First Major Overhaul: Master Bedroom

One of the first rooms we knew we wanted to erase the 'blah' from was the master bedroom. We wanted a serene retreat, someplace relaxing, comfortable and personal. Coming from years of renting we had trained ourselves to not make permanent design choices so deciding just what we wanted to do was sort of a big deal.

Here's a reminder of what our master bedroom looked like on closing day...

Bland, boring and beige...

Wallpaper. Yeah, I said it. Wallpaper...just one wall though...this wall...

 

Convincing the hubby wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. He's pretty open to new ideas and trusts that I'm not completely out of my mind when it comes to design choices. We went to a couple different wallpaper stores, but surprisingly found a couple great ones at Home Depot. We snagged a couple samples, brought them home and taped them up. We decided on a black/green grass cloth combo and lo and behold I come home from work to find the job already done!

The hubby was uber ambitious one day and decided he wanted to put up the wallpaper all by himself and apparently he will never do that again. Not only was it a gigantic pain in the butt, but he's also a bit of a perfectionist and working solo made it all really difficult. The good news is that it looks frickin awesome!

We received a gorgeous duvet cover and throw from my aunt and uncle for our wedding so we were working with a natural theme; dark browns and apple green. 

We replaced the gross white blinds with some more natural bamboo ones and some simple IKEA curtains.

I created a 'where I dry and straighten my hair' nook. All our miscellaneous bits and bobs are in those file folders and baskets. It keeps the bathroom clear of clutter and all our junk out of sight.

Fun fact: the dresser has been with me since childhood. It just keeps getting new hardware and paint to suit my fancy. I went for a 2 tone look this time just to try something different. The space above the dresser looks a little plain right now - hoping to add new art soon. 

Before + After

Not too shabby for a gallon of paint and couple rolls of wallpaper. 

Newest Addition to the Family...

With the Hub's birthday coming up a couple weeks after the move I knew I wanted to get him something special, something that would commemorate such an awesome occasion as turning 26 and buying a house. One night during my latenight internet wandering I came across DNA11. They can take your actual DNA and turn it into a work of art. Because I am a geek and I married a big nerd I knew this had the potential to be an amazing gift. After you choose your canvas size, colours and place your order on the website they send you a DNA collection kit {I chose the 2 person split screen in 'Inferno'}...just one problem...how could I get a cheek swab from my darling husband without letting on what I was actually doing.

Long story short, I made up a big complicated un-truth about some long lost cousin in New Zealand who was researching our family tree and she wanted everyone's DNA for some obscure reason...and it worked! I got the sample from him, sent it away and in 6 weeks this beauty arrived.

{Love the colours!}

It fits perfectly over our couch and is the first thing you see when you walk in the door. Jeff is on the left side and I am on the right. DNA11 can even take your children's or pet's {!} DNA and do the same thing. Oh science, how I love you.