House Beautiful Mikkel Vang
When was the last time you really updated your master bedroom? I’ve been thinking about that question lately for myself.
House Beautiful Victoria Pearson (Kathy Ireland designer)
Even though we just barely moved in to our house, I have had the same bedding for maybe eight years. It was great quality so it is not going to wear out for a long time. Fortunately it is fairly neutral and classic.
Coastal Living Jean Allsopp
But after looking at that same bedding for years and years, I am ready for some fresh ideas.
House Beautiful Victoria Pearson
Sometimes I just want to walk in my room and have a little burst of something new and happy to catch my eye. A new color scheme, a funky new lamp or a pop of life from a new patterned pillow.
Coastal Living Dominique Vorillion
This next confession will probably make you want to click away shaking your head, but I play this silly little game where I walk down a hall in my house and then PEEK back around the corner really fast into a room to see what reaction I have.
If it makes me smile to look in that room, I am content and feel at peace. The room will inspire me and life will be as it should be.
On the other hand, if I feel like scrunching up my nose and saying “MEH” when I walk by, something is desperately wrong and it needs to be fixed. Immediately. Then I switch things up or add something new or different. If I can walk by the next time and smile instead of cringe, all is right with the world. If I can’t, I need to try something else.
How is that for a scientific approach to decorating? Please. I don’t know where I get my ideas. It would make a brilliant decorating book. I really need my own e-book.
House Beautiful Victoria Pearson (Kathy Ireland designer)
How to decorate your home in three easy steps.
The Inspired Room way.
Step one. Walk down the hall in your home, non-nonchalantly gazing around at nothing in particular.
Step two. When you pass by a room, do a quick double take back into in the room. Note: Careful of whiplash.
Step three. Ask yourself, were you happy with what you saw? Do you feel a sense of inner peace and overwhelming inspiration to live a better life? If so, sigh with happiness and proceed to another room. On the contrary, if you said, “MEH” (sound it out, it sounds like it is spelled) out loud (or inside your head) and crinkled your nose, change something in the space. Immediately.
Repeat steps one through three.
The end.
Brilliant I tell you!
I’m not even kidding. That is exactly how I decorate.
You cannot make this stuff up.
House Beautiful Kathy Ireland
Now, for a few more tips on creating a master bedroom sanctuary, particularly if you have kids at home, visit my guest post on Simply Modern Mom.
And to read my philosophy of Living Authentically at Home, visit (in)courage and please leave me comments so I’ll know you came by!
Lastly, I have another confession to make. I did one of my “double takes” in a room at my house last week. And I heard a loud MEH coming our of my mouth and felt my nose crinkle up. Next thing I knew, I quit putting away Christmas decorations and started rearranging furniture. I’ll talk about that in another post.
Have you done any double takes lately?
Related articles:
More ideas for decorating your bedroom!
Choose your ideal bed!
Mattresses
You make me laugh … and for those of us who look at most of the rooms in our house and say “Meh” … but have no clue what to rearrange or have nothing cute enough to make a difference even if it were rearranged?
Well you will just have to stick with me, Amy. Wednesday I have some tips for what to do next, after you say “meh.”
Something else that works really well and allows you to take a step back and see a room from new eyes is to take a series of photos and look at them rather than the room – it can come as a shock though!
My hubby & I will be celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary in July: I’ve been planning a master BR update… it’s at the top of my decorating “To Do” list for 2010!
The duvet that we currently have was custom made – and I have really enjoyed it all these years. But, it’s time for something new! I really love the photos from your blog (I think it’s the master??) – I may borrow some ideas from you!! We must have a new mattress set – and new bed linens. I’m looking forward to finding just the right combination.
I didn’t read all the comments yet, so maybe someone else said this, but I recently took photos of all my rooms to share with an online group of girlfriends I’ve known for years. Not pretty close ups of my favorite things, but just a “stand on a chair and get the whole room” shot. Things that needed to be changed IMMEDIATELY just LEAPED out of those photographs at me. It was a great exercise.
Now I’m going to go try your double take method!
.-= Sue @ Laundry for Six´s last blog ..it’s a lot like leaping off a cliff =-.
Yes, now that is a great method! You are right, taking a photo of a pretty corner doesn’t always tell the whole design success (or failure!) of a room as a whole. Notice how in blogland we tend to just share a corner? It is much more difficult to get a whole room and beyond to have a sense of balance and cohesiveness (let alone get it to look good in a photo!). Great tip! Thanks for sharing it!
Ok, that is just so cute that you do that!! Love it!
I definitely go MEH walking throughout my house! lol!!
Omg, TOO funny. I have ALWAYS done that, except I do it when I’m working on projects for my clients! I put the project together, leave my studio, then come back around from another direction. I’ve always called it “sneaking up on my design.” Like you said, you can’t make this stuff up – ask my former coworkers! Sometimes, I’ll even stand with my back to it, and peek over my shoulder so it doesn’t know I’m looking. LOL! It’s never occured to me to try it in my own home. What a novel idea.