When my husband moved into my home, his only request was that we redo some rooms to be “ours” so that he didn’t feel like he was crashing on my couch. Decorating diva that I am, how could I say no? I loved my old bedroom and how light and airy it was but since I was no longer “married” to it (pun FULLY intended here), I decided I could part with my pale yellow walls and the casual florals I had lived with for over a decade.

Before

Before

As luck would have it, I decorated my husband’s guest room while we were dating and that furniture now needed a new home. However, the furniture was black.

I decided to go completely out of my element and do a luxe theme over my typical classic and casual . I had fallen in love with a color I’d recently seen in Restoration Hardware and decided to use that to offset the dark furniture.

While scouring the internet for dressers, I decided to save serious dough by going with an Ikea Hemnes black/brown dresser for me but totally splurged on a mirrored masterpiece from ZGallerie for my husband. I decided the splurge was necessary to tie in the hodge podge of furniture while making quite a statement. I also changed out the hardware on the Hemnes dresser for glass knobs to add a more luxe feel to an otherwise extremely budget friendly piece of furniture.

After

After

Most of the accessories and wall pieces were reused from stuff I already had in other rooms (which were also getting ready for mild makeovers) or in a closet from a previous makeover.

If you can find a way to store (but not clutter) your house when you redo rooms, SAVE YOUR STUFF! Especially art or anything that you loved but can’t fit in to your new style. Your tastes change, as do trends but when you are decorating on a tight budget, that art from 8 years ago might just be the perfect (and FREE) way to update another room.

I did snag a few items at TJ Maxx or Homegoods to fill in the blanks and there are some items that I replaced over time as I found the right (and affordable) replacement. I found the perfect duvet and quilt from Pottery Barn to work with all of my colors (on sale, of course) and I reused the lamps from the old guest room despite my concern over their lack of size. To this day, I have yet to find the perfect lamps but I’ve gotten so used to them, I’m doubting I’ll ever replace them with proper ones…unless someone out there has a brilliant suggestion for me? 🙂

Since I was also in the process of mildy updating our living room to accommodate some of my husband’s pieces, I decided to use my old console mirror that was about to go in storage as the dresser mirror. It was also drastically undersized for what I needed but after the mirrored dresser splurge, I had to start watching every penny. Luckily, my super talented Mom suggested I use the giant vase (a TJ Maxx bargain) to balance the space above the dresser and voila!!! Luck on a budget!

I found the artwork at Joanns (I have always had great luck finding simple artwork sets like this at Joanns, Michaels, Bed Bath and Beyond, TJ Maxx or Homegoods). The weird metal things above the splurge dresser were truly repurposed placeholders. I hated them but needed something in that space and my DIY project was an utter fail. It’s since been replaced with a giant version of one of my favorite family photos taken after the birth of our second daughter.

The room is mostly finished but because I’m a shopoholic, and still on a budget, it’ll be a work in progress for some time to make it my kind of ideal. The best part of this makeover was that my husband LOVED it!!! He said the room actually made him feel cool; like he was in the arctic! And since our A/C likes to not work or flat out die on a regular basis, this was a rather impressive feat!

After

It’s been a few years since the make-over and we are still happy with the new, cool blue room…if only we had the space for a king size bed…that’s what I call fancy dreaming. 🙂