When I was a senior in high school, I was in a play called Bedside Manor. It was about all the drama that went on in a hospital (named Bedside Manor, get it?), and I played a wealthy socialite hiding out and finding love among the lowly ranks of interns. There was a kiss at the end between me and the male intern. It was kind of a big deal. 😉
(I’m in the second row from the back, in blue scrubs behind the girl in the white lab coat)
Today’s post doesn’t have a lot to do with that little story other than the fact that it’s all about a bedside. The bedside in our master bedroom, to be exact! I’ve been wanting to switch up a couple things in our bedroom lately and finally took the time to do it.
Lamps: You might have guessed from my post yesterday that I’ve been toying around with a way to update our bedroom lamps.
I considered switching them out entirely, but today I came upon a better solution when I read Natalie of Beach House in the City‘s guest post on Primitive and Proper. Natalie had the genius idea of wrapping ribbon around the bottom of her lampshades and securing it with tape!
Once I saw this simple solution, I raided my ribbon stash and tried out a few options on our lampshades.
First I tried some simple yellow ribbon, but it wasn’t quite the right shade (too light).
Then I tried the gold ric-rac, but I didn’t have enough to wrap both shades. (I was totally bummed out about that one because I’ve been looking for a use for that ric-rac since my college roommate gave me the leftover trim from her Halloween costume back in 2006!)
Finally I came upon this wide gold ribbon in my Christmas decorations. I liked the simplicity of it, so I added a few pieces of tape and my lampshades were officially updated!
Nightstands: Our bedside tables have been bugging me lately too, but I couldn’t figure out why. We’ve had these tall black bookshelves from Pier 1 for a couple years now, and they’ve always been positioned lengthwise next to our bed.
It finally dawned on me while browsing my Pinterest pages that we really needed a set of wide, tall nightstands – not long, skinny ones. I wasn’t sure there’d be enough room on my side of the bed to fit anything super wide, but I was ready to try.
Not bad for a Zero Dollar solution to our bedroom bothers! Of course as soon as I saw all the empty shelving on our nightstands, I had to add some fun accessories to liven them up.
One of my favorite things to do is raid our house for decor I’m not using that could improve a room. It was a lot of fun wracking my brain and trying to come up with accessories that would 1) be the right scale for these shelves 2) work with our color scheme and 3) be useful in our bedroom!
I tried to keep the accessories feeling balanced on both sides of the bed without being matchy-matchy.
On Stephen’s side, I added a photo of us on our honeymoon, a yellow catch-all bowl to empty his pockets into (it was on his nightstand before), and some books and accessories.
The little gold Eiffel Tower was one of the two souvenirs for ourselves we brought home from Paris. I originally wanted to turn it into a Christmas ornament, but I like being able to see it every day!
This brass elephant bookend was a thrift store find several months ago. I love that now it serves its original purpose and goes so well with our other accessories.
Of course the flowers ended up on my side of the bed. I’m not a huge fan of faux blooms, but these yellow ones were too fun to pass up.
On my middle shelf, I added a little white storage box and the yellow bowl I picked up a few weeks ago. I also found the perfect home for my favorite mags on the bottom shelf.
The little white plate corrals my reading glasses and chapstick and will be perfect for setting a glass of water on before bed each night.
Have you ever seen one of these ceramic swans before? Apparently they were quite popular back in the day as bathroom decor – used to hold hand towels!
A few of you asked about the gold mirror above our bed in yesterday’s post. I’ve been asked about that mirror so many times, so I hate having to say that it’s vintage and I found it on Craigslist. We did spot its twin on the silver screen, but other than that I don’t know much about it.
It’s amazing how a few simple switches have made our room feel so much more cozy and lived-in. What do you think of that genius lampshade update Natalie came up with? Do you like having lots of storage in your nightstands like we do?
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P.S. Yes, I know the phrase really is “bedside manner.” The title was me trying to be cute.
P.P.S. If you were in Bedside Manor or lived with me in college, sorry for the embarrassing photos! 😉
P.P.P.S (The most IMPORTANT one) We went to see BRIDESMAIDS last night and it totally rocked! Seriously, one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. I almost stopped breathing I was laughing so hard. Do yourself a favor this 3-day weekend and put it on your to-do list. Even Stephen loved it!
