Sweet Dreams

After posting the before and after pictures of the living room last month, I thought that I’d show you what I have done with the bedroom in my teeny tiny apartment.

Its a small space with a pitched ceiling (hello, top floor…I mean “penthouse”), but it has a great closet, a nice wood floor, and a perfect view of the CN Tower.

When I started looking for bedding, I wanted something soothing and feminine, but without being too crazy girlie. Not really my style. I don’t do pink. Or big flowers. Or ruffles. Never ruffles. In the end, I found this really reasonable duvet cover from IKEA for only $19 and paired it with navy cotton sheets from Sears for only $39. The brown pillows are actually GRANAT cushions from IKEA for only $6 each, that I covered in a textured weave upholstery fabric for only $3.50 each. The small pillow is the IKEA IRMA cushion for $2, covered in muslin fabric. I want to make a bolder cover for it, but nothing has really inspired me yet. So for now its a blank slate. Ideas?

I have a neighbour who always prides himself on the random things that he finds in the clearance section in Leon’s. He can go over there just to take a peek, and come back with a three piece sectional with matching pillows. So, when I started looking around for furniture, I popped into Leon’s, and decided to puruse the clearance section. Lo and behold, there was a dark chocolate wooden footboard there for only $19, just like what I wanted to make for my headboard. To put it up on the wall, I screwed two 1″ x 4″ pieces of wood to the wall, securing them on the studs. I then screwed the headboard to the wall using decorative stainless steel washers to make it look a little more polished. I’ve thought about maybe making a little cover to go over top of each screw, but right now I like the look of the silver hardware.

The sidetables are from my parents’ place and some how they just happened to make it onto the trailer when I packed everything up to move (what can I say? I loved them!) I knew that I wanted wall mount lamps instead of tableside lamps to free up the surface area of the sidetables, but they had to be plug-ins, because the landlord did not want any new wiring. Everywhere that I looked they were either too decorative, or extremely expensive, until I went to the Swedish gods of IKEA. These BASISK spotlights were only $15 each and are very easy to install. They give off the perfect amount of light for reading, without blaring in your eyes when you wake up.

I love old westerns, and John Wayne is the ultimate cowboy. I was killing time in an Indigo one day and saw this mounted Andy Warhol print of The Duke reduced to $12. Score. When I took it home, it matched almost everything in the bedroom. The red in the curtains, the browns in the furniture, and the colours of the flowers on the bedspread. I just had to put it up. Plus its always nice to know that The Duke is watching over you.

Of course taking a photo of the bedroom would have to include a picture of Whiskey, because he always has to follow me wherever I am going. The second he saw that I was trying to take pictures of the nicely made bed, he decided that it was time to run up on it, and spin around. As you can see, he is standing on his favorite part of the bed, the plush throw. When I’m not in the room, he curls up on it like a cat. I’ve even caught him burrowing under it, so that I come in and find a little lump (You always jave to check under pillows and blankets for him hiding. Part dog. Part groundhog). To be fair to him, it is the nicest plushest fleece blanket that I have ever seen. It doesn’t pill and after two years of regular use, it is still as nice as the day I bought it two years ago, for only $14 at Walmart.

Across the room from the bed is the dresser, boudoir chair, exercise bike and my beloved fish tank, but I’ll be posting about those things another time (lots of fun ideas in the works).