New bedroom decor: a real painting DIY!

New bedroom decor: a real painting DIY!

• 4.17.2014

I've always loved bedroom decor, and picking out bedding, and headboards, and finding the perfect thing to hang above the bed! So it's not surprising that the other weekend, despite everything else going on, I pulled out my old easel and re-painted an old rectangular canvas I had painted (pretty much a solid color, not a big loss) in college and never used. I wanted some fresh new colors, and mixing the paint colors myself and turning it into whatever I wanted was the perfect outlet! So I painted. (As seen on IG!)

You may remember my bedroom pillow decor crisis from February--when I switched to the striped duvet cover and mixed up the pillows. And there was also that pillow decor crisis from July, when it's too hot for a comforter and we were using a grey blanket. As a lover of fabric and decorating with soft things, the bedspread is very important to me and always has been, and I'm still getting used to having something other than a white comforter on the bed--my favorite look for my room is when the bed looks like this (from our home tour)! But, I do like trying something new, hence the stripes, and hence the motivation to try something new above the bed as well!

I'm also trying for a little more color in the bedroom. It's been white and grey with a few little accents for so long, so it's hard to commit to a color. I think a painting is a safe start, because it's very easy to swap out if I start hating aqua sometime (ha!), although it has got me thinking maybe I could be really brave and buy some - gasp - not-white sheets sometime!! I do love buying sheets. Haven't done it in ages and currently have two white sets and one white/grey set. But maybe I could go with a very, very pale mint color.

But for starters, a re-do of a canvas I already had, with paints I already had plus an extra tube of white acrylic paint to mix with the little tubes of color. Never, never have enough white! Here's the finished work!

I also love surrounding myself with homemade projects rather than things I got off a shelf. So now our bedroom has the DIY headboard from my DIY headboard tufting tutorial, plus whichever DIY pillow covers we're using at the time. (Currently, these pink patterned pillows.)

Another baby step toward non-white sheets - I just swapped out these blue pillowcases to try it out. I now realize they look very silly with the baby-pink print pillows, but... oops. So don't pay too much attention to those. Still working out the sheets, I guess!

I'm happy to have some cheery, pale color on the walls! Color, in the world of neutrals that is our bedroom. It's a start!