I recently bought my house. It is nothing fancy.. but I am doing it top to bottom in my own personal style. Purchasing a home is not something that I thought I'd ever be able to do on my own- I had this awful limiting belief that I'd need to be married to be able to purchase a home. Well, that simply isn't true. You can accomplish anything that you desire, so long as you're willing to put the work in.
This brings me to furnishing my bedroom. I went super bougie meets shabby chic here (also worked within a tight budget- so I looked for things that were cute, functional and fit within what I was comfortable spending). I love soft, muted tones- so my room went from a dark sage (before and after pictures in the gallery) to a very soft aqua (Behr Dew Pointe). The lovely thing about paint is that it absolutely transforms a space! The room only has one window, so it tends to be very dark, especially when paired with a dark sage paint. Add the outdated vertical blinds, bare cement floors (yep- I bough a house with bare cement floors!) and it looked like a prison cell in the dark (see photo on the bottom).
I added two cute miniature chandeliers over each nightstand rather than having table lamps, the boring vertical blinds were replaced with white, 3.5 inch faux wood horizontal blinds and the bare concrete was covered up by soft grey laminate floors. Between the paint, blinds and floors, I had transformed the room! It is now a soft, cozy environment that is bright (when I chose it to be) and very comforting to sleep in.
Just before Christmas I decided to splurge on a new bedspread as an alternate. My normal go to is a pretty white tufted number that I'll have posted in my project album with my "normal" room styling. For my alternate look (described in this blog post) I opted for a cute polka dot textured blush color bedspread set. I went all in with it. I added blush sheets with gold polka dots (I LOVE polka dots!). Again- I am a 38 year old professional woman here. Come on! Right? No shame. These sheets are great- super soft, fit my mattress (I usually have to buy deep pocket sheets.. but these worked perfectly). I love style and pretty things, but they must function in order for me to bring it into my life. No one has time for things that simply do not function, am I right? There is a soft cream colored Sherpa throw at the end of my bed. My shams are a soft cream faux fur. I have a stuffed lion, bear and unicorn perched atop my bed among my pillows, and there is usually a cat there too.. she loves the softness of the faux fur accents. Heck, I even topped it off with a blush throw pillow with a pink grosgrain ribbon adorning it (I repurposed the ribbon from the packaging that came with another blush colored sherpa throw that I usually have on my other room styling look- reuse, reallocate!). I went all out with the blush and softness theme!
The point of all this? I love what I did to my room. I feel that rooms are a very special place. They are where you sleep, where you dress (usually?). They are where you are most vulnerable due to those activities. You want it to be comfortable and a reflection of you! My point is, I did not hold back on my bedroom. I did not care about making it gender neutral. It is my house, my room.. my special space. After moving 8 times the past two years, I was ready to settle into a home that is all mine. Here and there I thought that I should limit how much "girlie" stuff I put in in, because, after all, I am an adult! I have a long-term boyfriend! I want to be married (eventually). I have to plan for that! I need to keep things toned down and simple!
No. Actually, I do not. Neither do you.
That was a fun realization to make. Realizing that this is my personal space to decorate how I so choose- it's my permanent spot until I so chose it not to be. Why hold back and not chose items that make you happy? Why live a temporary existence, only "getting by" until your future happens? After 8 moves, I am ready for some permanence. My room is now one of my favorite places in the house. I love how it looks, feels and is. I encourage all of you reading this to do the same for yourself.. if not in your room, then in some aspect of your life. You do whatever it is that brings you joy or makes you smile. Maybe it's not going to be purchasing a blush bedspread.. but I hope it will be something just as fun and true to you.
..and to answer the question, yes.
The man most certainly will sleep here, and he's even allergic to cats.
