Decorating My Bedroom & Eating Elephants

If you haven’t already been there, renting your first apartment is a lot like buying an elephant and trying to eat it. (I love elephants and would never eat one, but stick with me.) You dish out a security deposit and the first month’s rent and you get the entire elephant–the entire fresh, open, undecorated apartment is all yours.[spacer height=”20px”]

But then you try to eat it. Ha! It’s almost impossible. Unless you go about it piece by piece, chunk by chunk. What you’re about to read is one of the first pieces of eating my elephant–er, decorating my apartment. (Glad I can drop the elephant analogy here, it was getting weird.)[spacer height=”20px”]

Where better to start than the bedroom? It’s where I spend a significant amount of time, or try to at least. I believe bedrooms should be the oasis of the home. The kitchen may be the heart, but the bedroom is the lungs, where you can breathe deep and think clearly.[spacer height=”20px”]

I’ve gathered inspiration from the world around me Pinterest, here’s what I’ve come up with:[spacer height=”20px”]

Here’s what I love (and want in my own bedroom):

• A neutral fabric headboard
• Tan and white bed linens
• Light blue accent pillows
• Interesting end tables (would love mirrored ones)
• Glass-based lamps for end tables
• Three or four matted, framed photos above the bed
• Chest of drawers that adds interest (pained navy blue? cool hardware?)
• Breezy curtains
• The feel of a cozy seaside villa, warm, simple, but glamorous

And here’s what I have so far:

A neutral fabric headboard. I searched around a lot to find a headboard I loved at the right price point. Key words: at the right price point. Fabric headboards are very pricey, but they’re beautiful. Which is why I purchased this one immediately when I spotted it on Target.com for less than $200.[spacer height=”20px”]

Here’s this beautiful headboard gracing my currently mismatched bedroom (the white quilt is simply my old colorful quilt flipped over!)…[spacer height=”20px”]

Ahh, like she was meant to be there all along. I love her, but I’ve gotta find some more complementary bed linens.[spacer height=”20px”]

Which leads nicely to my next point…I bought this tan and white Kate Spade duvet cover at Bed Bath & Beyond yesterday for under $50! Score! I think it’s beautifully simple and elegant…exactly what I want for this space.[spacer height=”20px”]

As far as pillows, I woke up early yesterday morning and online shopped before work. 🙂 Ahh, the beautiful blessing of a paycheck. West Elm before the suns comes up. Here’s what I ordered:[spacer height=”20px”]

 

Two of the above pillow covers. They’re euro shams, so they’re very large (it’s hard to tell from the photo). (I love euro shams!) My Mom’s probably reading this, scoffing at the time my siblings and I lamented the fact that we stopped at Tuesday Morning on a nine hour road trip so she could purchase three huge down-stuffed euro pillows. Needless to say, space was a luxury in that car for the rest of the ride. No Mom, that didn’t make me hate euro-sized pillows forever, but yes, it was ridiculously imperfect timing. And to tie the bedding together, I bought:[spacer height=”20px”]

 

Two of these smaller square pillows. I’m imagining the euros agains the headboard, then my regular sized pillows with shams, and these in the very front. Can you picture it? Soon you won’t have to :)[spacer height=”20px”]

That’s all I’ve bought so far…I’ll bring back the elephant analogy here…chunk by chunk I’ll create my seaside villa paradise. Here’s are other pieces I’d like to get in the future:[spacer height=”20px”]

What do you think? Have you ever eaten an elephant decorated from a completely blank slate? What was your experience? Have you decorated in a nautical/neutral theme before? Ideas for me?[spacer height=”20px”]

Psst–I have my first giveaway going on! Don’t forget to enter!