{lively style: bedroom updates}

Today I thought I'd share some updated photos of my bedroom!  Lots has changed since you last saw it...

^^that beautiful blanket was hand-knit by my grandma!

I really love my room, although I wish it looked a little less cluttered! {I've been having a love/hate thing with my gallery wall.} I have a few more things to do -- namely, upholster the desk bench & add some art above the piano -- but other than that it's pretty much complete. It definitely feels like home. 

Resources:

EQ3 Yellow Mirror | Crate & Barrel Leaning Bookcase | West Elm Curtains (not available) | Crate & Barrel Table Cloth (Bedskirt) | West Elm Bedding | Anthropologie Hanging Mirror (not available) | IKEA Chair | IKEA Dresser | West Elm Rug | CB2 Coat Rack |

Desk was a Craigslist find. Bench was from a vintage flea market. Frames are IKEA & Goodwill (art here). Dresser knobs are from Anthropologie. 

ps. One last note...although it may not seem like it, I designed on a budget! Every single item was bought: 1) with the help of a gift card, 2) from the outlet/factory, 3) on sale, 4) via Craigslist/flea market, 5) a gift. I also DIYed some art & the lamp.

{lively interiors: my gallery wall}

I'm so excited to show you my gallery wall today!  It's not at ALL finished, but it's a good start. I've collected frames, prints, & paintings for about two years now, so I had quite the selection to choose from. It was hard to decide what to hang!

Since I had so many frames, I had to first figure out a layout. My room looked like this many nights:

After about five different layouts, I felt like the wall looked too crowded. It was also totally unbalanced, {aka the left side}, so I shifted everything over & eliminated a few small photos. In the end, I was totally over-thinking it & making myself crazy, so I just grabbed a hammer, some nails, & started hanging.

Here's the wall before:

And now the after!

I decided to do all white & tan frames, since they would pop against the gray, & not do black frames. {The idea of black frames with all that dark brown trim in the room had me feeling stressed.} I also hung two hangers that brought in more wood tones. The calendar already came with the frame, so I mimicked the look with just a regular pants hanger I had in the closet. I love that it matches one another in a quirky way, while not making the wall too frame-heavy. The best part? You can change up the art whenever you want! 

^^"be happy" painting by me

1. calendar from a local SF store

2. childhood photo

3. childhood photo

4. paint-by-numbers by Dylan & I

5. childhood photo

6. section of my watercolor sketch book…just my practice doodles

7. IKEA print

8. IKEA print

I'm going to hang some additional frames/mirrors on the thin slab of wall to the right of my bed, as well as add one more photo {or two?} below the butterfly print. But I'm not in a rush. I'm very happy with how it looks for now. It makes the room feel so much more homey! 

If you're curious about the other side of my room, here's one corner. Since I was hanging everything else, I finally got around to putting up a mirror.

^^vogue painting by me, framed shells are by my aunt

Thanks for looking & reading! If you have any more questions about where I got anything or how I decided to hang them, leave a comment! 

{three cheers for painted walls}

The second I moved into my room, I knew I wanted to paint. The walls were off-white, riddled with puddy patches, &, well…. so boring. I would've been more okay with the walls had they been stark white, {because I'm newly obsessed with fresh white walls}, but they weren't. The cream walls + incandescent lightbulb + limited natural light created a yellow tint throughout the room & I was dying to get them covered.

Once the landlord approved my request to paint, I headed over to Benjamin Moore's website & picked out some colors. I knew I wanted a shade of gray for a few reasons: 1) it would match my carpet, 2) it goes with everything, & 3) it's my favorite color.

Guys. There are SO MANY GRAYS. 

Grays with blue undertones, green undertones, yellow undertones, brown undertones. Grays that look gray when it's on it's own, but is actually blue when it's next to anything white. I seriously drove myself crazy with the options. I thought the hardware store was going to start charging me because I was taking so many paint swatches.

After taking this color test, I can proudly say I have absolutely flawless color vision. {It took me five minutes & I got a perfect score of zero. What what!} So I was VERY particular about what gray I wanted.

The finalists were comped up in Photoshop...

^^pretend there's a space in between gull & wing

Gray Horse & Cliffside were in the lead until I found Gull Wing Gray & Rockport Gray. Gull Wing bordered on an ashy blue, while Rockport leaned towards greige. I figured it was better to try out really different gray tones than two similar ones, so I headed off to the hardware store to get some samples.

Before I tried them out on the actual walls, I painted two pieces of foam core. Totally recommend doing this. Both looked pretty good against my carpet, so I taped them to the walls & stepped back.

If you look at the picture on the left, Rockport Gray--the top color---looks green, does it not?!  I only see green. Granted, this photo was taken at 10pm & the only light was the ceiling light fixture, but Gull Wing was the clear winner. I loved it even more right up against the trim. 

{I still really like Rockport Gray & think it looks great in a room with tons of windows/natural light, but sadly my room is not one of them.}

Finally! A decision! Hooray! I sent the color to my landlord, cleared out my room, went to work, & came home to this…

The classic before & after:

^^the walls look a gazillion feet tall here, but the rounded ceiling 

actually starts about 1.5 feet above the trim

I'm TOTALLY thrilled with the color. {And clearly I was so excited to photograph it for you that I couldn't even bother to straighten the cord mess & picture frames under my desk.} 

The curtains, carpet, & walls all look ah.mah.zing together. I also really like how the color changes throughout the day. Sometimes it looks like a really light gray, other times it looks dark, & other times it looks blue. But the kicker? No matter what time of day, it never looks bad :)  {or green} Most importantly, the space feels much more mine. I love it.

So…do you think I made the right choice??

PS. I was totally down to paint the walls myself, but San Francisco rental laws are weird & I wasn't allowed. My amazing landlord had to hire someone & I just had to pay for paint & labor. In the end I was relieved a professional did the job though, because all of the trim made me very nervous! I would've totally messed it up.

PPS. I promise there are other sides to my room...I just haven't shown you them yet. Maybe when I clean it? 

{a few photos of my apartment}

I live in a typical San Francisco apartment; it's essentially a townhouse, but each floor is its own apartment. My floor--the top floor--has four bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen, & a small living room. There's a laundry room on the bottom level, as well as a small storage space & large patio. I totally scored.

In city bathroom standards, this one is a gem.. The finishes are really beautiful--from the tile, to the marble, to the beadboard, to the claw foot tub. And all in one room! {Lots of SF bathrooms are all broken up.}



The kitchen is what sold me on this place. Living with three other people, it's so nice to have a ton of storage & lots of room to cook. And I--naturally--love the details too. I mean...that sink?! :)

^^so shiny

^^click to make it larger

The pros of living on the top floor is the light. OH, the light. The kitchen is flooded with it. I bask in it every morning while eating breakfast & enjoy the spectacular view.

^^during the day

^^sunrise

We have a tiny living room on the other side of the kitchen. We're rarely all in here together, so the size isn't really an issue. It's perfectly cozy. This room has the door to the stairs, which leads down to the patio & laundry room.

you guessed it--those are my newly-painted frames ^^

So that's it! Everything minus the bedrooms. I really lucked out with this place, wouldn't you agree? :)

{ideas for my bedroom}

So here's the post where I talk about my bedroom!  Finally, right? :)

My room is 12x12 with ten foot ceilings…my largest room in years!  The details are great: the hardwood is original & in excellent condition, the trim is thick & gorgeous, & the closet is huge.

Let's talk about the trim--it's classic San Francisco. Not only does it outline the doors, windows, & floors, but it outlines the room about a foot below the ceiling. {Speaking of the ceiling…it's curved!} Quite honestly, I'm a fan of white trim, so I was bummed about the dark wood. And with one window in my room, it has the possibility of making the space feel dark. {When I first moved in, I also thought the trim made the room feel dated, but I've since changed my mind.}

BUT…I've come to embrace it. There are so many other ways to brighten this room! And like I said before, it's part of the charm of San Francisco architecture, so it'd be cruel to paint it.

Here's a mood board of my ideas:

two//three//four//seven

1. Color scheme
The walls are going gray! I know what you're thinking: gray + dark trim is not a usual combo. But I think it's going to work. There was no other color that I considered--I'm obsessed with gray walls. It goes with everything, light bounces off it easily, & it's a hard color to get sick of. I'll be bringing in different hues of blue, coral & yellow as pops of color too.

2. Carpet
This beauty is from West Elm. I looked for a carpet for WEEKS & when I saw this, it was love. The most important thing it needed to accomplish was hide dirt {I'm a vacuum fiend}, & this guy does the job. It doesn't look it in the photo, but it's actually wool, so it has great texture in person. Chevron is super overdone--especially on carpets--but I think this is different enough where it doesn't feel like old news. The best part about it though is the color. Depending on the time of day, the light can either make it look gray or beige. Remember when I talked about the weird gray + brown color combo I'm doing? Well this carpet helps solve that problem by blending the two.

3. Dresser
I bought this IKEA dresser back when I first moved here in October. I knew I would be incorporating gray into whatever room I moved into, so the color was a safe bet. It's also easy on the wallet & sturdy enough to hold a lot of my clothes, so…win/win. I have two ideas for sprucing it up, but that's way down on my list for right now.

4. Drapes
I splurged on these, but I've been eyeing them for quite a while, so I'm feeling no buyer's remorse whatsoever. Ha! {It also helped to have a gift card & student discount. Yeah, I'm using that sucker for as long as I can.} I was thisclose to getting the yellow ones, since I'm trying to brighten the room any way I can, but I eventually went with the navy. Even though I went dark, the linen between the velvet pattern allows tons of light to come through. My window faces an alley of sorts--it just opens up to the space between my building & the one beside it. Good news? There aren't any other windows in the "atrium",  so I don't need to worry about privacy at all. The curtains are purely decorative, so they'll always be pulled to the side.

I have two weeks to change my mind about the curtains, but I'm thinking they're going to stay.

5. Frame wall
I've been wanting to do a photo wall for so long & I'm thrilled I can finally do one! I have so many things to hang I'm worried I don't have enough space :) I'm going to do a post soon on everything I have in my pile, but when it comes down to it, everything I hang will have meaning. {For the record, the frames in the mood board are not mine.}

5. Desk
I love a good desk & I love a good side table, but with limited space I couldn't do both. The choice was an easy one: a desk could do both jobs. The space between my window & my bed is about 3.5 feet, so I thought it would be the perfect spot to fit one in.

You know what are expensive? Desks. I checked about four different thrift stores with no luck, so I moved on to Craigslist. I ended up buying a GORGEOUS wood desk for a steal.  I had fully intended on painting it yellow--I even went to the store & bought all the supplies {$$$}--but it's just too nice to paint. The wood is in pristine condition & it matches the trim perfectly, so...it's staying.

6. Coat rack
This was a Christmas gift from my mom & what a great surprise it was! Last year at a flea market we both fell in love with a yellow coat rack, but someone snatched it up before we could ourselves. I totally forgot about it, so when I opened this, I was so excited! It's the perfect pop of color!
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So those are the items currently in my room! Here's what I'm still undecided on:

1. Bedding. I'm leaning towards a duvet, instead of a quilt, but I cannot find anything that I like! Any ideas??

2. Headboard. I really want a headboard! Not for practically's sake--because the wall does just fine--but mainly because I think a room visually looks better with one. Problem is, my mattress is on a box spring, not a bed frame, so I don't know how I would connect it to a headboard. I'll either need to nail something into the wall--which I'm not crazy about--or come up with a faux headboard. Ideas are welcome!

Obviously there are a few other things that I'll be incorporating into the room--namely my piano/keyboard when I actually research the best way to get it out here--but for now…this is the plan. I'm pretty excited about how it's coming together. I can't wait until the walls are painted & the frames are up…that'll make the room really feel more mine. {and a lot less messy. I miss seeing my picture frame-less floors.}

Progress pictures to come soon!

Happy Tuesday.