Thursday, October 27, 2011

Room Makeover (My Mum is Moving in - Part 2)



In my last blog post I showed you the dresser makeover I did for my Mum's room, before she moved in. This is the second and last part of the room makeover.

First, some before photos...

curtains were these...

there was a tall wardrobe in one corner (now replaced with the dresser)...


walls and doors needed a fresh coat of paint...




the single bed was at the other corner of the room...

First, I sewed new curtains for the room. I had actually bought a pale cream material for the curtains, but to my horror, they showed terrible blotches all over when held up to the sunlight. So back to the store I went with the rejected material, and this was the only alternative they could give me. Pink! hmmm...not me at all. But my daughter helped me tone it down with the Ikea lacy ones which were at a ridiculous price of RM39 (about US$10) for a pair! (she took one piece for her own room - I think that was the plan all along)


And then I was stuck! How in the world does a green dresser go with pink curtains!
This was not what I had envisioned! So I figured the only way I could pull it all together was if I bought bed linen that would somehow match everything. I searched high and low but could not find any that 'flowed'. I was in trouble.

And then I found it! The perfect, perfect, perfect colours in a quilt which could double up as a bedspread as well as a blanket, as it was the thinner version that is more suitable for our weather. But it was for a double bed, so it was more costly. How I had sat for a good half hour deliberating if I could splash so much money when all I needed was a quilt for a single bed. Finally, I decided I liked it too much, it was for my mother after all, I couldn't be looking anymore, so I splurged. And the salesgirl from China said, "you are good daughter".

Wanna see, wanna see??
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

See a close-up of the floral print and the perfect colours! (pink from my curtains and green from my dresser!)

It reminded me of the tea-set I had bought and blogged about some months ago.




AND! AND! I had an idea of what I'd do with the balance material as I had to cut off one side that was too long (obviously) for the bed.
.
.
.
wait
.
.
.
.
.
(holding my heart)
.
.
.



eeeeeeeeeeek!! And now I shalt waxeth poetic! The balance for a valance!




I'm totally cheating here. I was going to make a wooden beam for the valance (I even bought a piece of meranti wood) but Mum moved in before I could make it. So I just pinned on the balance quilt material onto the existing curtains. You couldn't tell, could you? I'll get round to making the beam. Some day. Maybe.

Also, several months ago, I had bought these two used wooden-framed mirrors, (3 feet tall!) also at a steal - RM15 each.


At first I painted the frames black. Here you can see a during photo, because I don't have a photo of the completed black ones. And they remained so, displayed in my dining room, side by side.
Then I decided to use them in the rooms. The white in me (I have noticed more and more I love white) decided to paint them white. Mum got the clean white while daughter got the distressed one.

Here's Mum's white mirror with a small table covered with vintage, lacy cloth that belongs to her. She is particular about her hair, and I knew she would need a table to sit at, to do it up. (psst...if ever you meet her, tell her how nice her hair is and she'll love you immediately...no, on second thoughts, don't. She'll get suspicious because I know how my friends are - they will ALL really do so!)



Oh, wait. Look at the cute, antique stool that came with her?


See the fresh coat of very light grey paint on the walls and a darker shade for the doors?


A pink rug for just outside the bathroom.
Her Ikea side table that moved in with her. I added a pewter jug (belongs to her) with leaves...







What did my Mum say when she walked into the room?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Wah, got a nice big mirror for me to do my hair!"

-__-

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Dressing a Dresser (My Mum is Moving In - part 1)

My Mum is moving in with us.

update: I started this post much earlier but it wasn't published. She moved in last Saturday.


How exciting! It's such an honour for me*. Gotta get her room ready. Gotta sew her some curtains. Gotta get some furniture pieces in for her. Gotta get new bed linen. Gotta get her little rugs. (I really gotta stop using the word gotta.)

My Mum is so unlike me. She is definitely the 'girlie' kind. And she's cute. Here she is with my son.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I told you she is cute!

Me? I'm all for rustic, distressed, rough, country style. And I'm a tomboy. Here I am in my shorts, dirty oversized t-shirt, hair up to keep it away from sweaty face, blotches of paint up to my elbows....
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

(you didn't think I would post a photo of me like that, did you?! Really!)


So it was with much trial and error I did up her room, all the while feeling stumped cos I had no idea what a girlie kind of person would like - and with much consultation with my also-girlie daughter . (I really should stop using the word cos - cos it's slang and I think I gotta cut down on slang words. Like gotta)

I had this dresser which I thought I could let her have, cos because my bedroom had too many pieces of furniture in it.
While I liked the piece as a whole, I didn't like the wood cos because it was patchy..look at the side of the dresser..


And a close-up of the wood (I gotta have to find out why it was made like this).



At first, I wanted to paint it, and have the wood show through in a leaf motif. (I stuck on stencils I had cut out of cardboard - don't ask. I'm an amateur DIY-er)
But that just didn't turn out right...

I didn't like the leaves cos because they were too 'spiky' - even for me! Great idea, though..gotta have to try again next time, with a different motif.

So back to re-painting and sandpapering off some of the paint.
I have no idea why I used green. Maybe cos because it's a calm colour to walk into your bedroom to, when you want to turn in? I can't imagine walking into a red room!

My girlie-consultant thought her Granny wouldn't like the distressed, vintage look like I had done for the cupboard my husband had rescued from her house months ago. So I gave this one a clean look.

A rug to match (I had already painted the walls a pale grey, and the doors a darker grey).
And then of course, ever since I discovered I have a thing about knobs, I had to change the little ones (they were really little) that didn't make any impact...


to wider ones, darkening the colour, too.





BEFORE


AFTER

Tune in to Part 2 for the complete room make-over.


1. Does anyone know where to get really, really fancy cupboard knobs/handles here in Malaysia?
2. What do you think of my dresser dressed in green? Even if you feel I should have just let.it.be, do let me know. I really wanna want to know what you think.


*Honour your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
Deuteronomy 5:16