We all know that adage, “New Year, New Me,” or the other, “Out with the old, in with the new.” However, for the new year, I decided to go with “new year, new bedroom.” My master bedroom is “nice,” but it’s always been missing a certain oomph. When we purchased our home a few years ago, there were all these plans that I wanted to put into action. My major focus, however, was upgrading the kitchen and the bathrooms.
While the bedroom is where I spend most of my waking moments, we decided not to go overboard in terms of buying furniture, etc. I’ve always been a big fan of IKEA®, and I’m always amazed at their decorating skills and how they’re able to put so many items in a small space and still manage to make it look exquisite. Since our focus was our kitchen, I had very limited funds to furnish my bedroom, so I purchased their Malm 6-drawer dresser and nightstands in black/brown to go along with the black metal bed that we’ve had for many years. However, this year, I knew I wanted a change. Something different. New Year, New Bedroom!
I originally wanted to purchase brand new furnishings for my bedroom; however, my husband, the penny pincher, said, “Why get rid of them if they’re good? Just spruce them up.” And that’s exactly what I did! With help from O’verlays® that is. O’verlays® can transform your furniture, taking it from drab to fab. I was so excited when I did my first nightstand and got so caught up in the transformation that I almost forgot to get a before photo. Before I show you my transformation, let me tell you all about O’verlays®.
O’verlays® are decorative fretwork panels that come in several patterns and sizes. They are light weight, paintable and easily attach to furniture, doors, walls and glass. Customize your furniture and accessories with O’verlays® or use O’verlays® Kits sized to fit many of IKEA® and other popular furniture.
My bedroom was rather boring. There was a lot of black everywhere, which made it rather dark at times, and it didn’t seem to help much with my mood. This year, I decided that I wanted to make it a little more open and bright. I wanted to add a bit more color without overdoing it. As you can see above, I had a black bed complete with my Malm black/brown dresser and nightstands, and even our lamps were dark. For my old room, I wanted it to remind me of the Caribbean, so I had tropical artwork and a vine floral decal, but I wasn’t impressed.
I did a complete overhaul, but first I had to decide on a color that we could use to complement the rest of the room. Eventually, I decided on blue. When it comes to blue, there is such a wide range of colors to choose from that it was simple to incorporate the range of colors. I also got rid of our bed, which was in amazing condition, I should say, but I wanted something new.
While I wanted white, my husband wanted something darker, so we both compromised and settled on a dark grey leather tufted bed. I also did a his and her side, as I’m into reading books at night, while my husband is the one who hogged the remote. We also wanted to emphasize our family, so we created a photo collage over our bed with the theme “Cherish Every Moment.”
We decided to get O’verlays in Ruby and I LOVE them! Now throughout my excitement, I got so carried away with how easy O’verlays® was to apply and how amazing it looked, that I totally forgot to take a before picture of my dresser. However, you can find my exact dresser on IKEA’s website. My original intent with my dresser was to resurface it to a white finish and then paint my O’verlays® in a tiffany blue color.
Yes, O’verlays can be painted in whatever color you desire. They come in an official white color that you can use on their own, however, if you would like to give them some pizzazz, they can be easily painted. After discussing it with my husband who still wanted a dark color, we decided to leave the overlays white and attach them to the dresser thereby making it a black/white dresser. Now all I have to do is find drawer pulls that will complement the dresser and it will be complete!
It does help to discuss things over with your significant other. I have a habit of changing my mind quite frequently. So what if I decide that I no longer want a blue bedroom? Then the white O’verlays® won’t need to be changed. While you can make the O’verlays® permanent. It all depends on what adhesive you decide to use. Since I wanted a permanent fix, I went with Gorilla Gel Glue, but O’verlays® also recommends using Liquid Nails. They can also be trimmed to your desired size but if you’re looking for custom sizing, that’s also available too.
If you’re looking to spruce up some furniture that you have laying around, or just don’t want to spend money buying new ones, consider O’verlays®. They currently ship not only within the USA but also to Canada and internationally. And for AnnMarie John readers, you can get 15% off your order by using the coupon code ANNMARIEJOHN15. The code is valid for one year, so there’s time to shop, but don’t wait too long, and be sure to tag me and O’verlays® in your updates on social media.
*Note – My dresser and nightstand aren’t completely finished. I’m still looking for the perfect drawer pulls to make them complete. When that’s done, I’ll be sure to update the photos.
