Boudoir Re-do

Readers of this blog will recall my Bedroom Remodel of 2014. It was time for another one. After that one, I had switched the bed over to the opposite wall and Mum had made me a headboard. But I don't have any photos of that one!  I did capture it on my last Jammie Chat, tho. 

Here's the before-the-headboard on the other wall set-up:

Sheet-as-curtain hanging on left is my closet:

This is my dresser-as-baseboard:

Tabby Bobcat annoyed that Buddy has his catnip toy.

 I even had room for a little reading corner:

I was going for an Oasis-tent-along-the-Silk-Trail kinda vibe. But then I saw this photo on Pinterest of an opium party:

Oh, lookit!  A pile of people!

But what I really thought was, Oooh. Nice wall hangings.

What prompted the most recent re-do was watching Dave Asprey's Moldy Movie, which then prompted a ton of research on the effects of toxic mold. If you've not seen the movie, check it out. And if you've ever had even the tiniest water leak, beware. Toxic mold can be linked to neurological, chronic, and mysterious illnesses. You know; just like gluten and thyroid disease.

Back to the bedroom: there was a family that left their moldy home, but brought their mattresses with them because "but they're brand new!  We just bought them!" And that's why everyone was still having respiratory problems. So it got me to thinking about my mattress that I'd had for 12+ years and had been in another house where there was a flood in the basement. I gave it the sniff test and it really did have a musty smell to it. So when Lawnmower Ben was over, I got him to help me get the mattresses out. I also had to get rid of the headboard. Basically, the rule for anything that could have toxic mold is if it's more than an inch thick and can't be washed in a washing machine in HOT water and borax, get rid of it. Because I had the mattress topper encased in a waterproof cover, it was okay. Yay!

Here's the new set up:

New curtains covering the window. 

That's a "Tree of Life" tapestry behind the pillows. Thank you Opium party.

Buddy still uses the beagle/cat steps to get on the bed:

See?

The old window curtains are at the closet. And really, they stay open except for photos.

One day my niece was visiting and tried to exit thru the curtains at the closet. She was a bit embarrassed and I said, "Yes!  Thank you. That's the look I was going for; that it would look like an entrance into the room. You just showed me that I did a good job!"

     

My nightstand was stacked high with books, so yesterday I switched it with a little bookcase. You can see it to the right of the bed, with the pashmina throw covering it. Or as John Morgan would call it, drapey-table-cloth-thingie. But do you see what's in the corner?

*SIGH*
That's the stack I'm in the middle of reading.

I still have a bit of a secret . . . because it looks like a real bed, doesn't it? Well:

Bingo's spot, under the "bed."

I didn't want to rush into buying a whole new bed. As a temporary solution, I got out my unused massage table and fashioned a new bed with the mattress topper. Holy Heck was it comfortable! An added bonus was that for the first time in forever, I woke up without stuffy sinuses. Yay, me! So I wasn't really in too big of a hurry to get a new mattress. 

The only problem was that Buddy, the beagle-bed-hog, did not have enough room!  On the third day I woke up to him on top of me, s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d across my torso. I opened my eyes to face his backside.  Ewwww!  Beagle backside!  I hate waking to beagle backside!

I was explaining my dilemma to Chiro-Sis and she graciously offered me one of her massage tables. And voila!  I have a queen-ish sized "bed." What's really great is that it's just a smidge shorter than a standard bed which means that I can fit it against a different wall. AND the tables are so lightweight that I just scooted them across the floor as I decided which wall they should go on.

This set up is working really well!  And I really don't see myself getting a "real" bed, anytime soon. Besides . . . 

Zzzzzz . . . . the beagle is happy.  :-)

New Bedroom

I drifted off to sleep one night thinking, "I think I'll switch my bedroom with the yoga room." I don't know what really prompted it, except that my bedroom gets the most sunlight during the day. Not all that conducive for taking naps. Years ago, when I first saw Bruce Lipton, he said that whenever you learn something new or want to make changes in your life, change your living environment. Rearrange the furniture. So perhaps that was the impetus. In any case, the yoga room/massage room/guest room was really kind of the laundry room & junk room:

I thought to take a before picture of the book case wall after I'd moved most of the books:

Bingo saying hullo. This was definitely the animal-free zone. Well, until I started moving stuff.

Here is the first move into the room:

This room is slightly smaller than the other one, so to maximize space I gave my bed frame to Atlasta. Cat stairs for Tabby. Across from the bed was the other dresser. Sorry, no pic. I always get judgey when other blogs don't have before-and-afters of room re-dos. Oh, well.

Even tho the room is smaller, the use of space made it feel bigger. But then I had to pull up the carpet, thanks to my new beagle with the UTI. No amount of steam cleaning could clean away the smell. The carpet part wasn't so hard, it was the carpet tacks. No photo of that, either. I know, I know. Bad blogger! The good thing is that I ended up doing things that I wouldn't have, if I'd still had carpet. So it all worked out.  :-) 

I looked on Pinterest for alternatives to head boards. "How to have a head board without really having a headboard" sort of thing. I also wanted to cover the window, because it's uneven to the bed and a bit of an eye sore. So I came up with this:

Buddy stayed on the bed the whole time while I worked around him! The curtains sort of look like a head board. The valence-looking pieces at the top are actually silk curtains my mother made. So glad I'm finally using them!

Here's what it looks like without the valence pieces:

The curtain loops hung too low to cover the window frame, which stops in the middle of the wall. I could have moved the curtain rods up, but I really liked the valence pieces.

I love this sheet I was using as a pet cover on the bed. So I hung it up to test it out:

It just screams "college student" which is fine if you are, but I am not.
And yes, Buddy stayed here the whole time!

 So this is what I ended up doing:

Pretty paisley sheet became the closet curtain.

 I got this cool idea to use one of my dressers as a foot board. Thank you, Pinterest:

By not having a head board, and by moving the dresser as a foot board, I got even more space. So I moved my meditation chair from the living room:

Mum gave me that little bookcase, which is perfect.

 And here's Tabby Bobcat all settled in:

I switched out the closets, so that's all done. Now I just have to hang my pictures. I really like the colours; it has a sort of Silk Road Oasis vibe. Next: yoga room!

Living Room: Before & After

I promised Mum to post pix of all my hard work. Harhar

BEFORE:

Keepin' it real. Behind the chair on the right is where I hid the litter box. And then I got the cat door so Tabby Bobcat could go outside. Except for when it snowed.  *sigh*  But it is now GONE, barring any April blizzards.  

That brown mahogany-type piece to the right of the chair is where I feed the cat. It has 2 pull-out bins to hold the food. But I also have a book case behind the chair with blocks & games for the kiddliewinks, not v. accessible.

Like I said, keepin' it real. I keep the furniture covered to protect it from cat & dog hair. 

Love my wall o' books. And little closety-type thing on the end.

AFTER: 

Doesn't look too different. Except I moved the cat's feeding station!

Before putting on fresh covers. 

A lot less cluttered. 

 Except:

Tabby Bobcat was a bit confused.

Where is my food?

NOT amused.

I have to keep his food out of reach of Bingo, because she WILL eat whatever she can reach! So I moved Tabby's food station to where he spends a lot of time:

In my office.  It took a while before he adjusted. For the first few days, he'd jump up in front of the TV and just MEOW in protest. But now he's gotten used to it.