Making Some Changes in the Master Bedroom...

OK, now that I have your attention.... pull your head out of the gutter.  I wouldn't blog about that!  Or would I?....

We made some updates to our Master Bedroom that I am super thrilled about.  And it all stemmed from the pretty stools we re-covered for our adjoining dressing room.

The dressing room and master bedroom are attached, yet separated with a large wall and only a doorway from one space to the other.  The new stools looked great with the muted citron yellow accents in the dressing room, so I thought it would be fun to expand the color palette in the master as well.  Up until now it was very white and gray blue/light yellow with no real pops of color.  Can you believe it?  And I was OK with that since it is the Master Bedroom and it should serve as a relaxing, soothing retreat.  But I love small doses of happy color, and since I am trying to bring spring inside {it certainly is not here outside}, we made a few colorful updates that I am so happy to wake up to each morning.

The bed side of the room is going to be the next area of focus, but it is nearly impossible to get a full room shot with the bed and new changes, so I thought I would give you a starting point.

If you follow on Instagram, you will know that I have decided to take back my studio {it's been a hod podge of ineffective storage and a mixture of furniture leading to nothing but a disaster - literally, so messy right now}.  One thing that has never felt right about the studio is the dresser I so badly wanted to love.  It was a Craigslist find that we painted and it held some bulk school supplies and fabrics and some other small office like items, but it always felt too heavy and I wasn't sold on my color choice.  Once I recovered the stools, I saw a color in the fabric that reminded me of the dresser.  Light bulb.

The dresser was at that very moment hauled into the master bedroom where is shined bright like a diamond.  Love.

The dresser now serves as a place for us to conceal our bedroom linens, my extra throw pillow covers and quilts.

When I originally moved her in the room, I thought for sure she would need a fresh coat of paint in a slightly different color, and I even contemplated giving her a two tone treatment.  But I was surprised that I loved her just the way she was.

My six months of long torturous Target hiatus came to an end at the end of this month {read about that here}, and I may have impulsively ran to Target to get my fix of the super amazing Threshold line.  The frames and lampshade were the icing on the cake!

I know the art is hard to see and understand in most of these photos because of the huge glare we receive throughout the day.  But the art was a super simple DIY in which I took my favorite lines from our vows and used Google Translate to change them to French {the language of loooove}.  The translation makes the words sound so much sweeter and I kind of love that Bryan and I are really the only ones around here who really know what they mean.  I just used Photoshop to pretty them up with colors and whimsical fonts and had instant free and meaningful art that I printed right here at home.  {So a few emails from French experts later and it sounds like Google Translate is NOT the best method.  You may want to check with someone who knows the language proficiently.  No loss here, just a quickie update and reprint.  That is the beauty in making your own art!}

The frames were from Target and the natural wood tones make my heart sing and I could seriously caress them and kiss them daily.  But I will save those actions for the hubs.  Sorry. #tmi

The charging station came back into the bedroom {that thing gets moved around pretty frequently around here}, and I really love the new location.  It fits well with the rest of the room, keeps the phone away from my head, yet I can still hear it in the middle of the night should there be any type of emergency.

The rest of the accessories were items I already had...

This entire switcharoo was originally inspired by the stool, that was originally inspired by the tossing of a scarf.  It is fun to look back and see how one action created a whole new palette and look for our room.  I would absolutely call this a super happy accident!

Any happy decorating accidents happening on your end?  What other ways do you bring meaningful art into your home?

Items IHeart: Linen & Loo Storage

Last month I really enjoyed taking a moment to not only reflect on the bad {what isn't working}, but also focus on the good {what is}, when it came to storage in the ktichen.  Over the years we have put a few systems in place around here that have actually stuck and still help us day after day here at the Jones abode.  And hey, we are human, so we have swung and missed a few times too, but we will address those problem areas oh so soon.  It is linen and loo {bathroom} month, so here are the things that have gotten the Jones approved thumbs up!

{ 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 }

1.  Our lower level didn't come equipped with any kind of linen closet, so, we just popped in a linen cabinet and now we have all sorts of storage that we totally adore!

Bonus points, I added in his and hers toiletry baskets and they have been working so well at keeping our individual clutter off of the counter!

2.  Over the door hooks.  Or any hooks really.  We use hooks instead of towel bars in our bathrooms, as I find they are much simpler than nicely folding and hanging the towels everyday.  Especially when the kids are involved.  In our bathroom we save space and use an over the door hook, it not only holds our towels, but our robes.  In the kid's bathroom, we use wall hooks and it works great for them, but I am still thinking of sewing small ribbon loops to each towel to prevent them from slipping off of the hooks.

3.  Two towels per person.  It's a little rule we have adapted.  Each family member has two sets of towels, that way, when the first batch is sent to the laundry, there is a second one waiting.  But it also ensures we are always keeping up with our linen washing, and that we don't over fill our cabinets with unnecessary stacks of towels.

4.  Drawer dividers, the stackable options are even better.  They work great for dividing cosmetics and toiletries so that you are not rummaging and digging each day.  It also keeps things a bit more sanitary vs. just tossing them haphazardly into a drawer.  Although I keep my beauty supplies in our dressing room, the dividers are a sanity saver!

5.  Toiletry tote.  I used one of these for the longest time and looooved it.  It was a super compact way for me to store my hair tools, makeup and supplies, and carry it in-between bathrooms {when my kiddos were younger I would use their bathroom more often to get ready}.  Everything just stayed stored within the bag and hung on a hook.  It is a really great option for individuals who don't have a lot of cabinet and drawer space.

6.  A hamper.  If you have the space for a hamper in the loo, it just makes sense.  Think about it, it's where people tend to undress {OK, you can stop thinking about that now, it's getting a bit creepy}.  We have a hamper in our master bath and use it daily.  The kid's don't have one in their bathroom, and it's no surprise I find their clothes behind the bathroom door or right outside the bathroom in a pile in the hall....

7.  Baskets.  Obvious right.  I say, "Hurray!" to baskets in the linen closet for sheets {folding a perfect sheet is a pain right?}.  They work great for corralling and hiding everything and anything really.  Not only do we have a two towel rule, we also have a two sets of sheets rule.  Each bed has two sets of sheets only, and we rotate them weekly.  Since we use our linen cabinet for medication, we opt to store the bedding right within each room, and it works so well!

8.  Nail caddy.  OK girly girls, this one is for you!  I have been using my nail caddy for years now, and I totally dig it.  It is so nice to be able to grab the entire stash of nail grooming supplies and take it anywhere, use them while I relax, and easily transport it back.

 
A few other things that have been working well for us:

• We keep a small bin of cleaning supplies under each sink, so we can wipe up the bathroom frequently without needing to head to the kitchen for our household cleaning caddy.  It holds some disinfecting wipes, toilet bowl cleaner and sponges.
• Candle votives make super star storage for Q-tips, cotton and other itty bitties such as bobby pins.

• We like to keep our toothbrushes stored in a concealed area.  The bathroom can be a very germy place!

• We don't store medications in the bathroom.  We use our hall linen closet for that instead since it is important to find a place within your home that keeps your medications stored at room temp, away from humidity and heat {it causes the medications to lose their effectiveness}.

 Tag, you're it!  Time for you to spill your favorite linen and loo organizing tips!