We stopped at the carpet store again this weekend to look for more carpet samples that might be closer to what we were thinking for our master bedroom. We spent a lot more time looking through all of the different samples this time and I’m completely amazed by the number of frieze samples they had. I guess that must be the new big thing in carpet. The frieze samples the sales lady sent home with us last weekend were really rough feeling and rather messy looking … we weren’t fans. But, when we started to look today, we noticed that there’s really a wide variety of options, some of which are nothing like the samples we brought home last week.

We came home with three more samples to look at this week … all of which are considered frieze. Here’s a picture of a couple of them:

The one on the right is a really close color match to the walls, which I thought would be a good thing until I got it home and now I think it’s all going to blend way too much and make everything that doesn’t match exactly (like the blinds and comforter) look yellow-y. The one on the left is kind of a mix between the wall color and the shade color, so it picks up some of both. Right now, I think that might be a better option, but I’m still kind of confused. There are just so many options! The third sample we brought home was more for the texture since the sample itself is kind of a blue-y green color. Texture-wise, I think any of them would be ok … and they’re all available in colors that would probably work. It just seems like this is one case where life would be so much easier if there weren’t so many choices!

The shades we ordered about a week and a half ago for the master bedroom and bathroom came last week. I was really impressed considering that the website said to expect a 2-3 week wait, but they shipped within 2 days! We started installing them last week and finished up this morning. I’m really excited to have them up – the bedroom has been noticeably colder since we took the old shades down for painting.

For the master bedroom, we ordered the standard room darkening Levelor cellular shades in a color called “Sand”. The color isn’t quite as good of a match to the wall color as I thought it would be, but it’s a pretty close match to the comforter so it still looks like we knew what we were doing when we ordered them. :) Here are some pictures:

In the master bathroom, we chose a light filtering cellular shade in the same “Sand” color. Even though they’re the same color, they don’t really look like a match. The room darkening ones are so much more opaque, so the color looks really solid. On the light filtering one, it’s a lot more variegated. It’s fine for our application since they’re in two different rooms, but they’re definitely not a close enough match to put them in a space where you’ll see both and expect them to look the same. Here’s a photo of the new bathroom blind:

We opted for an inside mount to avoid covering up the trim, but I think if we had it to do again, we might have gone with an outside mount instead. Since our windows aren’t perfectly square, mounting the shades on the inside really brings out any imperfections. We still have one that we need to spend some time adjusting because it hangs a little crooked. We also had one window that was added after the house was built (when the sleeping porch was enclosed in the 50’s) and it’s trimmed out a little differently than the others in the room. We didn’t really pay attention to it when we were measuring for the shades, but when we went to hang the shade for that window this morning, we realized that there was no clear place to put the mounting brackets on the inside of the window without damaging the trim. So, we just mounted it on the outside instead. It looks fine except that it’s a little narrower than we would have ordered had we been intending to do an outside mount. Eventually, we’ll probably put up some drapery panels, and by the time those go up, I’m sure it won’t be noticeable. If we had it to do again, though, planning on an outside mount would have been a much easier approach!

This morning I spent about an hour replacing about 30 outlet and light switch covers in our master bedroom, master bathroom, and sun room. It sounds like a silly thing to think about replacing, but it made such a difference – in the bedroom especially.

The master bedroom and bathroom (and also the kitchen, hallway, and third floor) had oak outlet covers when we moved in. I’m not a big fan of the wood finish since it’s such a contrast to the paint, but I’ve felt kind of guilty about replacing them with the standard $.39 variety since I know the oak ones are probably about $7 a piece new. Since we’ve painted the bedroom, though, I keep thinking how much more I’d like it without the wood outlet covers, so I finally broke down and spent a whopping $13.00 at Lowe’s last night to buy plain cream ones, which I installed this morning. Here are before and after photos:

Before

After

I’m happy with the way the standard covers look, but I’m not sure what to do with the nice wood ones we took off. So, if anyone happens to be in the market for some oak light switch and outlet covers, I can make you a great deal! We’ve got about a dozen outlet covers, 3 switch covers, and another 3 with the rectangular cut-out for GFCI outlets, etc.

In the sun room, the outlet covers had been wallpapered and still had a bunch of glue on them, so I figured they could stand an update while I was at it. There’s really not much of a difference in how they look until you get up close and notice that the new ones aren’t sticky, but I’m still glad to have that crossed off my list of things to do. Here’s the “after” photo:

We placed our order for some new shades for the master bedroom last week. The ones that had been there were lace covered pleated shades that looked ok, but they were pretty dirty and a couple of them had broken strings, so we decided not to put them back up after the painter was done. He did a really good job filling the holes where they had been, so we didn’t have to worry about covering any damage to the trim with the new window treatments, which is really nice.

We decided to go with cellular shades for their insulating value and also because they stack so compactly at the top of the window when they’re raised. We looked at the Bali blinds, but wound up ordering Levolor shades instead because we wanted light blocking ones and the colors available in the Levolor Evening Stars collection seemed a lot truer than the Bali equivalents which had more of a gray metallic hue. We ordered them in the color below (called Sand), which is a similar shade to the new paint color.

The first quote we got was from a local store that was running what seemed like some pretty good sales. I looked online just for good measure and found that I could save over $100 on the entire order, so I ordered online just a few days ago and already got the notification that the blinds have shipped, even though the estimate was 2 to 3 weeks! I’m really excited for them to arrive – hopefully the room will be less drafty once they’re installed.

We stopped at the carpet store today and picked up a couple of samples for the master bedroom. I went into the store thinking I was interested in what they’re calling “textured” carpet. Since we don’t have a lot of furniture for the room, I thought having a neutral textured carpet would provide some interest (without being as bold as what we have now), but when we started looking at them more closely, they felt really coarse and seemed more like something that could belong in a hotel room rather than in our bedroom. So, the lady at the carpet store suggested we look at a couple of frieze and plush samples instead.

Here are some pictures of the samples she sent home with us:

I think the colors of the frieze carpet (the top picture) probably all go pretty well with the paint and the color of the hall carpet, but I’m not sure if I’m sold on frieze. The colors of the plush carpet don’t seem to go as well, but I like the texture better (it feels a lot softer) and I like the idea of getting one that has flecks of other colors in it to add a little interest. So, it looks like we’ll be heading back to the carpet store to pick up some more samples sometime later this week, but at least we’ve got a start toward picking it out.

I finally made a decision and purchased some new bedding for our master bedroom! I’ve been looking for something new for quite a while now and found that I am incredibly challenged at making a decision. I spent forever going through stores and looking at pictures online before I finally decided that about anything I’d choose would be an improvement over what we had and just picked the one I thought was closest. We wound up with the Chris Madden Westbury bedding that is part of the JCPenney hotel collection. Here’s a photo:

I’m pretty happy with the way it looks (although it never looks as put-together in person as it does in the photos), but I need to figure something different out for the pillows – it seems like there are far too many of them, but I can’t decide which ones to keep and which not to. It was one of those bed-in-a-bag deals, so we wound up with a lot more pieces than we probably needed.

The one thing I’m still not completely sure about is how neutral the comforter is. I was really trying to find something that would introduce a little color into the room when we replace the green floral carpet, but couldn’t really find anything that would go with it until it’s replaced. So, we decided to go the neutral route, figuring we could always add some color later with window treatments or different throw pillows (like we really need more of those). Hopefully it’ll all work out and we won’t regret having chosen something more neutral later on …

I’ve been a little delinquent in posting, but the project to paint our master bedroom is finally done! It took the painter nearly a week and a half to finish, with most of the time being spent in the master bedroom suite. Here are some before and after photos.

Before

After

All in all, we’re pleased with the way it turned out. The new color is a Sherwin Williams color called Sand Dune, with the trim being painted Modest White. We debated about whether or not it was worth the extra effort and money to paint the trim in the room, but I’m so glad we decided to do it. This was the only room in the house with a different trim color, so painting it makes everything consistent … and I’m really happy with the contrast between the walls and trim. It seems like they would have blended together a lot more had we not painted the trim a brighter white than it was before.

The wall color looks a lot pinker to me in this room than it does in the other rooms we have painted the same color. I’m blaming it on the green carpet, thinking it’ll probably read more tan when we replace the carpet with something a little more neutral. Either way, though, I like the way it looks a lot better than the previous color.

Our painter has made a ton of progress in the last couple of days. The final coat has been put on the family room and it’s completely done now with the exception of a couple of places that still need touching up. The color we chose called Nuthatch. It’s a Sherwin Williams paint and the painter selected a low-sheen eggshell finish since it wasn’t available in satin. Here’s what the room looks like now:

We were afraid the color would be a little dark, but I think it’s going to be ok with all the light coming in through the windows and doors.

The painter has also been working on the master suite. In the master bathroom, everything has been primed and he’s working on the final coat. The part above the trim is called Simplify Beige and the part below it will be a color called Sand Dune, which is just slightly darker. They’re also Sherwin Williams colors and they’re both a satin finish. The color on the wall is just a primer right now, so it’ll be a little darker when the final coat goes on, but here’s what it looks like so far:

The master bedroom is about half-way done. The trim is being painted a color called Modest White in a semi-gloss finish. The painter made sure to tell us that he’s using the Proclassic variety of paint on the baseboards since it will dry harder and hold up better. And the walls are being painted the same Sand Dune color as what’s in the bathroom. The final coat is done on both the trim and the walls in the first room, but he hasn’t started on the second half of the room yet. Here’s what it looks like so far:

The painter started in our sun room and master bedroom today. I was shocked by the amount of progress he made while we were at work. He got a coat of tinted primer on in the sun room. It’s such a huge improvement over the green! It’s only about a 75% tint, so the color will be darker when he puts the top coat on, but so far, we’re really liking it.

In the master bedroom and bathroom, he started priming the trim. It’s a little hard to see in the picture, but it’s looking a lot crisper than the yellow-y cream that was on the walls and trim before. I’m so glad we decided to paint the trim.

Since the trim was a semi-gloss finish and we had wallpaper on the sun room walls, he chose to prime both with an oil-based primer, which has made the house smell just a little, but so far it hasn’t been too bad. I’m really excited to see what everything is going to look like with the final colors!

Our painter stopped by yesterday and he’s ready to start painting our master bedroom suite and sun room tomorrow! He’s going to paint the trim in our master bedroom and bathroom the same shade of white as the rest of the house (it’s a more yellow-y shade now) and the walls are going to be the same tan-ish color that’s in our guest room. In the sun room, he’s going to paint the walls a darker shade of brown. I can’t wait to see what those rooms will look like with the new colors.

We spent today getting ready for the painting to start. We moved a bunch of furniture away from the walls, scrubbed them down a couple more times to try to get the excess wallpaper glue off, and took down some window treatments and other hardware. We also emptied out our bedroom closet and the linen closet in the bathroom. Our upstairs is a complete disaster now, but it will be worth it when the painting is all done at the end of the week.