Category Archives: Master Bedroom
From the archive: Air Conditioner Cover
I realized after my last post on the bedroom, I never explained how we made our DIY air conditioning cover. It’s a simple process and I love how it looks.
The Before:
Here’s the ugly air conditioner when we purchased the house. I love how the plug is the full cord’s length away from the unit. You wouldn’t want that to be inconspeutious.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t just remove it. We wanted to keep the air conditioning in the room for super hot California nights.
The After:
Our concept was to build a piece of art we could hang over the AC unit and disguise it. See it? It’s on the left.
We built two frames. One fits inside the other. The outer one became the frame for the artwork. The inner one became the artwork.
Here’s how it went down.
Materials:
Wood for Outer Frame
Wood for Inner Frame
Fabric of Choice (I used a cotton quilting fabric)
Paint
Sandpaper
Nails
Staple Gun
Directions:
Step One
Measure the air conditioning unit and figure out the dimensions of your frame. You want the frame large enough to have a inch or two of clearance on all sides. We built an outer frame that was 29 1/8″ x 19 3/4″.
Step Two
The outer frame was built out of 5.5″ x 1″ pieces of wood. We used two lengths of wood to build our rectangle – 2 @ 17″ and 2 @ 28 1/8″. Assemble the piece with a little glue and nails.
Step Three
Build inner frame out of thinner wood – we used 1″ x 1/2″. The inner frame will be a little flimsy, but this is okay because you want this to fit snuggly in the outer frame. We added two lengths for support along the inside.
Step Four
Time to stretch your fabric over the inner frame. The most important thing to remember when stretching your fabric is to work from the middle outwards and in opposites. So start on one side and staple a couple times in the middle. Move to the opposite side, pull the fabric taught, and staple the middle in place with a few staples. Repeat with the other two edges. Continue stapling back and forth until you all four edges at tight. At the corners, fold the edges of the canvas neatly and staple the one on top of the other.
It’s okay if your frame isn’t not totally square when you are finished. Once its installed in the bigger outer frame it will maintain its shape.
Step Five
Sand and paint the outer frame before inserting the inner one. Let the paint dry overnight.
Step Six
The next day, carefully slip the inner frame into the outer frame. Secured it into place with a few nails.
Step Seven
Install two L brackets slightly above the air conditioner unit to hang the frame on. This allows it to be easily removed when we want to use the unit.
And there you go – a simple way to hide a ugly air conditioner!
Our Master Bedroom NOW
Since Bath Crashers, we have made a few changes to our Master Bedroom. I thought I should take a moment to go through the updates we have made.
First off, the whole master suite got a new coat of paint. Yes, this is the third time in a year we have repainted it! (See the first time.)
Although, the gray wall color picked by Bath Crashers was a nice contrast to the concrete floor and bamboo, we just wanted to brighten the room up a bit. The final color is just a little more blue and lighter than the original.
On the bed, I replaced our duvet cover with a neutral gray one from IKEA. I finished off the bedding with Amy Butler Bucharest shams and a turquoise quilt folded at the foot of the bed. I still want to add one more pillow in a red or yellow to tie in the gallery of artwork, but haven’t found the right one yet.
Besides the new linens, the bed remained pretty much the same pre-Bath Crashers. Without a proper bed frame (maybe someday…), we really like having my painting above the bed. I purchased the side tables with their nifty wicker baskets at Target a few years ago and the Alang table lamps are still available at IKEA.
On our long wall to the left of the bed, we decided to bring in some personality and hung up a collection of art from around the house. I like the shot of color from the various pieces including the oh so popular Stay Calm and Carry On. On the practical side, the collection does a great job of camouflaging our air conditioner cover (first frame on the left) as another piece of artwork.
I picked up this volcano print in Hawaii at the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet about ten years ago. I love tropical paradises and like to have the daily reminder such a place exists. The T-Rex Dinosaur print from Berkeley Illustration was a gift of Nate’s. He got it as his groomsman’s gift for a friend’s wedding and I think it’s probably the coolest groomsman/bridesmaid’s gift I have ever seen.
I thrifted this eagle woodcut/painting when I was in college. If you notice the artist used the wood grain to make the feathers of the eagle. I love that. I recently bought the Antique Squiggly Blue Octopus print from Black Baroque on Etsy. Cephalopods are one of my (many) animal loves.
These two prints were the least expensive of the bunch. The leaf print comes from one of those packs of five cards you can get from the frame department of any IKEA and we received the smiling Buddha as a greeting card when we moved in.
On the concrete floor, we added some warmth around the bed with a Flokati rug from PB Teen. It’s such a nice contrast to the concrete floor. The cats really like to attack it, so its a winner for the whole family.
We left the window coverings that Bath Crashers installed up.
The safari print is fun. I really like them, but am wondering if they are too busy for the room. Until I decide, they are staying up. I am really torn about them.
Above the bed, we updated our ceiling globe with a little more rub ‘n buff. I really do love that stuff.
So there you have it, just a few simple changes to the room that make a huge difference to the bedroom. It’s so nice to have it done. Eventually we will be expanding the room so we can have a walk-in closet, but that won’t happen for awhile. Luckily the other to bedrooms provide ample storage for the time being.
Behind the scenes of Bath Crashers
I know a lot of people wonder what it’s like to have a home improvement show taped in your home.
Its wild on so many levels, but the experience and end result were so worth it. 100 times over. To give a little insight, here’s some thought I have on the project.
Not having any control of what your bathroom will look like and being 100% okay with it.
After we were ambushed, I couldn’t sleep. I was just too excited to see what Matt and team were going to do with our bathroom. You see, we had no idea how our opinions would be interpreted. We saw the final plans for the new bathroom for the first time on camera.
I though giving up control would be more difficult for me given my love of home design and my many opinions about it. Turns out, I actually was excited to have someone else take a shot at our bathroom. I just decided it was part of the experience and just let it be.
Going into that first day of demolition with little in the way of expectations I believe worked to our advantage. We were thrilled with the design.
Letting your home be turned into a construction site overnight.
It’s amazing how encompassing a reality TV show is. Our life basically shut down during the renovation.
We had to move our whole bedroom into my office, quarantine the cats away and have the rest of our house available for construction builds, craft services and just holding supplies almost 24 hrs a day.
Nate and I both took time off work for the project. We did whatever was asked of us from the demolition to painting the entire space overnight. We were also extremely lucky to have many friends and family do the same to help out.
Meeting some very talented people.
Matt and his team were a pleasure to work with. All of the contractors, carpenters, film crew, production staff and vendors who worked our bathroom were just amazing. I learned a lot from working with and watching them in their element. It was very inspiring.
This project really opened up my eyes to what’s possible. Every possible constraint was pushed to get the bathroom done. I have never seen so many people crammed into a small space accomplished so much in such a short time period.
Taking a leap of faith and going for it.
More than anything, we feel so thankful to be given a chance at this opportunity. Walking blindly into this project was intimidating to say the least, but I am so glad we did it. Not only did we get this gorgeous, dream bathroom – we also got an education.
I know our future DIY projects will take a lot more time and patience, but this experience let us see the possibilities that skill and expertise bring you which really is invaluable.
Check it! Watch us on Bath Crashers Monday Night on DIY Network
Ever wondered who really gets ambushed by Matt Muenster on DIY Network’s Bath Crashers?
Well, you are reading about two of them.
That’s right.
Nate and I were ambushed early one Saturday morning with a camera crew recording every moment on high def film.
(Nate working on a build with our contractor Doug Tolson.)
For those who haven’t heard of the show here’s a summary. Matt hangs around home improvement stores until he finds a homeowner with a bathroom in need of major help. He then follows the homeowner home and overhauls the bathroom in three days.
(That’s us on the final day. Don’t we look tired?)
Our episode, Urban Bamboo Bath, will air next Monday night. Here’s the summary of our episode to give you a little preview.
To see the whole transformation of our bathroom, watch or set your DVR’s to DIY Network on Monday, March 28 at 9:00pm ET/ 6:00pm PT. Please check your cable provider though – it may run at a slightly different time.
Next week after the episode airs, I’ll share some perspective of the whole experience plus a bunch of photos!
Consolidating the Madness
I have been slowly building a pile of odds and ends for the Goodwill store this last week. Nate and I have to temporarily move out of our bedroom and master bath in a few short days. Everything is being relocated into my office and the linen closet.
I am bound and determined to get rid of items as I go. So far, I have emptied out the bathroom and my closet. Now I am working on moving the rest of the bedroom. I have also gone through my office to make room.
Sometimes, I am amazed at the amount of crap I have. We only moved into this place a year ago and I feel I have begun to really fill it with endless amounts of clutter. It’s disheartening. I don’t want to be labeled a pack rat, but I definitely have the tendency to store. This cleaning exercise is tedious but well worth it. I should only keep what I need and cherish, not the rest.
Bedroom Redo
After a year in the house, we are finally painting our bedroom. It seems a little silly to wait that long to make our sleeping quarters pretty, but we had so many social events planned that required us to make the common spaces more of a priority.
Needless to say, I am ecstatic to beautify this neglected space.
Its sad to say that I have lived this last year in a linoleum floored storage shed. We didn’t make any adjustment to the room after we first moved in. Nate and I didn’t even remove the old rusty nails from the walls. Guess, we just moved in and moved on. I can only imagine what it will be like to wake up in a freshly painted space.
Jewelry Showcase
With all the rain falling these days I turned my focus onto some small decorating projects inside this weekend.
In our bedroom, I have been wanting to organize my jewelry in a way to showcase some of the pieces. I came up with showcasing them in some picture frames that I backed with cork board.
I picked up a mirror and two frames at Target on clearance. I spent a total of $16 on all three that’s less than $6 per piece!
Step One
The frames did not match and were a little scratched up. So I sanded and spray painted them to match the mirror.
Step Two
I took out the glass in each frame and cut 1/4 thick cork placemats to fit into each frame. The placemats were a great find because regular cork board would be too thick to fit into the frame.
Step Three
I arranged earrings on one frame and bracelets on another. The nice thing about the cork is I can rearrange it as many times as I like.
