I replaced all of the dark paint with vertical tongue and groove in a crisp white paint:
This allowed me to incorporate more color into the room — before it was difficult to find tones that worked well with the dark paint color and accents.
We ended up with a much brighter but still soothing bedroom with cottagey decor touches:
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The floral art I had up was pretty, but I was looking with some deeper colors. This watercolor scene was exactly what I had been looking for:
The artwork became the inspiration for a bigger change I made as well! (And helped me to figure out the direction for the ceiling makeover I hope to start soon.)
I still have that square floral art by the way, for now it’s hanging on our staircase wall.
Actually, this next change was made by accident, but it was a happy one. 😉
The drapes themselves were wonderful, the problem was the IKEA curtain hardware I hung soon after we moved in. I used Hugad drapery rods, and for the most part I really like them — they’re super solid, come in really long lengths and are a great price!
My only issue was that the drapes we had up for seven years were grommet curtains, which slid easily over the connecting rods with ease.
With the new, smaller curtain rings, they were so difficult to open and shut. Where the drapery rods met each other, the rings would catch and it was driving us bananas.
I have to have total darkness when I sleep, so our drapes are shut every evening and we open them up for the natural light in the morning. This little annoyance turned into a bigger one when the rods themselves would start scooching wayyyy off to the sides from the force of moving the drapes.
Then they started disconnecting because the rods were moving so far, and the rod would fall and the curtains would slide off and well, IT WAS JUST A LOT.
SOOOO. I did some research and found a curtain track from Ikea called Vidga. It’s a bit sterile looking at first glance (it’s basically tracking like they use around hospital beds), but I LOVED that it kind of disappeared into the ceiling, and in every video I saw, the curtains glide like buttah.
This track is mounted right to the ceiling, so I double checked that I would have enough extra fabric at the bottom of the drapes to make them longer again. Then I hung the Vidga track, rehung my drapes…and went to pull the fabric apart where I used hemming tape so I could take them to the floor.
VERY LONG STORY SHORT…the blackout lining started tearing like it was paper (the lining worked great to block light, but is not a high quality material). It was sticking to the drapery fabric in sections (the lining was almost like a rubber material).
It was a mess and I had just hung the new track with anchors in the ceiling and was so frustrated.
I was so thrilled when I got the first set delivered (they come two to a pack), because the color was just as it was pictured online.
They come with these plastic curtain hooks that slide right into the back of the pleats — so easy to install.
Side note — I found a set of these vintage brass gimbal candle sconces on Facebook Marketplace months ago, and LOVE them:
But when I put a taper candle in, they topple over. I’m assuming I need a much shorter candle for these? If you have an idea please let me know! I love them as is, but would love to have candles in them.
I bought the new curtain sets over a few weeks as our budget allowed. I also added the same drapery track above the windows on each side of the bed as well.
When I hung them in the ceiling, I placed the track about three inches away from the wall. Next time I’ll probably go a little closer to the wall.
If you look closely, you can see the little wallpaper detail I added to the front of the tracks. If you have white walls and ceilings, you won’t even notice these. But the glaring white against the grasscloth wallpaper was bugging me, so I just stuck some scrap wallpaper to the front of them.
It worked perfectly — you have to be right under them to even see they’re there now.
The previous drapes were pretty bulky, so I only had one on our smaller windows on each side of the bed:
These are lighter and thinner (but block the light perfectly) so hang much better. I ended up hanging a set on each bed wall window, which I think looks so much better:
I had no idea the room needed more of this beautiful, deep accent color. It makes it feel so warm, but still so open and bright compared to the dark gray we had everywhere before:
The color of the evergreens in the artwork matches perfectly with the new curtains:
The new art also inspired my final plan for the tray ceiling changes I want to make this year:
The dark wood beams are looking especially orange toned now that the room is lighter, and the dark gray ceiling (Westchester Gray), is feeling out of place.
Phase one of my plan is to paint the wood beams in the same white as the tongue and groove around the bottom of the room, and then paint the ceiling a pretty, light blue very similar to the color of the sky in the artwork:
Phase two will be to DIY a coffered ceiling of some kind with additional white beams — not sure to what extent just yet, but I think it will look amazing and add a ton of character to this room!
For now I’m loving the changes I’ve made over the past few months. It takes a long time till I’m truly done with a space — there’s a lot of tweaking over years. But if you’re like me, that’s the fun part! 🙂
I love the contrast of the dark curtains in this room:
Once I finish up a couple of projects, I’d like to start the ceiling painting, which is one of my very least favorite DIYs to do. I may have rent a scaffolding and do it Michelangelo style. 😉
