FREE Weekend Makeover: Part 4

Welcome to the final post in my
week-long four-part series:

How to refresh, restyle, and redecorate without spending a CENT -
  by using what you already have!

Today's final reveal is the Master Bedroom and the upstairs Hallway,
two areas where it didn't take too much work to bring color and life to the rooms.
Remember, everything you see in the photos was already here - 
I just needed to help it come out of hiding!

 The Master Bedroom

Before:
The walls are soft mocha, the bed is a sculptural black iron, and the other furnishings are black wood.
A perfect neutral palette to start with.

The deep red pillows and tablecloth just made this room feel dark when combined with the black -
not to mention that this is the hottest room in the house
and red is not a color that cools you off in the summertime!

Note that the bamboo window blind stops mid-wall... it covers a small square window,
but every time I looked at it, it felt like an old air conditioner was hidden behind it!

After:
The fabric hanging on the bed is a printed cotton tablecloth,
which I found brand new in its bag in the living room buffet drawer.
[I should have ironed it]
Along with adding color and pattern to the room, 
this softens the look of the bed - which is all angles.

continue reading for more of the tour...


that pillow on the bed is covered with... a shirt.
Yes, a shirt.
A linen shirt, printed in a pattern and color that fit the decor scheme,
was the most perfect cover I could find for one of the red pillows
so I simply wrapped it around the pillow. Call it furoshiki!
The thing is, that shirt is MINE!
I would have run it through my sewing machine to make it fit perfectly...
but I like that shirt and wasn't prepared to give it up for their decor!
So I just used it for the photo.

I'm going to re-iterate my position that you can't think too literally about things you find...
that shirt had enough fabric to become a pillow cover.
You could also use a table runner, or a few placemats, to make a pillow cover.
Whatever you use, it's just FABRIC.  
Be open to looking everywhere for elements to use!

The bamboo window blind is now unfurled down to the same level as the bedside chest...
in this position, it connects the chest with the window,
which makes the window itself look less like an air conditioner is hiding behind it.
This also echoes the length of the blinds on the large front window for a more cohesive look.
[PS: That blind is always closed, because the sun BAKES this side of the house.]

I also found a light aqua twin-sized comforter under this bed.
Now, clearly it won't fit the whole bed, but folding it up this way
adds a splash of color to the room and coordinates with the headboard treatment.

A vase of flowers on the bedside chest makes the hanging lamp cord less noticeable.
I'd paint it the same color as the wall, if it were my room.

Before:
On the other side of the room, a small round table is swathed in that dark red brocade fabric.
HEAVY. Hot. And NOT the kind of hot and heavy you want in the bedroom!

After:
I simply swapped the red for a white tablecloth,
and covered the top of it with a few linen napkins -
their sandy color matches the Euro pillow on the bed.
A few books with blue covers pull the color scheme over here.

Did you notice that this simple change  
completely alters the way the painting on the wall looks?!
With the red tablecloth, the red tile roofs in the painting jump out at you.
With the white tablecloth and blue accents, 
the light blue water of the canal and the sky come forward...
which brings the 'visual' temperature in this room down quite a bit!

I also moved a bench from another wall to the end of the bed,
after covering its dark red cushion with a white curtain panel.
Honestly? I just did it for the photo.
If I had left that there, my brother would have moved it immediately after saying
"I'll KILL myself on that thing in the middle of the night!"

The things I did in this room were fast and easy - not intended to be permanent.
I just wanted to show them a new look using what they had.

My sister in law is now picking out fabric 
so that she can sew a new tablecloth, cushion cover, and accent pillow covers for this room.
She may even paint a wall blue, using the paint from downstairs!

Details
of the top of a bedside chest, and the table in the corner.
blue book covers, a jar of shells, linen napkins, and a vase of faux flowers...
and a fabulous turquoise mini-purse that I just had to throw into the photo!

The Hallway

Before:At the top of the stairwell,
the hallway landing is home to a laundry closet and this cabinet area.
The countertop here was a catch-all for papers and things waiting to go somewhere else,
and the cabinets store a plethora of family photo albums.

After:
Since this is an area that the whole family passes by and sees several times each day,
I thought it would be a perfect area for an 'Art Gallery'.
I gathered up works of art by my nieces from all over the house, and displayed them here...

 A pen drawing is framed in an acrylic box frame
that has a piece of gift wrapping paper lining it.
A chalk painting hangs on the back wall from simple thumbtacks,
while a collection of clay sculptures are presented on bases that make them stand out:

Those bases are simply white picture frames in several sizes -
I put colorful gift wrapping paper (from the garage!) inside,
then used them as a tray and stands that hold the whimsical clay creatures.

Some colorful silk flowers found in the laundry closet fill a handmade ceramic vase
and also fill a glass vase lined with the wrapping paper up on the top cabinet, to coordinate the look.

I have to say that I LOVE how my brother and sister in law have the girls' artwork all over the house...
it's in the office, the kitchen, the bathroom right next to the 'gallery', 
their bedrooms, and now the hallways.

I discovered these two pieces tucked beside the desk in the office,
and hung them on the backside of the fireplace in the living room at the bottom of the stairwell.
It's details like children's precious artwork that make a house a home, 
and not just a decorated showplace.

I didn't do anything in this room, but take a look at the SWANKY guest bath:

This panorama shot shows the post-makeover dining room, entry, and living room
from the viewpoint at the edge of the kitchen.

To read all FOUR of the posts for this project, 

click HERE!

And that's it, my friends! 

Those are all of the details of how I took two days and NO MONEY

to transform my brother's house while he and his family were on vacation,

while using stuff they already had.

OK, some of you commented "So tell us what they thought!!!"
Here's the story... 
[and you have to remember that this is my BROTHER (aka Adam Sandler comic type)
and my sister (in law, but we don't use that part) who is practically Reese Witherspoon's DOUBLE]

They entered through the front gate, saw the front deck, looked at each other, then laughed.
I thought 'uh oh'... and then sis started just GUSHING about the patio and deck.
Actually, they ALL started gushing... my brother and nieces included.
They walked all over outside, exclaiming and smiling.
And then I opened the front door...

And Amy SCREAMED
"OH MY GOD, IS THIS MY HOUSE???!!!!"
She spun in circles and my brother stood stock still,
while the girls were running all over looking at everything at once.
[and checking to make sure their pet fish were still alive - yes, girls, I saw that!]

We talked, I did the tour guide thing, they asked questions, their mouths gaped open...
Amy sat at the dining table and said
"I'm not changing a thing. We gotta' have a party to show this off!"
Finally my brother sat on the sofa section in the dining room,
and Amy crashed on the chaise in the living room,
and they both said "It's PERFECT! BEYOND perfect!"

Then I said I had been a little worried at first that they didn't like it...
and they told me while laughing their heads off
that their devious PLAN had been for the whole family to walk in and look unhappy.
To act as if they really, really hated what I had done to their house.
But as soon as they saw it, they were SO HAPPY that they couldn't fake being otherwise!

Ya' just gotta' love family ;)

...and then they took me out for a terrific dinner!

Thank you all for joining me in record numbers for this post series...
I hope you had fun, were inspired to try new ideas, and learned a few tricks
to refresh your own rooms using what YOU have on hand!