Bachelor blue to ladylike blue

As you know Josh lived in our house about two years before we got married and I moved in.  Since most people who come over only see the downstairs, I made that my first priority.  However, I kept realizing how much I HATED our bedroom.  I don't have a ton of before pictures, but there was a dresser that was heinous (right, Jean?) -- very colonial and dark, a dark blue rug, a blue bedspread, a navy leather chair and ottoman and a mirror.  There wasn't enough color for me and it just was boring!  Very bachelor...

This picture is after I moved in -- hung an oil painting, sconces for our bedside lamps and purchased a needlepoint pillow to add a little color.  We also received a white matelasse coverlet as a wedding gift so we could fold the blue quilt at the bottom of the bed.  I was still unsatisfied, but it was a little progress.

Close up of the pillow (from Antiques at Five Points) -- I loved the added colors!

A few months after the honeymoon I did create this little collection of wedding pictures and honeymoon photos.  It got me in a good mood to wake up to those each morning!

I originally thought about adding pops of pink (you know me...), but then thought about rooms I love and what those room generally have in common is a bit more of a monochromatic look - it seems to make them more elegant and pulled together.  I fell madly in love with this bedroom in Veranda (so in love that I tore it out twice and found two copies of it in my purse recently).

(I scanned this in from one of my tearouts - you can see the love!)

So I was set on the blue and really set on wanting a French bench.

I found this bench at Robert Corprew's and loved the lines and saw such great potential -- I snatched it up and asked him to paint it cream and white.

 At the same time I was looking for a new dresser or piece to replace it -- this was the perfect piece!  It would hide the TV and had a few drawers for mine & Josh's essentials.  (And how cute would that be in a nursery in 5 years with a little bar to hang the baby's cutest clothes?)  This also came from Robert Corprew's shop.

The bench was painted and recovered and voila!

Fabric is from Printer's Alley.

Then I needed a bed or at least a headboard to make the room look more finished.  Of course the headboard I wanted was also in Veranda (Pierre Deux) and was a pretty penny -- $2,215!!  I couldn't afford that with my allowance!

So I enlisted the same people who recovered my bench to create a replica.  (If you are in Raleigh they do fantastic work for very reasonable prices!)  The end product turned out very similar, in fact, I may like mine a bit better.  It was $325 for labor (the fabric was Printer's Alley and about $26 / yd) -- so a much better deal.

I've always loved collecting old plates and am inspired by pictures like the below from Aerin Lauder's house.

So I created my own little collection around the mirror Josh had hanging and put the bench underneath.

Pretty cozy!

I also had another little bench recovered and put it at the foot of the bed.

Here is a tour of our bedroom today -- much more ladylike and it's now my favorite room in the house!

Olive thinks the little bench is her new bed...

Of course there are still other things I want to do (drapes, new lamps, bedskirt, chandelier, other accessories, etc.), but I'm happy with it for now!

What do you think?

XO,

Whit