We have put the big kitchen renovation plans on hold for now and have decided to instead focus our time and efforts on all the little annoying projects that need to be done, but no one wants to do. We have painted all the ceilings upstairs, and replaced all the doorknobs. We've started downstairs and have painted the kitchen, breakfast area, and hallway. We also decided to repaint the kitchen walls. Here is a little preview of how it came out (also, my dinner).
It's sort of hard to tell from the lighting, but the trim and below the chair rail was cream, and the walls were red. We added new moulding so the kitchen would match what was in the dining room, painted, the walls Sherwin Williams Sea Salt (a Behr color match), and painted the trim and chair rail Ultra Pure White. A full update on that will come later. Now! On to the real reason we're here today. Things have been changing in our master bedroom. As our first anniversary gift to one another, we decided to upgrade to a king size bed. We got the mattress from Tuft & Needle. If you haven't heard of them, they are an online mattress retailer whose philosophy is based on simplicity. Their mattresses are made from their own special foam, which is similar to memory foam. They say that their 2 layer mattress is better at promoting air flow than a lot of the ones with three or more layers. Their marketing is limited, and they don't believe in "salesmen". We took a risk by ordering the cheapest mattress we found online---but, I'm glad to say that I don't regret it at all!
We have had the mattress for more than a month now. It was delivered in a box slightly smaller than a washing-machine. It took two people to get it upstairs, and it was really fun tearing the plastic and watching it expand to its full size. It's a 10" mattress. It starts out very firm, but softens up over the first week or two. Now it is medium-firm. We love a firm bed, and so far it is really living up to our expectations! I am a very hot sleeper, and I can attest to the cooling nature of this mattress. The only issue I notice is that since it's foam, the corners are a bit soft, so it's not totally comfortable leaning on the edge. They have a 100 day return policy that if you aren't satisfied you can donate it to charity for a full refund but I don't anticipate we'll be taking advantage of that. We spent my entire birthday at furniture stores trying to pick out a bed frame. Our two requirements were 1) that it be all wood and 2) that it be as tall, or taller than our current bed at 25". Every place we looked at had MDF and particleboard even though we specifically asked, and the salespeople insisted the beds were all real wood. We had to get down and inspect the bottom of the side rails and the back of the headboard to prove that it wasn't real wood. At the end of the day, we got irritated and decided that we should just get the cheapest one that I liked. Since we couldn't even find a real wood one in stores, we settled on this one from ATG Stores. It listed that there could be MDF, but since the ones in stores had it and didn't list it, we figured, "What the heck!". Even if it just lasts a couple of years, it's essentially the same quality as ones $300+ more in stores and we can get a feel for whether we like this style and will want to higher quality one in a few years. My one disappointment is that the "espresso" color is really just black. I wanted a wood-toned finish, but it was out of stock so we opted for the espresso. We really like the style, though. I love the open footboard. It makes the blankets look super tidy when tucked in and the room just feels much more open.
I also rearranged the furniture a bit. My dresser used to be at the foot of the bed, but since our new bed is wider (not longer) than our old queen size, I wanted to get a more narrow tv stand. I didn't want it to feel crowded at the foot of the bed. I got this table at the thrift store for $30. My favorite part is the asian-looking corner details.
I got this chair at an antique store for $36. It's great for putting on my shoes in the morning.
Here you can see where we moved my dresser. I think the flow of the room makes much more sense than before because before we just had a big empty spot there.
One of my favorite updates is the lamp for my husband's end table. I found it at Goodwill about a year after I found my lamp and it's a perfect match! I have a thing for lamp pairs, so it was so cool that I made a pair with vintage lamps purchased a year apart. I just switched out my white shade for a set I had (also thrifted) with blue velvet bands around the rim.
There you have it! I am still on the fence about a rug. Right now I have a small ivory faux fur rug on my side of the bed. I would love to get an antique turkish rug, but right now I'm just enjoying how clean having bare wood feels. We'll see!
