You have no idea how happy and relieved I felt to be able to sleep in our own bedroom on the very first night of shifting in. It marked the end, or actually nearing the end, of a very exhausting but strangely fulfilling renovation period; it meant we had a place to call our own; it meant I had a home to look forward to returning everyday; it felt so surreal to have this cosy haven of our own just the way I had pictured in my dreams.
Since the hubby didn't have time to sit down and discuss with me much about the renovation, he chose to relinquish his say in the matter and just told me to go ahead and decide on everything. Should I be thankful that he had absolute faith in my taste and preferences? Yup, that actually stressed me out to the max and of all rooms, I was particularly concerned over the master bedroom because I wanted him to feel relaxed and happy whenever he came home to this room where all troubles should vanish, even if just momentarily.
I haven't really shared much photos on this yet so let me start by telling you the color theme for our bedroom. Now, since the girls had already taken pink for their room and the boy blue, I thought we should for something less vibrant yet with a touch of elegance and charm. I was debating between going for gold or silver/grey, and eventually decided that my heart preferred the one that sounded more lackluster and dull - yup, I went for GREY because gold seemed just a little too striking and attention-seeking for the Plain Jane that I am.
Thankfully, it turned out just the way I wanted, or perhaps I should say even better too. Come on the tour with me as I show you more!
This is what you see the moment you open the door to the bedroom. Yup, similar to the kids, we have a Nippon Momento feature wall too and this is the MS149 Granite Glint in the Sparkle series (read more about our review on Nippon here). So many people have assumed that this is wallpaper but it's not, it's paint! I honestly love it so much and it makes such a huge difference to the whole look of the room, don't you think so? I've not decided if we'll be hanging any paintings or portraits yet but for now, I just love it the way it is without the need to put up any wall decoration.
Our bed was brought over from the previous house and this is a storage bed which is a lifesaver because underneath it is where we store things like our Christmas tree, Christmas decorations, winter clothes, hubby's army swords, fishing rods - which honestly take up lots of space and can be a challenge for a house that has no storeroom.
We also brought over the baby cot which the baby doesn't sleep in and doesn't like to be changed in (haha, then why oh why?) but it serves to keep all the baby-related stuff and also acts as a rail guard so that the baby, who co-sleeps with me, doesn't fall off the bed when he sleeps.
If you take a look above, you will see the KDK U60FW ceiling fan (read our review here) which comes in black color and has sleek looking blades. So far, it has really worked well for us and guess what, we haven't even turned on the air conditioner in this room at all! In our previous house, we felt stuffy even with the air con (which was faulty) and a standing fan turned on so this was really a welcome change.
For the curtains, I chose this slightly darker shade of gray (read our review on Meridian Curtains and Furnishings here) to contrast with the feature wall and I must say gray is definitely a great choice for the color theme because I just love how everything came together eventually.
So, this wasn't really planned but I brought over my digital piano from the old house, which has been stuck with me for nearly a decade (yes, even to Sweden and back) even though I can't really play, only to realize that we don't have space for it in the living room or dining room. I initially kept it in its boxes and shoved it under the bed but the sweet hubby suggested that we should put it by the side of the bed so that I can play whenever I want to. Seriously, I will when I have the time and opportunity (which probably has to wait till the baby goes to school). For now, the kids are very happy that they can hit (or should I say thump, batter, pound) the notes too!
On the left side of the room, there is a built in wardrobe that comes with sliding doors with a greyish/brownish laminate that matches our theme. So, I have to admit that it's really not that huge to share between two grown-ups but thankfully for the fact that the hubby and I don't really own much clothing, it is more than enough to suffice.
As for the toilet, well, we were happy with the way it was and phew, didn't need to do much except give the ceiling a fresh coat of paint, install a rain shower and add in some shelving. I love the huge sink and the black marble walls!
We wanted to keep the drilling to a minimum so I bought these slim, stackable storage racks from Taobao which were really value for money. This one even comes with wheels so that it can be moved easily too and it has more than enough space to store our toiletries and the bath toys for the boy too.
Behind the toilet door is this Scandinavian-themed clothes hanger that I bought from Taobao too. I love the design, I love that it is made of metal, I love the colour, I love that it hangs over the door and doesn't require you to drill, I love the workmanship, yup, I just love everything about it.
Moving on to the last but very important highlight of the room, here's the initial draft of the workstation-cum-storage cupboard that we designed and got our carpenter to custom build for us.
This was something that I have longed for quite some time - a place to properly blog and get my work done. Previously, my workstation was in the living room right beside the window. While that means the sun shines right onto my laptop in the day and the dust builds up faster than I can clean, it also meant that I had to share the space with the kids and my mother-in-law who loves to watch Korean dramas. You can imagine how distracting it got at times and I admit that I have, on more than one occasion, wished for a proper computer desk in the comfort of my own room.
Unlike the living and dining rooms where we chose brownish, wooden and off white coloured laminates, we decided to get more bold and went for gray wood and black laminates for the master bedroom. Here's how it turned out eventually. Did I love it? You bet.
See? Now I get this nice corner for blogging and doing all my computer-related tasks and I can't be more thankful for it. Yup, if my laptop could smile, I bet it was beaming all over too as it said "Byebye" to the sun rays. I love how the black laminate for the table looked in the end and could only give the hubby a pat on his shoulder since this was his choice. (Didn't I say he didn't wanna make decisions? Haha!)
As for the cupboard, there was a few hiccups in the process, for instance the carpenter didn't realize that we wanted to install LED lights and had to drill holes for them last minute or that the cupboard doors are so big that one of it will hit the fan if we open it too wide. Nonetheless, we managed to overcome them one by one, or we chose to leave one eye closed when it couldn't be solved. Gotta look at the big picture, right? The cupboard also gives us some much needed storage space and this is where we keep our bags, bedsheets, jewellery, cosmetics, personal documents and so on.
I'm not sure if it's obvious here but there really isn't much room between the bed and workstation so after I put in my computer chair, and there's basically just an inch of space to maneuver around. Well, that just shows that we have an efficient use of space, right? In any case, this means that my baby sleeps right behind me when I work so it makes it easier for me to hear and get to him as compared to last time, so I'm thankful just to be able to do that.
One of the best things we have set up in the new house are the Eubiq power tracks, which I will be doing a review to share with you very soon. Sure, I had to go through the hassle of having to liaise with the carpenter, electrician and Eubiq installation team (that's what happens when you become your own interior designer) before I could finally get these tracks embedded nicely like this but let me just say that it was worth every effort. I'll tell you why in my next post, stay tuned!
Oh, and before I end, here's sharing with you our night lights in the master bedroom! One is star-shaped light with exquisite wooden carvings of houses, stars and pine trees while the other is a beautiful, metallic, sparkly angel lamp we bought in Sweden.
See how they illuminate our room? I love it! And yes, I'm really loving the peace, the comfort and the hope that I can feel in this cosy bedroom of ours. It might not be huge but it has everything we need and more.
Yup, so that's about it for now, till the next post in A Happy Home!
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This post is part of the "A Happy Home" series where I share all about our new Scandinavian-themed house, the renovation process and some tips and thoughts. Moving is never easy but it comes with an indescribable sense of joy in building up the house of your dreams. Remember, home is where the heart is and nothing is more important than being able to build memories with the people you love.