I think the story of this remodel will be my favorite of all time. Let me take you back to a simpler time… actually not really. It was only a few months ago when my friend and I were Marco Polo-ing while I was out getting some goods for my girls’ bedroom project. Sweet Jamie (probably jokingly) said something to the affect of, “I would love for you to give me ideas for my house!” To which I said, “Of course! Your home is beautiful but sometimes if you’re hung up on a space, you just need an extra set of eyes, so let’s brainstorm together if nothing else.” “Brainstorming” quickly turned into me getting all crazy excited with possibilities after Jamie sent me pictures of her chosen room. Now let me give you some background info on Jamie. She is someone who runs at 110 mph AT ALL TIMES! She spends her days busy in the service of her family and others. We talked about which room in her house she wanted to freshen up and her hopes for that space. She told me she needed her bedroom to be a place of peace where she can just unwind. She also mentioned that there is a lot movement in the room between her, her husband, five kids, and (darling) goldendoodle so whatever we did needed to withstand the test of traffic. Let’s pause here and take a look at the “before” pictures.

When I first received these pictures, my thought was literally about how much potential this space had! I mean really, I think it’s safe-ish to say that a lot of people reading this right now are working with basic spaces. However basic or crazy character-ridden your room is, it’s workable! I promise! First things first: We needed to open up the room a little. No, we didn’t intend to knock down any walls or wave a magic wand to magically raise the ceiling two feet. Instead of those two promising options, we opted for something more realistic: paint and trim! The vertical trim pieces did wonders for creating a taller wall! White is known for really opening up a space, so we went for a double-whammy there. Out with the greige and in with the white! Before we move on to other elements of the room, let’s acknowledge the fact that crown molding (which I mistakingly thought was a thing of the past for the last decade of my life) adds a very refined and finishing touch. Normally I’m all about color, patterns, and wallpaper but it just wasn’t right for this room. Expanding the room (visually) was our starting point and goal. 

Next, we needed to get some furniture that would lend aid in our goal of opening up the room. What does that call for? Low-profile, baby! Beds can be PRICEY now days and we weren’t planning on spending an arm and a leg here so Mr. Q put his brain and skills together to create the baby of all bedroom makeovers: a glorious headboard. I pushed for something involving cane; I love that texture! I had a crazy idea to extend the headboard beyond the queen mattress and Spencer, being the incredible sport that he is, totally went with it. What he came up with was beyond what I could have imagined! It might look simple and straight-forward but his craftsmanship was NEXT LEVEL! We also needed some nightstands that weren’t so heavy to the eyes- causing the brain to close in on the space. After finding some Facebook marketplace nightstands, repurposing some frames that were taking up space in our garage, and collecting all the cute little add-ons, we were ready to head to Logan for our project! 

Spence and I dropped off our kids to their other parents Friday afternoon and we leisurely made our way up to Logan, UT. We stopped off at Spencer’s sister’s house (where we were staying) and chatted for a bit. We took our time getting to Jamie and Carson’s house, had trouble with the key code/lock, shimmied our way into the house via the bathroom window, and started setting up shop. Around 7pm I got a text from Jamie saying, “I just got off the phone with Jenn (one of our friends) and she was telling me that maybe you thought I got back tomorrow? Ah! I am sorry! We get back to Salt Lake at midnight. And then drive home.” *cue peeing my pants a little. I’m not sure where my frantic brain crossed the wires but we were totally off on our timing! What turned out to be a two day project turned into a frantic get-it-done-asap project! Spencer went to town nailing up the crown molding while I started priming and painting!

Here we have a couple of progress pics at the 1 hour mark and 2.5 hour mark! I for sure thought we would only be able to get one or two walls done. Heaven must have been on our side because everything went quickly and smoothly! We got everything painted, nailed, and filled in a matter of a few hours! The final prime and paint coats on the trim pieces took a hair longer but while Spencer was doing that, I was assembling furniture and getting things all set up in another room of the house so that when it was “go time” it would simply be a matter of moving things from point A to point B. 

Once all the wall details were complete, it was time to really have some fun! We secured the headboard to the wall, unrolled the rug, put the bed and bedding together, got the nightstands into place, and started with the decorative details. Now, let me clarify with this picture: I had been planning on doing a little shopping during our time in Logan for some of the finishing touches (duvet insert, nightstand goods, pot for one of the plants, knobs for the nightstand, etc..). I left the frames blank so Jamie, who is a phenomenal photographer, could fill them with her own pictures of her husband and herself. 

Mood lighting is my jam. I cannot emphasize that enough! If a human in my home turns on the big light, I am not a happy camper. I much prefer lamp lighting. What’s more, I much prefer *cute* lamp lighting. There was an opportunity to have a cute pendant light in the corner of the room so I obviously took it and ran with it!

So, I will admit, we left the room undone. The above pic is what Jamie and Carson came home to after their trip. Not bad… not bad. But we still had some work to do. We needed to mount her TV to free up space on her dresser then give said dresser a little facelift.  

Let’s reiterate the part that this is the SAME dresser! Spence in all his genius last-minute grabbed our extra scrap dowel rods from our laundry room project (check it out here). We didn’t know if we were actually going to do the dresser during this trip. We figured we would scope it out and make a plan for the next time we were in Logan visiting. Nonetheless, we brought up the wood and some handles we had lying around for another project and they happened to work perfectly! I was going back and forth on what color to paint the outside of the dresser. If I haven’t mentioned it before, I LOVE bright bold color. But again, it just wasn’t right for this project! We went with white, again, for the purpose of opening the space between the end of the bed and the dresser. So, returning to our story, we ran over to Jamie and Carson’s house Saturday to snag the dresser, and mount the TV. We took the dresser back to our sweet sister’s house and really raised the sound level of her quiet peaceful neighborhood with the table saw running alllllll day and into the night! We opted for wood glue on these 1/2″ dowel rods. The result was much much better than our previous attempt! We put boards over the drawer fronts and clamped those suckers down as the wood glue dried over night. I really can’t tell you how happy (and slightly shocked) that refinishing the dresser went so smoothly! We snuck the dresser back to its final resting spot Sunday late morning and hung more empty frames in a gallery-wall style. Again, more opportunities to personalize and bring life to the room! 

All in all, being a blitz project, there were a few things we implemented that anyone and everyone can do to give whatever space a little “glow-up”. Let’s review:

1- Vertical trim heightens! 

2- Paint is always a fun and fresh idea! If not paint, I will always raise my hand in favor of wallpaper or trim of some sort (project depending). 

3- A little lamp lighting goes a long way-  be it hanging pendants or various *cute* lamps strategically placed around the room.

4- A rug under a bed or table really defines the space and brings extra warmth and interest to the flooring. 

5- If you are working with a smaller space, opt-out of a footboard and shoot for low-profile furniture!

6- If crown molding is an option, GO FOR IT! It brings sophistication and refinement. 

7- I haven’t mentioned this detail before but I love and live for PLANTS! In my opinion, they always bring fresh life to a room! If you are doubting your plant parenthood, start off with a simple (and easy) snake plant!

Honestly, I’m sure I will dream of other tidbits that I should have added to this page that very well may keep me up at night but since you have endure this much with me so far, I will conclude with saying that it was an absolute honor working with Jamie and Carson! I am so glad they took a chance on us and entrusted us to freshen up their room! It was a thrill seeing months of thought and preparation play out in a matter of seven hours and forty minutes! Thanks for reliving this amazing experience with me as I feel all the butterflies and warm cozies of that fateful night when we totally flipped the room in less than eight hours!