The tale of two windows

Way back in August of last year (yikes, a whole year ago!?) I started taking about wanting to give my master bedroom a makeover. We didn't have money for me to take on any new projects until October, at which point I posted that I had started painting and working on curtains. Well believe it or not (after all, its only been a year), I've actually made progress (well, a little...)!

I did finish painting, and I can't tell you how happy that makes me! I actually enjoy painting. However, painting was just the first step before doing everything else I was wanting to do... so I was anxious to get it out of the way so I could move on. It's {long ago} done though, which means on to bigger and better things!

The next thing I wanted to tackle was our window situation... we have these two big windows that butt up against each other in the corner, and I've just never known what to do with them. At one time I attempted making a roman shade (not bad for my first attempt) but it just didn't look the way I had hoped, so I never made the other. We then just hung up a dark curtain over the other to block out light, and left it at that. (You can see the "before" photo was an afterthought... seeing as half the walls are already painted in this picture!)

 
Beautiful, right?
I know you're jealous.

 These windows are so awkward! I love the idea of something open to let natural light in, but the reality of living in a condo: our bedroom window looks out on our neighbors front door. Talk about awkward! So we never leave our shades or blinds open, because that is just too weird for us. I'm not exactly a private person most of the time, but I don't really need complete strangers looking in on the bedroom I share with my husband.

I envisioned frosting the windows somehow... but I was having trouble finding a good way to do that so that it would neither look tacky, nor be anywhere in the realm of expensive. It took some time but I finally settled on frosted contact paper. I didn't know how well it would do, but it was only about $7.00 to do the windows, so I considered it worth a try. There's a slight pattern/texture to it, but in person you really don't notice it.

I very meticulously cleaned each window pane and wiped it down with a lint free cloth, and then I just lined up the contact paper making sure there was some overlap anywhere it met the frame of the window. After that I carefully used a box cutter to trim exactly along the edge of the window frame. As I wanted this to be as permanent as possible, and since our windows are old and needed to be resealed from the wet Washington weather, I then used clear caulking all around the edge to seal it in place. It takes time and patience to make sure everything is lined up and that there are no air bubbles... but it was so worth it!

After that it was just a matter of putting together the things I've been collecting over the last year or so. My thoughts were to turn this into a little reading corner but now that I'm pregnant, expect it will be more of a rocking/nursing corner. 

When I changed Matthew's nursery into a toddler bedroom, I moved the rocking chair into the corner. That's right, that big comfy chair is a rocker! It was my one big purchase that I really wanted when I was pregnant last time... and thank you to my Grandma for giving it to me! It has been used endlessly, and I'd buy it again in a heartbeat!

I also had this lovely chandelier waiting to be hung, it was a birthday gift last December from my mother-in-law Kathy. Isn't it pretty? Just what this room needed (although my husband might disagree, but he eventually gave in and let me have a pretty light).

It lets off such gorgeous shadows when turned on, I love it! 

And here is the (nearly) finished corner of our bedroom...

A far cry from where it started, am I right? You can see I'm in the middle of something with the curtains, but that is a post for another day (mostly because it's not finished yet...). The frosted windows have been amazing. SO glad I did it! I finished them about 6 months ago, and they have held up beautifully - especially considering the wet months we've been having this year. I love waking up in the morning with the soft light coming in through the windows... no more cave for us!

That brings you nearly up to speed as to what's been going on with my little master bedroom makeover, I lost my job a while back and so my very tiny budget for projects went down to nothing. I'm happy to say though that I'm working again... between that and being out of the first trimester (the doggedly tired trimester) of my pregnancy, I'm started to get back to doing things. I've got finished curtains and a new headboard in my sights... hopefully there will be a post on those soon, and by soon I don't mean next summer!