Extreme Bedroom Makeover

The latest room in our 1924 that I consider completely finished is our bedroom. It's actually been pretty much finished for a while now, but I wanted to wait until we hung our handmade drapes for a finishing touch.

(To anyone who wants to make their own drapes: BEWARE. Sure, making curtains for a normal window is probably easy and fun. But drapes, which are lined, and drapes for large windows are no easy task. Just ask Marian and I, who, in this 1924 non-air-conditioned home, sweat over massive panels of fabric in the hot August of 2008. I was so pregnant and so about to pass out the whole time. And despite our maniacal efforts, we still only finished two panels, out of six. I finally finished the rest a few months ago.)

Here are some before shots. Notice the stylish light fixture with exposed wiring. It had been like that for YEARS. No one bothered to fix it.


You can't see, but the door didn't have a doorknob either. Not even a trashy, painted-smeared dollar store one that the other doors had. And I don't think the closet had been painted since the 60's. And the floor was gross. And the trim was gross.


OH, and the windows had not been cleaned since the 70's. For real. Which explains why every window had the shades pulled on them. I will not bore you with my research on discovering that. Just trust me. We used razor blades to clean the grime and smeared paint off. And the SMELL while we cleaned the windows! I could not get the scent off of my hands for days.


Here is the room during the fixing phase. Lots of awesome guys (Mr. Reimbold, Austin, Mark, Neil, JB) helped with rewiring the whole house. See all the white? That was the patching job (thank you Mark!) after they ripped out all that area for rewiring. Knob and tube, good bye!


And now, ladies and gents, the finished product!


JB made the headboard. We like it quite a bit.


The botanical prints you see following were found at an estate sale. For 50 cents each! I had them matted and framed and they are my favorite thing to look at. Every night I admire my sunflower print before I go to bed.

The quilt on the rack was hand pieced by my Grandma Teague. I quilted it a few years ago by hand. My first quilt!


See how shiny the floors are? Thanks, Mark and Marian, for the gift of refinished floors!




A full view of the drapes: