MOTO Reveal: Emily Bowser’s Bedroom “After” is Unrecognizable from the “Before”

Emily Bowser here again with my master bedroom reveal. Yesterday, I showed you lots of stunningly unfortunate “before” photos (catch up here) that would make anyone wonder why I even bought the house I now call home in the first place, but today I get to show you what (at least part of it) became to vindicate myself. Let’s jump right in…

But wait, first, a reminder:

Yup, that’s what we were working with.

Now…

Shop the Look: Nightstands | Lamps | Duvet Cover | Shams | Mattress | Bed Base | Linen Window Shade | Mixed Media Art | Art Frame | Wall Paint Color

There she is…my everything, my Daffy. Oh, and the bed I only thought about for 3 years before inviting EHDers Julie and Erik over to help/force me to make it. Nothing like an impending deadline for a photoshoot and the constant “are we good on your MOTO reveal date?” from Arlyn to get those gears churning.

UPDATE: Head here to see the step-by-step how-to for this bed’s DIY.

Pro tip: If you want a piece of furniture from a big box store, search for the name of it on Craigslist first (considering you’re looking for a deal). That’s where I found this pair of West Elm nightstands for $150 (they are $299 each retail). They checked all the boxes: fit in the space, cheap and had a drawer. I’m easy to please when it comes to that one I guess. They’re metal which is kinda great because IKEA makes these magnetic strips with USB plugs on them that stick onto the back so that wires are hidden and we can plug in our phones and sound machine. YES we still sleep with our phones for alarm purposes but they are in airplane mode and we unplug our WIFI every night. I’M NOT A MONSTER.

My Maskor Table Lights by Gantri. GUYS. I love them so much. You know when Instagram does that creepy thing were you have been searching online or you say the word “tampon” in a sentence and then ALL you get is sponsored posts of Thinx and Cora tampons?? Well, that’s what happened with these lights but instead of tampons, I got modern, low, bubbly lamps. I spent maybe three hours searching for modern lamps that would fit here, went to Instagram to take a break and Instagram was like “OH, you mean THESE??” Yes. Yes, I did you creepy, creepy stalkers. I needed something modern to make sure this space was balanced with all the vintage and texture. After checking out their website and falling even more for this company because of their values, I reached out and they sent me two of these beautiful lights. I couldn’t love them more. They are green, the same color I recovered my IKEA storage bench, so they “talk” to each other, have texture but are made out of a corn PLA blend so they feel newer and modern. They also have a dimmer which is a MUST for us. Andrew and I are both weird about bright lights. On top of all that, they are sustainably made and have a business model that supports creators and makes beautiful lighting attainable for the average consumer. CHECK THEM OUT AND SUPPORT THEM.

I’m sorry to say, my rugs are vintage. Yes rugS. I found them both at the Rose Bowl Flea Market for $150 each and bought them without haggling because I’m THAT person when I love something. I would say my reaction to these rugs was similar to that of when I saw the vintage line buoys. GOTTA HAVE THEM GIVE ‘EM TO ME. I wasn’t sure how I was going to make the fact that they were slightly different sizes work, but I was GONNA. Funny enough, it ended up being the best thing about them. You see, I wanted a BIG rug. Like I’ve mentioned, the floor is tile and cold and I wanted to get out of my bed on either side and hit rug first. However, the bedroom door opens right next to the left side of the bed so most bigger rugs would constantly be stopping the door from opening all the way or the door would push the rug around. With the staggered approach of the top rug coming in more than the bottom, we have the benefits of waking up to rug on our feet while keeping out of the way of the door. The rugs are very much the same yet slightly different so I don’t mind the more hodgepodged look.

My bed, my sweet, sweet bed. My husband and I are celebrating our 10 YEAR wedding anniversary. I’m not sure how that happened, but if you could have taken a look at our old mattress you would have assumed we’d been married for 30. And had a bed wetting problem. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU SLEEP?? It was so embarrassing that when we put the mattress out for the mattress recycling people, I made my husband go out and turn it upside down so that the whole neighborhood wouldn’t know our shame! My friend Lauren, who has now come up multiple times in my posts, had just bought the Mint Mattress by Tuft and Needle and like me, when she likes something, she becomes their spokesperson (Bulletproof what?).

When we did the Velux bedroom makeover, I told Julie to reach out to them because I heard great things about their company, the service, and the product. They were a dream to work with for that shoot so I figured I may as well ask. They were very kind to send through their mint mattress (queen), a mattress protector (THANK GOD), two of their pillows, a set of sheets (not seen here), a linen duvet cover and linen shams. Now, mattress comfort is a bit of a personal thing, so obviously take my word on that with a grain of salt (I know they will work with you to donate if you don’t like their product) but I found this bed SO comfortable. It’s a memory foam kind of construction which means the bed doesn’t move around a whole lot if you or your partner (or cat) does. I like a firmer mattress but am a side sleeper so a bit of softness is nice to support the shape of my body (that was a weird thing to write but I’m not sure how else to say it??) and I found this style perfect for me.

The pillows are heavenly. I had not found “my” pillow until I slept with these. The sheets were buttery soft. Unfortunately, they were almost the exact color as the rug but like, not exactly, so they didn’t work in this space though I am excited to use them in the spare bedroom reveal that will be coming up soon. I LOVE the duvet cover and shams. I am a card-carrying member of the linen duvet club. There’s a lot of division in the office about how people feel about sleeping with linen but I personally love it. I don’t want it RIGHT against me but I love it on a duvet or on a pillowcase that I use between my legs (also a weird sentence to write, sorry). This duvet, in particular, is the soft linen. It feels like it’s been washed with rocks a million times, if that makes sense. The duvet and pillowcases are in charcoal, btw, not slate. It looks a little bluer here than it does IRL I think. Overall, A+ for this company from me. Yes, I didn’t pay for that stuff but my friend Lauren DID and if you knew Lauren you would know that this is a trustworthy recommend. Haha, that should be a Yelp review option, “I’ve never been here but Lauren has and you know what THAT means.” Side note: the extra long lumbar pillow you saw in earlier photos is a DIY I’m afraid as well, got the fabric from the Rose Bowl!

Let’s move on to the other side of the room! The dresser! I finally found something that would work under the window: I bought two IVAR 3 Drawer Chests ($95 each), stained them black, bought 3-inch wood legs, sprayed them black, and screwed them together haphazardly. Spent maybe a $220? It’s nothing fancy, not even worth a DIY post, but it works. I could upgrade by adding pulls but technically you don’t need them and “FINISHED IS BETTER THAN PERFECT.”

The bench hiding in the corner is vintage and was gifted to me by a friend. I sprayed it green. I use it when I need to put makeup on because this area has the best light. I move it in front of my (also) vintage mirror that was orange-ish when I bought it at Long Beach Flea Market for $20. I painted it with the Cracked Pepper by Behr paint that was leftover from my old bedroom (and those old side tables I showed you yesterday).

Let’s touch on some of the decor here:

Ladder: This is vintage, has the most perfect patina, complete with rusty metal wire wrapped around it for no reason at all. I bought it at the Long Beach Flea Market a few years ago for $80 and actually didn’t put it here until the morning of the shoot when that wall looked a little bare. I LOVE it, it will live there forevermore! Sometimes inspiration comes while you DO. There are two Target blankets on the ladder, the pretty fabric is vintage, of course, bought at Long Beach Flea Market, as well. I have plans for it to become pillows for the living room but it does look so nice with the rug in here so…?? The beads hanging are vintage, too (SORRY). 

Shop the Look: Dressers | Dresser Legs | Lamp | Terra Cotta Planter (no longer available) | Linen Shades | Tray

Hanging planter: Also vintage. I bought it from my friends at Taylor + Taylor who are closing their warehouse. I got a sneak peek and grabbed that, the tiny vase on the left nightstand and the awesome wooden canister on the tray. Go follow them to find out the details of when they are opening the warehouse sale to the public (I think it starts this weekend!) Because I know you are going to ask, the plant is an asparagus fern and does well in indirect bright light.

Lamp: From West Elm and I’ve loved it since we used it in the Invitation Home Atlanta shoot. The color ties in with the off-whiteness of the rug and shades and makes that feel purposeful next to the white walls (Polar Bear by Behr for those who definitely will ask).

Window coverings: Let’s talk about the shades real quick! I can’t explain how important sleeping in a completely dark room is to me. Almost as important as dimmable lights and blue-blocking glasses. I have lived for three years with cheap, white, blackout rollers because it was the FIRST thing I put in the house. They worked but they were NOT cute. I knew shades were the only way to go in this room, the windows were just too skinny and awkwardly placed to make curtains work. I had reached out to Barn & Willow about another project that hasn’t come to fruition yet, but in my dialogue with them, asked about my house. They were kind enough to send blackout shades to me and can I just say: window treatments complete a room. We put these up ourselves in an hour (maybe) on a Saturday and I was like “NOW I’m officially a grown-up.” It elevates everything. I got the Relaxed style in Flax. It’s a linen shade and it feels and looks very high-quality. You customize the fabric, style, size, inside or outside mount, the lining and cord style and side. On top of that, they were easy to install and work. Complete darkness for me.

Shop the Look: Oil Diffuser | Ring Holder | Marble Tray (actually just the top of a box) | Lamp | Tray

Tray: To the right of the lamp is the most perfect tray in the history of the world. If you live in LA or plan to visit LA or Ojai, you must go to deKor&Co. My friend Isabelle is the owner of the store and she is also an amazing interior designer. I proudly #paidforthis, it was not the cheapest thing in the world ($170) but that’s because it isn’t the cheapest thing in the world. It’s leather, green, and has beautiful hand stitching around the outside. It is the perfect size and color for the room and good, special trays are SO hard to find. DESIGNERS!! PLEASE!!

Shop the Look: Bench | Art | Cat (ha, jk)

Ah, the ole Stocksund IKEA storage bench ($249). I’ve owned it since we moved in and I needed more storage. Emily has a similar one from Target that she recovered and that inspired me to do the same to this one to upgrade it a bit. It’s something that maybe could have been a DIY but personally, wasn’t worth my time as I don’t have much of that these days. The upholsterer only charged me $90 and I bought the canvas downtown from Pacific Blue Denims. It was cheap, $4.75/yd and I only needed like 3-4 yards ($20). I used the same canvas in my dining nook that will be revealed soon so I bought more than that, but that was the amount I needed here. 

The accordion hook is vintage, from, you guessed it, the Long Beach Flea Market. It was $5 and it’s a great way to store your necklaces and make some wall “art.” The bag on the wall is also a flea market find. It’s become a little too fragile to use but it won’t stop me from turning it into something textural for my walls.

Both pieces of “real” art (that’s a loaded statement. What is real? What is art?) are from MaryAnn Puls. I bought the one to the right of the bench from her when we were in Portland. I don’t recall the price but I do recall it being way too low. I assume she was being kind because I was the one to reach out to her about getting her work in that project. I framed that gorgeous piece of art in a Target frame and guess what?? No one has ever commented on the frame, only the gorge art. The other piece is to the right of the bed. That was a gift from Emily to me. She got a piece of art for each of us for Christmas last year and I LOVE it. I happen to know that that frame is from IKEA. haha…runs in the company. 

Before we briefly get into the closet, I want to touch on the floors because it was a big gripe of mine in yesterday’s intro post. For a quick catch-up, the house originally had three different flooring types. This room was a carpet that looked like it was “prepped” for a horror Netflix original film. We decided on this black hex quickly because it was the only thing in our price point that I didn’t hate. Because the tile was black, we went dark with the wood floor stain everywhere else (including the closet there) so it all blended more seemlessly. It turned out okay.

For a long time, we didn’t have a rug in our bedroom so that was a little chilly but now that there is a rug in there, I don’t notice it too much and I think that it’s worth it to have the floors be more similar. I will say this now though and with conviction: dark floors are NOT for the faint of heart, especially if you have the most magically perfect white cat. I vacuum every day. Every. Single. Day. I mop once a week and the only time the floors truly look clean is the 15 minutes after the moment I wring out the mop. It’s fine though, as with everything, just know your threshold. Your threshold for cleaning AND your threshold for being fine with good enough. I’m one of those people who is weirdly both of those things. I’m a clean freak that’s also like “meh, it’s fine, I tried.” Luckily, vacuuming 863 square feet takes…6 minutes? Invest in a Dyson. That said, I really like the way my plethora of vintage brown wood furniture pops off the dark floors and ultimately wouldn’t choose anything different for myself. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Shop the Look: Dressers | Perfume Tray | Felt Boxes (top of closet) | Rug

If you remember from the intro, this room originally had two closets. We stole from the larger one for the actual square footage of the room so making this small walk-in work for both my husband and me clinched on my mad org skills. We brought in varying heights of MALM dressers from IKEA (the white helps to “blend” them into the wall), then it was about maximizing what was left of the floor space with a shoe rack, and overhead (with plenty of space left over for two cats). 

The larger hanging mirror I found at Sunbeam Vintage on Figueroa and the smaller one on the dresser is vintage from Taylor + Taylor’s warehouse sale.

And that’s it! Puck is here to kick usher you out of the room. If you’re interested in how I put this bed together, check out this step-by-step post (I promise it’s way easy) and stay tuned for the world’s smallest bathroom reno reveal coming to a blog near you.

Don’t miss other posts in this series:

Makeover Takeover: How EHD Stylist Emily Bowser Tackled Her Awkward Master Bedroom | DIY How-To: A Step-by-Step for Making Emily B.’s Wrap-Around Velvet Headboard