When last we saw my bedroom, it looked like this:
I had a white-on-white bedroom for about six years, the centerpiece of which was my beloved Ikea Alvine Kvist duvet cover and shams. I loved the white look, but I was getting a little bored and wanted some color, so when I moved into my current home I painted my bedroom a sort of dusty medium blue (Sherwin Williams' Silvermist) without a second thought. However, a few months in I realized that my blue walls and white floral comforter were looking a bit little-girl-bedroom-ish.
Then about a month ago I was looking through Ikea's online catalog, and I found this spread:
I needed it. I fell instantly in love with the tonal color scheme. I needed those blue and green shadows playing off each other. I needed the turquoises and teals and mints and aquas and deep, dark, hunter green. I needed them in my life.
I instantly set about converting my bedroom to a room based on that picture. Because I'm NUTS about blue and always have been, my house had no shortage of random knick knacks to harvest to use in my bedroom. I removed everything that wasn't blue or green, and brought in a few blue and green things from around the house. I changed most of the feel without spending a dime.
For the bedding - the biggest part of the makeover - I ordered this duvet cover and shams set from Amazon.com. It's a perfect medium jade green (it matches Sherwin Williams' Privilege Green (what a weird name) and it plays with the blue sheets in a really neat way.
I also created a gallery wall above/around the bed, which was sort of accidental. I love the nude woman on the green background (artist: Matt Manley) and planned to only frame a couple of small posters next to it to balance out its height; but before I knew it I had created a whole wall of artwork in similar colors to those of the bedroom, and I LOVE the way it turned out.
I exchanged the white Ikea curtains for a set of muted teal sheers that I ordered online. I hung 4 panels on the window instead of two, for depth and a little more light control. There's still plenty of light for the plants, but the room isn't flooded in glare all the time - it's nice and moody, and dark at night.
I moved the wooden jali screen from behind my bed's headboard over to the corner, and hung solar string lights from the top of it (the little solar panel hides behind the curtains in the window). I have to say, I didn't think I'd like the lights, but I LOVE them so much. In front of the screen and below the hanging philodendron is a small Ficus tree in a blue-gray scalloped ceramic planter.
On the other side of the window, next to my dresser, sits a blue Ikea Raskog utility cart. The top of it is filled with small plants and cuttings, and glass jars. Lower shelves house random things that I use regularly but which don't really match the room or have a permanent home - my makeup, jars of lotion, some books, and other little things like that.
This giant silver metal tray came from Ikea a million years ag (I forget the name) - and, actually, so did the dresser it's sitting on (I spray painted the handles gold). Also dresser-top are a green jade lotus incense burner, a small gold picture frame, a Ming Aralia in a teal planter, a couple of blue glass bottles, and, centrally, a blue-green glass vase I scored at Goodwill for $3, with a fake white peony in.
The vanity in my room is all white, and there's nothing I can do about that, unfortunately. But I have stashed lots of blue and green glass items on it - most of them are actually useful and contain little toiletry items like swabs, cotton balls, perfumes, and so on.
On the north wall of the room is my black jewelry cabinet and dressing table, a small window with a dusky teal sheer curtain on it. There's also a Tullsta tub chair from Ikea, with their "Nordvalla" light green cover.
So that's the room so far. I love the way it looks, particularly at night when the string lights and the bedside lamp are the only light in the room and everything is all dusky and shadowy. I don't know that I'm done with it - there could always be more blue and green glass in my life, hehe. I think the room needs more little pops of gold and/or copper. We'll see. It'll be fun to play with until I get it right.
For fun, and to check my work, I matched up nearly everything in my room with my Sherwin Williams paint deck. The deck is a few years old, so some of the colors are have been replaced/renamed, but they still come up on a google search if you want to see them. Here are the colors I've used in this room:
Blues:
Silvermist (walls)
Rain (sheets)
Quietude (glassware/ceramics)
Tempe Star (Raskog cart and some of the glassware)
Moody Blue (glassware)
Really Teal (curtains)
Greens:
Softened Green (lotus incense holder)
Hunt Club (chair pillow, pillowcases on the bed)
Courtyard (Manley painting background, most of the plants)
Rosemary (glassware)
Comfort Gray (glassware/ceramics)
Spearmint (Ikea Tullsta chair cover)
Privilege Green (duvet cover and shams)
