I just can’t let sleeping dogs lie. Not while they’re in our master bedroom at least. Maybe it was the light gray walls + gray bedding with only a bit of yellow as a relief, but I just kept feeling like our master needed a bit more pizzaz. After our recent nightstand update, I was still feeling like something was missing in this room, so I set out in search of some inspiration.
I toyed around with the idea of an accent wall behind our headboard to add interest, but I wasn’t sure how it would look. After tinkering around on Behr.com with their Paint Your Place application, I concluded that a painted accent wall was NOT what this room was lacking.
Yellow was awful…
Even teal seemed to highlight that off-center window.
The only option I liked even a little bit was just a darker version of the gray we already have on our walls!
After lots of thinking, I decided the real thing bothering me wasn’t the wall color but that silly window on the left side of the bed. I really only liked the darker gray paint color because it helped camouflage the window more than the other colors did. I considered hanging a large dark-framed piece of art behind the lamp on the right nightstand to balance out the window, but we really love our gold mirror above the bed and didn’t want art to compete with it.
This photo sold me on the idea, and less than 2 hours later I had this!
Want to see how I did it? By myself? For F-R-E-E!?
Here’s what I started with. Four gray curtain panels on wimpy silver curtain rods.
I also happened to have these 2 shower curtain rods (one I’d painted silver previously) and a smattering of rod brackets.
Since our curtains were dark gray, I decided to paint the rods black so they’d blend in. All they needed was a quick spray and a few minutes of drying time.
The rod brackets were a different story. To make hanging the curtain rods easier, I decided to use the four identical small silver brackets. The only problem was they were too small to hold the thick curtain rods.
Enter: The vice on our workbench in the garage.
First I tried positioning the bracket like this and hitting it with a hammer to stretch out the “cup” of the bracket. This only resulted in the bracket bending at the joint just above the vice – not what I was going for!
I repositioned the bracket and tried again. This time, I couldn’t get much of a swing in with the hammer and that curved section wouldn’t budge.
Finally I realized I could clamp the curved portion with the vice and squeeze the curve open. Then all it took was repositioning the curve and clamping until it was wide enough to hold the shower curtain rod.
After clamping 2 of the 4 brackets, here’s a comparison shot I took so you could see the change.
Once all the brackets were ready, I measured and hung the first curtain rod. The brackets were all positioned 2 inches from the ceiling.
Here’s a shot of both curtain rods in place. You’ll notice I left a gap on the left side of the wall. This is partially because my curtains rods wouldn’t quite extend the full length of the wall and partially because we didn’t want to center the bed on the wall (which would put it in front of the window), so I decided to keep the width of the curtains as similar on both sides of the bed as possible.
After the rods were up, it was just a matter of hanging the panels. I hung all 4 panels behind the bed and made sure the seams between the 2 center panels were positioned just over the hook used to hang our mirror. Do you see the hook in the photo below?
After a little fluffing and mirror-hanging, here’s our updated master bedroom!
The lamps cast a soft glow on the gray panels. You can still see the light from the window through the panels during the day, but I may eventually add a light-blocking shade behind the curtains for a more seamless look.
When the lamps are off, you really notice the gold ribbon detail I added a couple weeks ago.
I love how dramatic that mirror looks on top of the gray panels!
Once the panels were up, it was time to address the other window in the room. At the moment it’s not overwhelmingly pretty, but I did manage to raise the curtain rod to the same height as the panels behind the bed and hang a fifth (fresh out of the dryer and wrinkled) gray panel up. When I found these curtains at Ikea, I bought an extra set – one panel was used to make the Euro shams on the bed and the other is now hanging on this window! After a bit of ironing, it will look 100% better. 🙂
I managed to snap a few more photos after the sun went down to give you a good idea of what the room looks like at night. Off-center window be gone!
And now for a side by side comparison! Quite the difference, no?
So there you have it, a free 2-hour solution to an off-center window and quite the dramatic little bedroom as a result. Are you a fan of the wall of curtains or would you have busted out the paint can? I’d love to hear what you think!
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I actually didn’t mind the window before but your finished product is wonderful! If you want to hide the window even more, even during the day when light shines through the curtain, you could hang another layer just inside the window frame.
that looks awesome! it was the perfect solution! we have a weird window and i planned to mkae a headboard that would help it, but i have to put that on hold for now.
Wow! I thought your room looked great before, so who would have thought it was possible for it to look a bazillion times better?
This is brilliant! And, so glamorous. I think keeping the mirror over the bed absolutely makes the look.
This looks incredible! i love what you’ve done and even better, you did it for free!!!
I love it! Makes your room much more cozy and cave-like, which you know is definitely my style!
Wow ~ So glam! I love it! Way to go with you $0 budget =)
I love it!
I also loved all the pictures of doors from your Paris trip, you should do a collage of all of them for wall art.
I love what you did! I think it turned out beautifully and it looks so chic! =)
ooohhhh drama, I like it! Does Stephen ever come home and say, what the heck have you been up to this time?
Yes! 🙂
It took him awhile to notice the curtains but when he did, he just stared at them for a minute and then (thankfully) said “Oh! I really like that!”
what a FABULOUS solution! the best part? i’ve been planning on taking on a similar project! in our new house there is an almost-centered window on the wall our bed sits up against and i was going to extend it with curtains to make it look like a larger, centered window and have the curtains double as a headboard – uh. if that makes sense. 😉 anyhoo- your room looks amazing and was just the encouragement i need before i take on my project! 🙂
Perfect solution, I love how dramatic that wall is now!
Wow, it looks great! But, why didn’t you center the bed? I know it would be partially covering the window, but with all those curtains and the window is now covered anyway, would it matter? Might not hurt to try it out and see…
Hi Michelle,
Thanks for the comment on our master bedroom update. To answer your question, centering the bed is really a matter of centering the mirror. I didn’t think there was room to move the mirror to the center of the wall and not have it overlap the window, but maybe I need to take a second look and see.
Thanks for the suggestion!
That looks amazing! I love it!
Holly
ourlittleplacecalledhome.blogspot.com
This is amazing! Your bedroom looks outstanding!
Looks amazing. I like the idea of centering the bed, too. But did I understand the curtains didn’t go all the way across the wall to the left corner? Couldn’t tell from the pics. If not, then I’m definitely for extending them all the way across and centering the bed and mirror. With room darkening blinds you’d never know there was a window there!
Great job taking the plunge! I would love to do something like that, but hubby is on the conservative side..booo! 🙂
I’ve been a lurker for quite a while and I just popped on over here after seeing this in Google Reader to say this:
YES, YES, YES! You GO, girl! I LOVE this. <3
LOOKS AMAZING!! Very dramatic. I really like it.
Nicely done! It really does look great.
I took a similar approach in our MB. (the room isn’t ready to be photoghaphed) We have a king size beg with a single window that lands on just the right side of the bed, so I did white panels (sheets) that extend from one end of the bed to the other.
I loved the room before, but this is even better. I have an awkward window like this in my master bedroom, but because the ceiling slants I dont think this solution would work for me.
Love it! How about I send you 1000 bucks and let you have your way with a girly room for gracie? Seriously!
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OH MY! WOW! i love this so much! your bedroom has made me want to do grey and yellow in mine and since i live in an apartment and can’t paint i could do the curtains for color! i LOVE it!
Oh, I like it a lot! I’m not sure how the window off the to the side looks now, though. I’d like to see a picture of the whole room (though based on my tiny rooms, I’m not sure if you have the space for the angle) with that curtain. I might do something different so it looks less lonely over there!
Love the new wall of curtains! It adds so much drama to the room!
Wow Wow Wow it looks like some ritzy 5 star hotel room! And in only 2 hours? You are amazing Meredith. I salute you!
WOW – what a difference it makes. It looks so fantastic!
It’s just beautiful~ love how it turned out. 🙂
Wow, it looks wonderful — so dramatic! It’s as if a HGTV show came to your house & redid your bedroom.
What can I possibly say? It’s absolutely stunning! I’ve been wanting that same rug for a long time now–looks so great in the room. And don’t even get me started on the wall of fabric! Beautiful!
I must say I like the before picture too. It is pretty awesome. The after picture is gorgeous, stunning though. I can’t believe you got on it sooooo quick though. I have to learn from you.
Great job!
The curtains add so much drama! I love the mirror!
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I love your curtains and the black, yellow, and white design for your room. Although the one thing that throws me off in your room in the gold mirror? In my opinion you should maybe change the color of it…
Or change the color of your night stand lights to gold. Like the picture.
Very dramatic! I would add a shade to block out the light from the window. I have never been a fan of unlined drapes/curtains (unless they are sheer on purpose) with light coming through when they are closed. Impressive problem solving with the rods.
AH-MAZING!! It looks awesome Meredith!! I seriously love the new look, but I’m with a few of the others; I think it would look great centered too. Awesome transformation!
now that is what you call sexy!! Love it!!!!
Can I ask where you found that awesome mirror above your bed? I’d love to locate something similar.
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That is freaking awesome!!! Love the look at night!
It looks great! How did you hang the mirror up in front of the curtains?
Thanks Kathy!
To hang the mirror in front of the curtains, we actually made sure to line up the seam between two curtains directly behind the center of the mirror. There are actually four curtain panels across the back wall of our room, so the mirror is hung on the wall with two panels coming together on either side.
Have a great one!
Meredith
Hi there! I love your after look! How in the world did you hand the mirror??
I actually wrote a post about that here: http://welcometoheardmont.com/2010/02/master-bedroom-redo-hanging-the-mirror/
I’ve been looking for a comforter/bed set/duvet cover like this one. Would you mind telling me where you got it? Super cute and not too busy like the ones I’ve been finding!
Thanks!
The duvet is from Ikea. Thanks for stopping by!
I love it love it love it!!! This may seem like a stupid question but how did you hang the mirror back up with the curtains you cannot tell it is hanging….
There are four curtain panels along that back wall, in total. I just made sure the gap between two panels fell right behind the center of the mirror and pulled them shut behind it!
looks elegant 🙂
Beautiful job! How is the mirror hanging in front of the drape. I am currently considering this design, but I need to be able to still hang mirrors on the wall. Thanks in advance!
So I have an orange wall in my room that I will be putting my bed against, I really don’t want to have to paint it and I love the idea of doing curtains as the wall back drop, my room is black and white themed with a hint of red for an accent. I am thinking either black silky looking curtains (thick ones) or possibly doing a red. There are no windows on the wall and I bet it would be cheaper since I don’t have any curtains. But I also think it’d look awesome. What should I do?! HELP!
What length are the curtains also? And how many did you have to use and what size was that wall?