Bedding! And eventually drapes.

Got the bed and the go-ahead to "do what I want" in the master bedroom. Awesome! But the queen-sized duvet was barely stretching from one edge of the mattress to the other. Not awesome. So it was time to look for a comforter or quilt.

Criteria:

goes with purple

not too formal

has to be a bargain

I want our bedroom to be light-hearted and whimsical, but not too "girlie". Florals are not completely out of the picture, they just can't be frou-frou. Don't want to freak the Hubster out the first time he gives me free reign...

Here are some things I'm loving:

    

these gorgeous prints are from mincingmockingbird.etsy.com

  

and these fluffy beauties are from PierOne.com

I thought these might look okay with purple walls. But still wasn't sure. Then a miracle happened. Hubster told me he might be okay to lose the purple. Hallelujah!

New Criteria:

goes with purple

not too formal

has to be a bargain

After looking at a ton of websites and several stores, I wandered into TJ Maxx recently and happened to find a HUGE home sale! I was thinking of trying a spa feel with a cream or white blanket, and these would have worked:

But they weren't the most colorful options. And I can change the wall color now, remember?? Then... I found this:

It's not as light blue as it looks here. More of a dusky blue/green. The flowers are made of ribbon, and there's not a ton of them, so it should fit the criteria of "not too girlie". And the best part - it was a whopping $49.00 for a king-sized comforter and two shams! I even sprung for a great little green pillow to match the leaves... :) (Obviously, someone needs to add king-sized pillows to her shopping list.)

Now I have to decide on drapery fabric... you can see that the window right above the bed is about four feet off the floor. I'll take the drapes from ceiling to floor to create a bigger impact, but probably won't make them go all the way across - sheers or some shutters or blinds will work for privacy. So this is what I'm thinking...

Your thoughts?

Mine, All MINE!!!

Maniacal laughter? Yes! Happy dance? Yes! Things are about to get interesting in my bedroom!

As a friend on Twitter pointed out... that kind of comment can be taken one of two ways. My intent is HGTV-interesting, not Playboy-interesting. Just so we're clear. (thanks @TomRedwine!)

My husband commented this weekend - sort of offhandedly I thought, given the gravity of the moment - that I can do whatever I want when I am making decorating choices for our bedroom. You may nod your head in  when I tell you I got a little light-headed with joy, and had to ask if I'd heard him correctly. Thank god I was already sitting down.

We have lived in our house since 2006. When we moved in we painted a few walls and uninstalled a large chandelier in the dining room to replace it with a projection system. That's about it. Now, it's not like I don't have plans. My plans are AMAZING! But things have been a little nuts for the last few years, and those amazing plans haven't quite come together.

Part of the reason for the delay rests in the fact that Hubster and I don't always see eye-to-eye on decorating. He likes intense colors and knick-knacks that play around in the Gothic realm, just this side of weird. We both like the terms "Unique" and "Interesting" used on a metaphorical mood-board, but I prefer to also include "Attractive", you know what I mean? Unique for the sake of being Unique just doesn't cut it for me.

Thankfully, a change in Hubster's attitudes toward decorating has occurred, and I can only assume that I have HGTV to thank. Over the last few years Hubster and I have watched HGTV together, and I believe the shows have begun to turn him. He has started to appreciate the beauty of re-purposing furniture (and other items) to give it new use, and he can see the value of finding things that can serve a different purpose than originally intended. I think that Candice Olson and Genevieve Gorder have also proven that soft colors and even florals can be used in a way that is not too prissy and girlie. Lucky for Hubster, I at least have his interests in mind... if not in the forefront of my decision making.

More on the inspirations I'm thinking about later... for now - here's what I am working with so far: 

Grape walls, extremely white molding and ceiling, and a crazy deal of a bed from a local thrift store - king size Henkle Harris WITH the mattress set: $1,000. I know - stupid, right??? There was no way this was not coming home with me! (sorry for the crappy pic - it's from my phone. I'll put up a better one later.)

I'm working with a very large room, a lot of purple, and a mid-60s ranch style house with these funky windows halfway up the wall... as I said, things are about to get interesting!