Before/After: Main Bedroom

June 26, 2021

Before/After: Main Bedroom

“Behind every attractive room, there should be a very good reason.” —Sister Parish

One of the reasons I chose this house as my summer cottage -- or it chose me! -- is that the master bedroom or main upstairs bedroom gives you the impression you are in a treehouse. (The above photo gives you a peek at the After; scroll down for many more before and after photos!)

While visiting the house, which of course was empty, bare, and undecorated (except for a dusty electric organ in the dining room, a small kitchen island and two kitchen stools, a dirty white shower curtain in one bathroom, and dirty red curtains in the home office), I stepped into what amounts to an upstairs aerie as birdsong poured in from birds in the large trees outside the windows. I imagined waking up in this house to rustling leaves and singing birds with the sunrise, instead of waking up in my regular condo to ac condenser lines growling and vibrating the roof at 2:47 in the morning.

The purpose of my summer stay is peace and quiet while issues at the condo are sorted out (we hope!), plus engaging my love of decorating. The main bedroom seemed to indicate that this rental house was just what I was looking for!

Bedroom downsides:

filthy grimy walls and floors full of marks and scars and worse,
rotted thin double-hung windows that slammed shut and posed a safety hazard to sweet Jorji the cat who also likes the surrounding birds and greenery,
no window ac unit that I thought was promised, and
exposed electrical wiring (and only some of the outlets work).

Bedroom solutions:

lots of cleaning and scrubbing with Mrs. Meyers products and Mr. Clean magic erasers,
ingenious window jacks from Vermont Country Store,
a fan at least for now, and
decor decor decor, including

covering exposed wiring with a gold-framed mirror reflecting the beautiful trees,
hanging cheerful pictures and color scheme-aligned textiles in the form of tote bags and purses (I have always loved hanging pictures and other decor items!),
setting up a reading nook,
making sure Jorji has a bench and an ottoman to reach the window sills now that the windows are propped open,
using a mix of old and new, online-ordered and yard sale-bought, had-forever and purchased-for-the-cottage (for example, the small basket was free at the end of a yard sale; the rattan chair and ottoman I have had for almost all of my adult life; I ordered the bird-bedecked blue-and-white lamp by Jonathan Y new from Overstock, and its twin is in the living room which I'll show you soon),
having fun with my Great Lakes theme and green-and-white / blue-and-white color schemes in dressing the bed -- I ordered a beachy white platform bed from Overstock and a dear friend put it together for me -- and more!

Success! It is a joy to wake up with the birds and trees! Jorji the cat is pleased too, and when she gets the "zoomies," as many cats get that burst of energy early in the morning after their nocturnal adventures and before their daytime naps, she enjoys running the length of the upstairs -- bunching up the new beachy green-and-white striped Safavieh rug with her velocity! -- and dashing under the bed and back out!

Still to address -- heat and humidity:

The 90F / 32C and humid days we have had in June have been unusual, and are more expected here as an intense week or two in August than as most of June; such days proved to be quite miserable and even unbearable in upstairs rooms with no air conditioning.
Moreover, the damp is highly unfriendly to books, upstairs and downstairs, whose pages are already getting wavy.
Chocolate inventory is at the air-conditioned condo, so don't worry about that! Keeping a small personal stash of chocolate from blooming at the cottage is however a challenge. (Even boiling water for tea is a challenge; I brought my vintage Le Creuset yellow tea kettle, but 1. it's too hot even to boil water comfortably, and 2. it's too humid for the pilot light to stay on!)

Solutions implemented or in progress:

My amazing mother sent me an excellent portable air conditioning unit which I have downstairs in the dining room (due to a favorable combination there of a working electrical outlet and a working window for the exhaust pipe) and run when needed.
A dear friend lent me a window ac unit for upstairs and I am searching for someone who can install it. I thought a window unit was going to be added to the cottage; the owner and I had a misunderstanding about a few things. Then I thought I would be fine without air conditioning (and wifi); I overestimated my ability to relax underwater, you might say, as we have had the rainiest, thunderstormiest, most humid June I can remember!
The upstairs sitting room and home office have ceiling fans, and I bought a rotating floor fan for the bedroom. Of course, these do not reduce humidity, and on truly hot muggy days they just blow the hot muggy air around. At least fresh air comes through the windows. And at least it is quiet!
Silver insulation helps protect the small personal stash of chocolate I've brought to the cottage and keep mainly downstairs -- though keeping some in the upstairs home office is nice, and I've been holding virtual chocolate tastings from the cottage. (And just as I'm giving in to limited air conditioning, and to wi-fi which I purchased for the cottage on a monthly basis, I'm also giving in to ordering an electric tea kettle! But I've still got fresh air, birdsong, organic food, healthy life! : )

I'm at the cottage just for June through August, and it turns out the Farmer's Almanac predicts a hot, humid, thunderstorm-filled summer for us here in the Great Lakes region of the Midwest this year; their forecast is accurate! (They predict a very hot summer for pretty much all of the continental US; take care of yourself, and your chocolate!)

OK, on to the before & after photos of the main bedroom so far!

Before:

After:

-- with duvet cover options in blue-and-white (scroll down) that I had at the condo, or green-and-white that I bought for the cottage, both silky-soft cotton from Crane & Canopy --