Remember our fun playdate with Katie & Jeremy of All Bower Power back in May? Well, here’s a never-before-seen look at what happens when you put two female home bloggers in a room together. Within minutes they start ordering the boys around and before you know it you have a little mini makeover on your hands. For precisely zero dollars and zero cents.
But let’s back up. The room where the sprucing took place was actually Katie & Jeremy’s bedroom. Which is poetic since it’s the room that brought us together in the first place (we virtually met Katie back when she shared her bedroom makeover which was inspired by ours). We became fast friends and before we knew it we were spending a weekend in the guest bedroom, just steps away from the room that brought us together (happy sigh). Anyway, if you ask me the room already looked lovely when we arrived:
See? Gorge. But before I could even say “gor” Katie was a blur of motion, chatting about how she’d been meaning to move a few things around and how we should redecorate a bit together. Uh, where do I sign? So we called on the boys to lift a heavy dresser that was once in one corner of the room and place it in the other side of the space where a slipper chair used to be. Here they are demonstrating their masculinity. Then we just popped a mirror from the hallway and a vase on top to add height and bounce around even more light.
There, doesn’t that look nice? Now instead of entering into the side of the chair there’s a more open flow from the door into the room and even around the bed. But where would that slipper chair go? Why in the corner that previously housed the dresser of course. And we didn’t even need the boys for that task so they were dismissed to go watch some strange TV show about restaurants who serve giant pancakes and twenty pound burgers. We also added an old floor lamp Katie had laying around next to the chair, but it didn’t have a shade. Yet.
Then we decided to tackle that blank wall. We already borrowed a mirror from the hallway to put on top of the dresser so we were fresh out of things on hand to hang. Until I stumbled upon an old parasol tossed in a basket in Katie’s office. Katie explained they were actually left over from her wedding day and she had quite a few laying around. And then we both got the same glimmer in our eyes and decided to make a little 3-D art with it. Katie took me down to her basement (yes, people used to speculate that she might hold me captive there if I ever visited her but that was far from the actual course of events) and we got to work playing around with power tools. And you bet your buns we didn’t call the boys for help. When it comes to power tools we’re all about girl power:
As you can see, we cut the stem of the parasol off so it only protruded about three inches from the wall. And then we flipped it over to see if there would be a way to hang it from the opposite side so that super cool string pattern inside of the parasol could face out into the room. Lucky for us, peeling back the paper on the top nub of the parasol revealed a small hole which was perfect for slipping over a nail that we could hammer into the wall to hold it in place.
Here’s Katie getting her hang on. Oh and check out the light. Although we didn’t find a drum shade while we ran around readying the parasol for sculptural status in the room, we did see a blue wire basket candle holder (pictured a few photos up on the brown ottoman to the right of the chair) and placed it atop the floor lamp to create a cool wire “shade” that was just as graphic and linear as the parasol we hung behind it.
Then we did a quick pillow change for a bit more contrast with the tan chair (which happens to be the same Dolce Lounge Chair from Target that we have in our living room and den) and presto. A sweet little reading corner (or a place to toss clothes if you’re me). And all for no money and a bit of weird blogger x 2 creativity. Ah the memories.
Sure a parasol probably isn’t usually used as art and a metal candle holder isn’t typically thought of as a lamp shade substitute… but we had too much use-what-you-have fun not to share our odd little corner creation. And that my friends, is the magic of fostering internet relationships with strangers and then agreeing to a three day sleepover.
Wanna see me and Katie Bower in almost-3D? We whipped up a fun little table setting video that you can laugh at/watch right here. Let the mispronunication and potty humor begin!
I’m glad that you shared this. You two are so creative!
Very cool. I can usually pull this kind of thing off at someone else’s, but can’t do it for myself (sigh). Darn it now I am singing Umbrella!! LOL
This is one my favorite posts ever! This is what junking is all about! Putting unused items to use in a new way! The lampshade and the parasol ideas are absolutely fabulous!! Kudos to you!
Amy
You two are so funny. This a a great post!
uhh was the show on the Travel Channel?! If so, I have to admit that I am disgusted/fascinated with it :)
Love the bedroom transformation – you girls are fabulous!
Awesome!!!
‘Makes me want to move my furniture (again) and dig through what’s lying around :O)
What a cool way to recycle! You gals are so creative!
I think you could of hung the umbrella the other way as well! But it does really soften up that corner.
I like the dresser and the pillow you put on the chair but I’m not sold on the parasol or wire basket on the light. I’m a fan of lights not being so blindingly bright and without a shade the light is just too stark and bright for my tastes.
Sherry – Do you happen to know the colour Katie used for her bedroom wall? It looks similar to yours, but am just confirming!
Thank you!
Oh – and BTW – what a lovely result!! I enjoyed the post :)
Great post! Two questions: 1.) what is the paint color in Katie’s bedroom (same as yours?) and 2.) are the legs on the Dolce chair dark brown or black? I’m wondering, because I might get one for my bedroom, too! I need a place for clothes-tossing :)
Hey Megan & Ficopresley
We can attest to the fact that the Dolce Chair legs are deep brown and oh so lovely. Hope it helps! As for Katie’s bedroom wall color it’s actually Valspar’s Sage Bud (very similar but a bit more blue and saturated than ours). Happy painting…
xo,
s
Love it!! And I followed the link to watch your video from doing table settings with Katie. That was sooo cute! You guys make it look so easy :)
Very creative! It might also look good if the parasol was spray painted to give that corner a pop of color!
What fun! And I’m sure I’m not the only YHL<3 fan who is pea-green with envy that the Bowers get to hang/have decorating fun with the Youngsters. Maybe you should start a traveling show?
Check this out! Even in Walla Walla – you’re gettin’ the love….
http://blogs.ublabs.org/fromthestorageroom/2009/07/22/young-house-love/
Thanks for the heads up, Tara! We’ll have to check it out. Fun!
xo,
s
OMG, I love the parasol! Super fun way to add some texture! And it’s also super cool that when I hovered over “dolce lounge chair” (too see the link at the bottom of my browser) a little window popped up immediately with a picture and the price. Amazing! Ok, I’m a dork, but I thought that was sooo cool!
I love when you do posts like this – it keeps your blog oh so interesting and we all love seeing bloggers come together. I have always loved the curtain behind the bed with the trim, it really makes the room so soft and relaxing.
Im in love. yet again. You guys never cease to amaze me!! At first before i finished reading your post i thought you were going to connect two of them together making like a clam shell ish and use that as a lampshade… but thats probably a way over complicated project for something that just needs a simple solution!
again. I love.
STICK IT TO MY COMPUTER…Please!!
Current computer flair only goes as far as some super cute photos of our corgi pups as a background image. Love the screen shot, but the lap top exterior needs some help!!!
I’m in love with her room! I’m also super impressed you found a way to display parasols as I have beautiful ones from my wedding sitting sadly in a corner. I’m going to attempt this myself and I’ll be sure to post photos…
I love this post! I have two paper umbrellas like that and could not think of how to display them. Thanks!
I love this! It’s a simple yet really dramatic mini-make over. More, please!! Can’t you just show up at your neighbors’ houses and redecorate? :)
That turned out fabulous! I have a random question for you! …i bought some old wood furniture that i want to paint and since youre the EXPERT i was curious if its better to use a paint sprayer or a brush to paint furniture? Which looks better? And what type of paint do you like using the most on furniture? (eggshell, semi-gloss etc..) HeLp Me!! :0)
Hey Tenille,
Good question. We always recommend a high quality paint brush unless you have experience with a paint sprayer (if you don’t you’re likely to deal with drips and an uneven application in the end). So if you’re well versed with the paint sprayer and can get an even drip-free coat on there, definitely go with that. And if you’re not, a good paint brush with thin, even coats (and lots of drying time between them) is sure to produce professional results (it’s how we’ve painted every piece of furniture in our house). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
i loooovvvee this post! tiny changes with big and beautiful results! this is definitely inspiring me to find something you wouldn’t expect to use as decoration. i especially love what you did with the bare lamp.
Thanks for the step-by-step. I really like the lampshade and parasol wall art especially–in my experience (and as my wife always reminds me) using materials in ways they were not intended to be used generally yields interesting results!
What a fun visit you girls had! Love how you switched things around in Katie’s room! Thanks for the link to that awesome slipper chair! I totally want one! Can’t wait till my husband gets home tonight to convince him we need a slipper chair! Quick question – where did Katie buy her bedroom furniture!?! I love it and I WANT it! I’ve been married for 8 years and we have been waiting to buy the perfect bedroom set!
~ Ali