate your space with it.

Finally, Ken’s side of the bed didn’t call for flowers, so I relocated this little horse deco piece there. It has some yellow on it that ties in with the yellow pillows and yellow flowers. I picked up the horse a couple of years ago on the clearance rack at TJ Maxx.

Stay tuned for my blog post on a list of ways to keep your winter cheerful and filled with joy!

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Guy’s Bedroom Decor

Jackson is off to his freshman year of college, and I finally had an opportunity to take pictures of his room. Unlike Samantha’s room, there wasn’t a recent makeover in his space. I feel like I keep repeating, “When we had new flooring put in…” But having new flooring put into our entire house was really like moving out, and then moving back in again. It forced us to purge, organize, and rearrange everything we own. So, “after we had new flooring put in” we painted Jackson’s room. I’ve linked the bedding and more decor on my LiketoKnow.it. You can find it by clicking HERE.

Before his room was Benjamin Moore Shaker Beige with one red stripe and one navy stripe running horizontally throughout the room. As I mentioned when I posted about Samantha’s room makeover, we are planning to move in the next few years, so we went ahead and painted Jackson’s room the same color, Benjamin Moore Dove Wing. It’s a great color that I love, love, love.

Benjamin Moore Dove Wing

Speaking of moving, it has been on our hearts for so long. Ken and I were both born and raised in Gwinnett County, which is a suburb east of Atlanta. I use the word “suburb” loosely, because our area is technically categorized as urban. When Ken and I grew up here it was rural/suburban. The major highways were 2-4 lanes in each direction, and now they are 8-10 in some places. It makes us sad and long for the setting that we grew up in, so we hope an opportunity will present itself for us to live in a more rural town soon.

Almost everything in Jackson’s room is from an estate sale, a garage sale, a thrift store, or an auction. If you follow me on Instagram (@belleantiquarian), you saw that I recently picked up this vintage typewriter for $13.50. Normally, I’d take it out of the case, but I really like the green and gold colors in this room.

I mentioned on a previous post that our family likes to collect vinyl records. We found an end table at an estate sale that has a lamp attached and an area below that is perfect for holding records. It was meant for magazines, but it works perfectly for us.

The vintage Hudson Bay point wool point blanket in this picture is one of my favorite finds. Don’t worry, it was professionally cleaned. 😉 You can purchase a new Pendleton blanket just like it HERE.

I’d rather buy cool, vintage stuff for my kids’ rooms than junk. Even if something doesn’t work, it can still be art.

We miss Jackson while he’s at college. It feels weird not having him sleeping in his room. But he will be home visiting before we know it.

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Guy’s Dorm Room Decor

We moved our son to college for the first time yesterday. Moms of boys will tell you that decorating their dorm rooms is very different than it is for girls. Most boys don’t care what their room looks like as long as they have what they need. Boys just want the basics. And getting boys to communicate with each other to coordinate anything is darn near impossible. Girls, on the other hand, are even having custom headboards built for their beds. I guess we have that to look forward to in 4 years when Samantha goes to college.

Our son, Jackson, left it up to me to pick out his bedding and decor. He did want to approve everything before the purchase was finalized, but he liked everything I picked out, so we went with it. You can find most of these exact items HERE on my LiketoKnow.it commissionable links.

If you read my previous post on How to Save on Dorm Room decor, you know that I was purchasing items well before move-in day. A few of our favorite dorm room essentials can be found on this commissionable link HERE.

We used storage bins underneath the bed to hold everything from paper towels to medicine to cleaning supplies. If you missed my printable laundry tips (instructions) for college kids, check it out HERE.

Unfortunately we weren’t able to set up the floor plan the way we wanted because his roommate had already moved in, but we improvised and found a way to make his TV viewable by turning his bookshelf sideways. You just do what you can to make things work! We got Jackson’s rug from Target, but I think they added a different one after we left.

We used a shoe organizer (linked HERE) in the closet to store snacks. The closets in his dorm lock, so he is able to keep his suitemates from over-indulging when he’s not around.

Do you have any dorm storage hacks? Let me know in the comments!

Guy's Dorm Room decor basics
You can click HERE (or click the picture above) to find these exact items on my commissionable links.

Below are a few of my favorite items to pack into a college student’s care package. I like to pick one snack, one fun thing (game to share with roomies), & something handy that may be needed (like a dorm room air freshener). It’s easy to add them to your Amazon cart, and then ship it directly to them at school. Click the photo below or HERE for these exact items on Amazon.

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Teen Girl Bedroom

The last time we updated our daughter, Samantha’s, bedroom was when she was 2 years old, and she was transitioning from a crib to a full size bed. At the time we invested in some yellow and green Pottery Barn bedding. I even did a yellow faux finish on the walls. That shows you how long ago that was – faux finishes on the walls were all the rage. LOL

Samantha is starting high school, and we recently did a room update for her. We kept her white full sized bed, dresser, bookshelf, and nightstand. Her bedroom is on the small side, so we didn’t want to upgrade to a queen bed and lose any of the space that she has.

Benjamin Moore Dove Wing 960

We decided to paint a neutral color that would stand the test of time, so we went with Benjamin Moore Dove Wing. I absolutely love the color on her walls. It’s a very light warm gray. Not only will the new paint color work if she decides to change her bedding colors in the future, but we are hoping to sell our house in 4 years. Buyers will prefer the neutral color over something else.

Samantha found some Pottery Barn bedding in a blush color that she liked, the Monique Lhuillier Blossom Embroidered Quilt & Shams. I have purchased a lot of Pottery Barn bedding over the years, and it is incredibly well made. I have never been disappointed in the quality of their bedding. In addition to the blush colored quilt and shams, we added a lightweight gray comforter from Amazon. Samantha is cold-natured, so she can pull the gray comforter up when she needs it. (Yes, sometimes even on hot summer nights. That’s our girl!)

I found a gray curtain on clearance at World Market that pulled in the gray from the comforter. We added in some blush pink accessories like the fan from Home Goods.

We had a lot of fun putting Samantha’s new room together. She works really hard at school and all of her extracurricular activities. I’m glad she has a space that she can relax in during her high school years.

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Dresser Makeover, Hardware Too!

Sometimes I forget exactly how many pieces of furniture have come and gone through our hands. It doesn’t seem like that many until I start scrolling through the files on our computer. It’s a lot, y’all. There’s a lot of learning and hands-on experience that have resulted from doing so many pieces, but from time to time I still come across problems that need to be solved.

Here’s a dresser that I just finished. Sorry, I don’t have a great before picture, but it’s the one on the right. It was blah, painted brown, and nothing to be desired. It’s wood, but the wood was painted over with a brown color. Not sure why.
I decided to go with gray and blue. I’m holding off on the “after” picture because I want to talk about my hardware problem first. I may have mentioned it before but ALWAYS, for the love of Pete, ALWAYS count the hardware before you buy it. Why? I promise you that you WILL spend more on new hardware than you did on the piece. And I also promise you that you won’t be able to find new hardware that matches up to old holes. Trust me.  So anyway, I counted the hardware, but failed to notice that some of it was damaged. Take a look:
Pretty brass hardware (y’all know it’s back, right?) with some faux tortoise cabochon type thingies. Except, some of the cabochons were broken and some were missing completely. First of all, let me be completely honest: The cabochons were ugly and plastic-y feeling. But I would have TOTALLY left them on there if they had all been intact. Not gonna lie – I would not have spent a dime to replace them. 
However, that wasn’t an option. I played around with several things, but I ended up coming up with this:
I married the old, original drawer pull with a new, pretty knob. And….I love it. But wait, there’s more. The next problem? Screws. Yep, turns out it was annoyingly difficult to find screws that worked. I got some blank stares at a local hardware store, and one morning I had two employees at Home Depot finally help me put together something that worked. I needed 8 screws exactly, but…
Instead I got 7 plus this screw ^ that someone didn’t turn into a screw. (Another trip back to Home Depot.)
Ok, finally. Here’s the after:

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The hardware certainly wasn’t an issue I anticipated, but I think it completely transformed the piece. What do you think?

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Duck Egg Blue Dresser

Hi Friends!

I recently rehabed a Bassett 4 drawer dresser. This came from an estate sale about a year ago.  Since we sold several pieces in a short amount of time, I had to get it done. No more procrastinating on this one!

Before

The top needed some TLC, so painting was the only way to go. This sucker is solid wood. Medium sized, but oh so heavy!

Add that TLC we talked about, along with some Duck Egg Blue (which is sort of green) chalky paint, some special artistic detailing, and we have a much prettier little thing. Don’t you agree?

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After

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Awww! I loooovvvvve this one! Hope you do, too.

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