My Bedroom: room-by-room redo

I began posting Room-by-Room Redos in October 2017. I started with the pantry, went on to the kitchen, and then my bathroom. And then I kinda stalled out. Not that I didn't keep changing things or refreshing rooms, just not enough to make a post out of it. But my bedroom did get several lifts and there is the bonus that I change out the bedcovers and curtains according to the season...

When you walk into my/our bedroom from the hallway, the first thing you see is this wall. It has an original watercolor I found at an auction and a sweet calendar plate that was compliments of a grocery store in 1910. I am all about decorating the walls! I grew up with parents and grandparents who believed that if there was open space on a wall, then there was room for one more picture. When we built our house and moved in with a 1 and1/2 year old and an infant (22 years ago!), we had a mattress on a frame, a bathroom toilet and sink, and I had a single burner that plugged into the wall and an ice chest for a kitchen. But I already had pictures hanging on the walls! By the way, the walls are a very pale blue called Tear Drop.

The picture above shows our antique walnut bed. It belonged to Ms Clara Blankenship, who lived to to be 100 and a day. When her house burned she thought this bed was unsalvageable. My pop got it and refinished it and remade the headboard. We've slept in it ever since. This is one of my favorite chenille coverlets. I only use it every so often, because it is so thin I don't want to wear it out.

 Above is a 1920's coverlet that I found bunched up in a ball at Junk Ranch. It was in a booth with a lots of industrial salvage and when I asked the man the price he looked puzzled and asked for $12. And she looks just grand on my bed!

I love this style of embroidery. I have several aprons from this period, and you will see a sweet heart pillow on my bed later that has a similar style.

 Do you remember when I was spray painting everything in sight, here? Well, this is my 1930's Waterfall vanity that I use as a desk before. Below is the after. I've gotten used to the slightly gag-worthy pinkness of it and decided I like it. Beside it an antique punched tin pie safe. It holds my printer and a myriad of other stuff. The large oil painting over the desk is of Texas bluebonnets by my Great Aunt Add.

This is how the top of the pie safe looked then. The watercolor of the moma cat and babies is one that hung at my Aunt Jane's ocean home for all my growing up. When she came up here to live in her 80's, she brought it to me so that I could hang on my wall. Under the Victorian bell jar is my collection of antique perfume bottles. They were something that my pop sought out for me for birthdays and I adore them. There is also a Wavecrest jar that reads "Collars and Cuffs". This was my Grandma Tommy's and I always loved it. Both men and women would use paper collars and cuffs with their clothing so they could keep their outfit clean and lasting longer before a wash.

This is how the top looks now. I put the perfumes up for the time being and put two of my vintage suitcases in it's place. Why? Because they are both storing my collection of gloves, most of them passed down from my Great Aunt Jessie.

Below is what my bed looks like most of the summer. Just a sheet and a simple quilt. I am blessed to have an abundance of quilts, most of the made by past family members, to trade out with.

I add some embroidered pillowcases and the bed is made just by pulling up the covers!

This dresser was my Great Grandma Gertrude's, on my moma's side. It was such a mess! I have one of those "peacock" armed things that people use to hold pictures, but I was using it to hold necklaces so I would remember to wear them. It didn't really work because I still forgot.

 This is it now, in a very blurry picture. The peacock thing now has hankies stuck in each of the circles, because I actually do walk by and snatch a hankie as I go out the door. And the vintage flowers that were hanging on a ribbon at the side are now kept dust-free in a glass vase with a clear plate on top. The picture above the dresser was from my dear friend, Andrea. She gave it to me before she ever really knew me, just because it made her think of me. Yes, we were destined to be pals :)

I just taped pretty ribbons to each side of the jar and then pinned my flowers down them so I could actually see them. I used to wear them often as corsages. I want to get back to doing that in the warmer weather when coats won't crush them. And you know I am always trying to do something with my hair. Maybe I will start tucking some in there.

Here is my bookcase that my hubby made me years ago for my birthday! It is on my side of the bed so when I wake the first things I see are beautiful books. This is in summer, so my summer hats are out. I have to have things where I can see them, or "out of sight, out of mind". The corner shelf was hand cut by my Pop using a pattern traced from a Victorian one. He's so tricky!

 I've found that brandy snifter glasses are the perfect thing for holding hats! Not only are they beautiful, but they are on a stand and the right size. And they used to be super cheap, not sure about now...

Below is with my winter hats out. The trunk beside it is where my pillows reside until I make my bed. And on the floor are THE STACKS. My hubby looked over one day and shook his head and asked, "Do you need another bookcase?" Dear Reader, there are bookcases in every room, one is 16 feet long. I told him no, because I will never put books in a case until I know they are keepers. I told him the stacks were all to be read. "You mean you still have all those to read??!" he turned a little green at the thought and had to go watch some TV to get over it - ha!

Close-up of beloved hats! There's even a picture of my heartthrob - Gary Cooper- on a shelf

This is the winter-time bed. It has a thick comforter, bedskirt, and shams that I asked to have for Christmas one year. They are a pale peachy/ivory and so I don't ever get tired of them. Yes, the comforter is very wrinkled- we actually sleep in this bed every night! The painting over the bed is also by Aunt Add.

A close-up of my pillow pile. The one with roses at the top was in a box of things at an auction. The person who got it threw it in the trash, but kept the 60's pots and pans that were under it. Needless to say, a rescue was in order. The lady in the front is from the 20's and looks lovely with my new coverlet. The little pink one to the right was actually a glove pouch, but I tucked a pillow form inside.

This Eastlake dresser was my Great-Great Aunt Mary's on my dad's side. I love that it has the glove drawers on either side. The hanging lamp is one that I got in Rockport, TX, when we were on a vacation during my birthday. I got it with money Pop gave me as a gift, and so I hung one of his purple fair ribbons off of it. It was from when he won Grand Champion at the Benton County fair on his heifer when he was a boy.

A lady made the lamp from scraps of vintage lace sewn to a vintage lamp shade frame. It makes the most lovely shadows all over the walls in the dark. And it would be very easy for anyone to do...

You may notice in one of the upper pics with the bed that there are blue lace sheers in the window. I was at Junk Ranch and struck up a conversation with a lovely lady and her moma. Her mom looked at me and said, "I have something for you." Then she whipped the curtains off a table where they were being used as a cloth. I was flabbergasted. They didn't even know me! I went right home and realized they were perfect in my bedroom for summer. And every year I seek them out to get them hugs and catch up! In the picture above with my desk, there are pale pink sheers that I made for spring. Below are my new barkcloth curtains for winter. On one side of the bed I look and see my books. But on the other side, I wake up to the hillside and usually a bunch of grazing cows.

I went to an auction in Gentry and there was a cedar chest in the garage. It was filled with linens, lots of them embroidered, and four sets of these 1950's barkcloth curtains. When it came time to bid on the contents no one wanted it. So I got all the curtains for $1! I was so excited. I brought them home and immediately washed them and got them ready to hang. They have the greatest colors and pattern. And they did have a kind of gold glitter that lined the feathers, but a lot of that washed off. That's okay, I wanted to be able to use them!

And here is the last thing you see when you leave. The chippy door that my boys hung for me on a weekend that the hubby was away ;). It is white on one side and yellow on the other. The trim around my bedroom doors is accented with lady's heads. My Pop made moldings of carvings from a Victorian rosewood couch that they have, so he could cast me these ladies. Aren't they lovely? And above the door is a beautiful pink luster platter to give you something nice to look at as you leave.

To me, a bedroom should be a haven. A beautiful and restful place that you can go to read, or just relax with a cup of tea. Raising three boys, I never said, "Go to your room!" But there were plenty of times I announced, "I am going to MY room!" It should be filled with things that make you happy when you see them, and give you memories of loved ones. I hope you have a room like that, even if it's not the bedroom. One that makes you feel wrapped up safe and peaceful. What, Dear Reader, is your happy room?