Another Master Bedroom Update

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.

Towards Bath Lamps Off

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…

Yellow Wall Demo

Pink was hideous…

Pink Accent Wall

Even teal seemed to highlight that off-center window.

Dark Teal Accent Wall

The only option I liked even a little bit was just a darker version of the gray we already have on our walls!

Darker Gray 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.

The ideas kept brewing… I thought, instead of dark gray paint, what if I somehow camouflaged the location of the window by extending the curtains all the way across the headboard wall?  I know it’s been done before – by the likes of Katie Bower – and with great results! I was almost convinced a wall of curtains was the way to go, but what really sealed the deal was this image on Pinterest.  The curtain color, the gold mirror, the white lampshades and light color on the walls, even the bedding felt very similar to our room.

 

 

This photo sold me on the idea, and less than 2 hours later I had this!

Reflection Bed

Curtains from Center

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.

Master Bedroom 5/27/11

I also happened to have these 2 shower curtain rods (one I’d painted silver previously) and a smattering of rod brackets.

Shower Curtain Rods

Available Curtain 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.

Painting Black

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!

Try 2 Bracket

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.

Try 1 Bracket

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.

Clamp 1 Bracket Clamp 2 Bracket Clamp 3 Bracket

After clamping 2 of the 4 brackets, here’s a comparison shot I took so you could see the change.

Comparing Brackets

Once all the brackets were ready, I measured and hung the first curtain rod.  The brackets were all positioned 2 inches from the ceiling.

Hanging Rod 1

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.

Hanging Rod 2

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?

Right Curtains Up2

After a little fluffing and mirror-hanging, here’s our updated master bedroom!

Curtains from Left

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.

Curtains from Right2

When the lamps are off, you really notice the gold ribbon detail I added a couple weeks ago.

Curtains Right Lamps Off

I love how dramatic that mirror looks on top of the gray panels!

Top View Curtains

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. 🙂

Wrinkled Panel

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!

Night Center View

Night Right View

Night Left View

And now for a side by side comparison!  Quite the difference, no?

Center View Lamps Off Night Center View

Towards Bath Lamps Off Night Right View

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!

Show and Share Day at Just a Girl

The Shabby Nest The DIY Show Off

 

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