House Before & After Series: Master bedroom

We were so fortunate to find a 3 bedroom house with a nice size master. It's not huge, but it's perfect for us. It has nice natural light and his & her walk in closets. I have always wanted a walk in closet! The previous owners had the bedroom painted a deep maroon color. Definitely not our taste. I was thinking a light blue would be perfect- calming and soft. D wanted a darker color but of course, he had to go with me on this one. Here is the bedroom before:

Notice the radiator that is also painted maroon... and the KILZ primer.

Because the color was so dark, I did't want to take any chances with the paint not covering well. The maroon walls also had a glossy sheen to them, so we decided using oil based KILZ primer would ensure that the new paint covered well. KILZ is some serious stuff. We made sure to open the windows and turn on the fan for ventilation because it is very strong smelling.

I should also note that before we started priming the walls, I painted the radiator first so I could prime over any overspray. I made sure to tape a plastic drop cloth behind the radiator and covered the floor with a drop cloth and cardboard to protect the wood floors. I started off using high heat spray paint, but ended up using regular ivory Krylon spray paint. The high heat wasn't covering as well as I had hoped, and I figured if the previous owners used regular latex paint the spray paint would be fine. It turned out really great!

I ended up choosing a soft blue color that has a lot of green to it. It's a pretty dull, sort of a blue/gray so its not too overwhelming. D doesn't care much for the color- it's too feminine for him. But for me, it's the bedroom of my dreams! Here is our final bedroom:

The chair pictured is the one I actually designed and made in college. 

My grandpa gave me these beautiful jewelry boxes from Korea that were my grandmother's.

Even though the bedroom is feminine, I tried not to make it too feminine. We kept the print minimal. D actually picked out these pictures.

D and I took a pretty big shopping trip to Ikea for some new stuff. We ended up buying the dressers and nightstands from the Hemnes collection. The frames, pictures, curtains and mirror are also from Ikea. They have such great stuff! We upgraded to a king size bed which has been so awesome. I made my own fabric covered headboard (I'll write a DIY post on that later). 

So there it is. What do you think? I think the lighter color actually makes the room look larger. I love how the ivory furniture looks with the floor and ivory trim. It works together quite well.