Auntie Leila always says to start with the Master Bedroom....so I am for my {Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}!
{PRETTY AND HAPPY}
Here is the room as it currently looks.
I am pretty sure that our painter got his colours mixed up and the blue grey that was supposed to be in the Master Bedroom ended up in Tom Kitten's room and the baby blue for his room, in ours. But, with all the furniture in it is not as obvious as it was in the beginning.
Our bed is the one we purchased in Melbourne from Wilkins and Kent. It was when we were pre-children and our disposable income was rather higher and our thriftiness rather less. These days it just wouldn't happen!
The chest of drawers next to the bed and the blanket box under the window were both bought secondhand from Village Antiques in Bungendore. The chest of drawers was a deeply discounted bargain - although the middle drawer does smell rather strongly of cigarette smoke! It holds Mr Provincial's clothes providing valuable storage. The blanket box has the winter doonas and spare pillows for guests in it.
Don't you love the pink and yellow stained glass in the window. It is so cheerful.
We had the carpet taken out and the floorboards polished. The wood is Cedar.
The lights above our bed came from Bunnings and used to sit on the bookcases in our house in Darwin where we had a lack of light problem in the living area and this was the only temporary solution we could come up with. Now given the lack of space in the room we can't get in bedsides and therefore bedside lamps. These lamps are ideal.
The painting which I love so much used to hang in my Grandparents house. It is called Generations.
The curtains and bedclothes are from Country Curtains. I got the inspiration and link for the curtains from Posie Gets Cozy. I picked up the light bedspread and pillowcases from the clearance section of Country Curtains. We really needed something lighter than our summer doona as our bedroom is un-airconditioned and we are making do with the ceiling fans we had installed.
On Mr Provincial's dresser sits "The Cat Who Walks by Himself" which I bought at the British Library; I haven't got round to persuading Mr Provincial to hang it yet. My Mother-in-Law sent Mr Provincial the Dancing Lion from Singapore. The cross-stitch was a gift from my Godmother for my 21st birthday.
Oh, don't you love double-hung windows. They may be draughty in winter but they are so cosy cottage looking.
The bookcase we had in our study in our old house. Now we live in a tiny three bedroom house we don't have a study so it is in the bedroom!
I love the umbrella and finally having it on display. Mr Provincial bought that for me when we were just 18 and he was living in Taiwan for a year. I wonder if our parents knew those schoolyard sweethearts would end up married with children!
The Ballet painting is by my Grandmother. The Renoir print is from the Musee D'Orsay. I always regretted not getting the sister print from the Met when I visited. There is a lovespoon below it that my mother-in-law bought me back from the UK for my birthday last year.
The chair was my Great-Aunts. I had it re-covered when we were first married.
This dresser was the first 'antique' I bought when I was 15. It is looking a bit worse for wear after all its travels round the country, but I still love it.
I always have a stack of books by my bed; I seem unable to just read one. Are you a focussed reader or a toe-dipper like me? I seem to dabble then reach a point where I am gripped and throw myself in whole-heartedly.
My Mum drew the Degas inspired chalk drawing above the dresser. She is such a talented artist. She finally has time for such things now she is retired.
{FUNNY}
Excuse my daughter throwing the tantrum on the bed. When you lived with young children you sometimes face these staging issues!
We had the same amount of built-in-storage put in each bedroom. It does mean that my husband and I have a little less space than we could use, but will allow our children to share their rooms if, God willing, there are more children in the future.
We paid extra to have the storage go to the ceiling in each room. We are so glad we did as we can fit in crates of out-of-season clothes, or in the kids rooms out-grown clothes.
The floor rug my husband got when he went treking in Nepal. It was made by Tibetan refugees.
{REAL}
Would you like to see the befores?
At the point where Mr Provincial returned from the South and presented these pictures to me in Darwin I started to get a little worried as to what we had actually undertaken. Actually, in the scheme of the house's entirety the bedroom was one of the better in appearances:)
