A Princess and the Pea Master Bedroom: Welcome to the 9th Metamorphosis Monday!

When I first entered the foyer of this home, 18 years ago, it was pretty obvious why it had been on the market for over a year. The carpet throughout was a burnt orange color and the interior had not been painted in 8 years. On our second walk through, we videotaped many of the rooms so we could remember it as we shopped for a new house.

Please bear with me on these next 4 pics...they were taken with a "state of the art" video camera...state of the art 18 years ago! :-) To get these pics to share with you today, I put the ancient VHS tape in a VCR and played it, pausing every so often to take a pic. These aren't the greatest pics, but I think you will get the general idea. Note the orange carpeting...the walls were painted "grammar school green."




A darker green floral border ran around the ceiling...even the molding was painted green!



The dressing area off the master bedroom used to be a fifth bedroom, but the first owners of my home had the hallway door walled off and made this area into a dressing area, complete with built in cabinetry and three closets, one of which is a walkin. We were told the walk-in was the "fur closet" and had it's own separate zone on the security system. No furs in there today, unless you count my furry slippers. :-)




Here's a shot of the dark green wall paper that once graced the walls of the dressing area...




Here's the master bedroom today...




Gone are the grammar-school-green walls and green molding. Walls are painted a soft, buttery yellow called Sugar Cookie. It's an old Duron color and is my favorite yellow in the world. You can still walk into any Duron store or Home Depot and ask for it...they all still have the formula.



To make the bed extra cozy for winter, I've added a down mattress topper, on top of the regular mattress. Max (kitty) loves it! I jokingly call this my "Princess and the Pea" bed because of its height. :) Do you remember that fairy tale? Don't you just love this whimsical painting below by Edmund Dulac ? It's called The Real Princess and is based on the fairytale.




Without the comforter...you can see the "lumpiness" of the down topper...




This bedding called Summerton by Rose Tree, was purchased at Linens and Things many years ago. The dust ruffle that came with the bedding was much too short, so I had one made to accommodate the 23 inch drop. If you Google, Summerton Bedding or Summerton Rose Tree, you can still find this bedding available online. I just Googled and found it HERE , but it's available at other online stores, as well.




I love a bed piled high with pillows! You may recognize the pillow in the center from the "tease" post I published yesterday. That little pillow is very special to me because it was made just for me by a very special person.




My sweet friend, Carol, made this beautiful pillow as a surprise birthday present for me a couple of months back. Carol is a wonderfully talented Interior Designer! When the surprise package arrived and I opened it, I thought Carol must have seen my pics on RMS and made it just for my bedroom!

As it turns out, Carol didn't know I had used this very fabric in my bedroom....she just thought the fabrics in this pillow were ones I would like. Have you ever seen a more darling pillow? Thank-you, Carol...I LOVE it!




Remember this little tole tray I used for last weeks Tablescape Thursday...this is where you will normally find it...here on the bed.




Several of you asked about it, so I thought I'd include a close-up in this post. It was a wedding gift over thirty years ago.




Since I knew you were coming by for a visit today, I made some hot cranberry tea to go with a sweet blueberry and cranberry muffin. :-) (Creamer and sugar are Lenox, Butler's Pantry, Gourmet. The cup/saucer and plate are from HomeGoods.)




The pink camellias are from my garden. Winter has been hard on my camellia bush this year, but I managed to find a few blooms.




Someone else was highly interested in the muffin on the bed.




This Met Monday post includes a Mini-Met involving this space between the windows. For years this space had a table with a mirror above it...you can see the mirror peaking out behind the highboy, if you look closely. When I first purchased the highboy, and before I took the mirror down, I tried it in this spot for a few days. I was never happy with it here because the highboy is quite deep and it created deep wells on either side. The logical thing to put on either side seemed to be chairs, but the highboy was like a large wall of wood beside you when sitting in the chair. Plus, it just seemed to overwhelm the windows and impeded some of the light.




So I moved it to this corner of the room. I could have placed it flat against the wall where the chair is, but as you walked down the long hall toward the master suite, you would be staring into the side of the highboy...not the most attractive view. I like it catty-cornered here...and it's nice to see when coming down the hall and into the room.




This highboy is large...over 7 feet tall. It was a lucky find for only $400 while antiquing in Roswell, Georgia one day.




Remember this from yesterday's tease?




Continuing with our Mini-Met...this was the next piece of furniture I tried in-between the windows. It worked better than the deep, large highboy, but I was still missing the mirror and table. Without the brightness of the mirror, the room was beginning to feel like it had too much dark wood furniture in it.




Another shot of the secretary between the windows...




I had always planned to buy a "painted" piece of furniture for this room, hopefully a painted secretary. When I came across this secretary at A Classy Flea for around $345, even though it wasn't painted, I couldn't resist. Love that Flea!




A cat's eye view...




So, where did the secretary get moved? I placed it on the one wall where I thought I could never have a piece of furniture, the one across from the foot of the bed.




It actually works well there and seems perfect for that space.




Best of all, I was able to bring my mirror back in...so the room doesn't feel like it's all brown wood anymore. This room is always evolving...still needs draperies, a fabulous chandelier of some type and chairs to go on either side of the table/mirror.

Update: Added the chandelier in April 2010...you can view that post HERE.


Do you recognize the table skirt from Tablescape Thursday a few weeks ago...the one about dining fireside in the library? It's a duvet cover my sis, Glenda, gave me...it's working pretty well here as my tableskirt.




I have a large glass top for this table, but I've decided to leave it off for now...kind of nice seeing the texture of the crocheted covering.




This bedroom has a dressing area just through those doors. I'm really glad the previous owners converted the next door bedroom into a dressing area. They walled off the door from the hallway and added two additional closets and built in drawer space.




The fabric on the chair was in yesterday's tease post...remember the bee and the little bug?




Here's another view of the chair fabric...every room needs a little whimsy.




Do you remember this piece from the snippets yesterday? This dresser goes with an 80 year old bedroom suite.  The bed and chest-of-drawers are stored away in my basement for now. The green paint of the dresser goes really well with the fabrics I'm using in the master bedroom.




And this is where Between Naps on the Porch gets created, only normally, it doesn't look this neat. Update:  Turned my son's old room into a home office in early 2011.  You'll find a post showing my new work space here: Pottery Barn Bedford Home Office, Craft Room, Sewing Room.




This was the best shot I could get of the picture that hangs above my desk.  The glass created a lot of glare.   Do you see the sweet black kitty sitting on the walkway?




The view from the dressing room...you can see the top of the bed here. I'd love to find some wool or flannel bed hangings for the winter months. I envision kind of a "Ralph Lauren" look with a plaid bed-skirt in rich, jewel tone colors. The current look is more suited for a summer look.




Steps hold bedtime reading...bed holds a lazy cat.




I bought a seagrass rug at Bed, Bath and Beyond. I thought it would work well to ground the room and I liked how it contrasted with the dressier feel of the moire bedskirt.




Well, that's my bedroom metamorphosis...hope it was worth the wait...and the tease. Thanks for coming along for the tour!



Can't wait to see all the great Met Monday posts...just click on the links below for lots of "Before and After" inspiration!

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