If you follow me on Instagram you may have noticed I’ve been moving around my ‘library’ and reading corner recently. I’ve tried it in a couple of different areas (always built around natural light options), but I had a little bit of an aha moment (aka: DUH! moment) and wanted to share it with you – definitely still a work in progress.
We live in a smallish house in northern California. We love our little spot of the world, but there are challenges with space sometimes. If you have a large home, this post won’t click for you much, I would suppose. But if you are a small-home-dweller, maybe something like this will help you too.
Enter our three bedrooms. They are smalllll bedrooms. What would be considered the Master Bedroom is only a few feet larger than the others so I came to a conclusion: Since the rooms weren’t vastly different, why was I giving the largest of them all the ‘time of day’, if you will, but only sleeping in it at night?? Who says this has to be the main bedroom for sleeping?!
So we pulled everything out of the ‘Master Bedroom’ and swapped it with a smaller room across the hall where ‘The Office’ once was.
I’m pretty minimalistic anyway with bedroom furniture and decor.
We didn’t finish painting before completing the move, but it’s just going to have to wait until we get back from vacation next week. Besides, you can see how the bedroom is evolving from a nice gray (which was too dark for this room) to a bright white that plays nicely off the very sunny window.
Scott built us these floating shelves a few months ago and I can’t recommend them enough! Easy cleaning and forced simplicity. Win win!
These mirrored closet doors are soooo seventies. Initially I wanted to take them out and do something different with the space, but I do really like the way they double the natural light in the room. I think they’re staying put for now. I lay in bed in the mornings and watch the palm trees swaying and the birds coming and going – all through the view of the mirror. I’m kind of digging it.
Some black and white decor via 1967. You’ve gotta love the arts and crafts that stand the test of time! 🙂
We’ve got our air-purifying snake plant next to the bed for all the extra good juju breathing we can get.
I don’t know what i’ll do with the shelf in the room yet (something clean and simple though) but for now, this calathea is enjoying her spot in the bright but indirect sun.
And now what was originally the master bedroom is the library/reading and writing room.
A quick word about this majesty palm… I had it in the wrong place last summer and it got dried out. I was ready to get rid of it but decided to make some drastic cuts to it. There was one new palm growing in so I cut off ALL the older palms. In the past few months two more new palms have grown in. I put a humidifier on it a few times a week and make sure it doesn’t get dried out (but not too wet either.) It seems to like it’s new lease on life. My PSA is to try drastic measures if you’re going to be throwing a plant away anyway. Similar to ctrl-alt-del, sometimes cutting a plant down to nothing and letting it start over again is a viable solution. We all kind of desire that fresh start, don’t we??
This big window is where all the cool plants wanna hang out. It doesn’t get the harsh sun from our backyard but is bright and cheery with big views of the sky. It’s also a wonderful place to sit and write to you from my laptop…
So what happened to my cozy reading corner? Scott and I are jokingly referring to it as our ‘Mud Room’. I set up a desk in there that holds essentials. It’s where we throw our canvas bags after using them before they go back to the car. Our car keys, sunglasses, you get the idea. The door to the right goes out to the laundry room and then the garage and with all the winter rains we are getting, it’s the perfect place to take off shoes, etc. I’m looking for just the right durable rug to go here as well.
Lots of room switching around (per usual for me) but we’re both happy with the results. Now for the Big Painting Project of 2020 where all the house will change from gray to WHITE! I love the blank canvas that white affords.
Are you working on any last minute home improvement projects before the decade begins? I can’t guarantee it, but I would bet my first project of the decade was painting something white. -ha! I guess I don’t deviate from a good thing, do I?
screen door stories 