My Blue Haven

My "blue haven"... My house is so busy and noisy that a mom like me needs a place to go to unwind and recharge: a haven at home. Mine is the master bedroom, and I've been working more to make it a calm and restful place. I love the color blue, which is supposed to be one of the most relaxing, so I've been adding new blue accents in the past few weeks. In this post, I'd like to share a few ways I'm attempting to create beauty on a budget: tie dye, chalk art, rearranging, thrifting, refurbishing furniture, and hanging pictures.

My daughter and I made tie dye t-shirts a few weeks ago (see Tie Dye Radiance), and I had extra dye left over. I decided to make a panel to mount on foam board and hang right behind my recliner. The back of the chair kept gouging the wall, so this covers the damage and protects the wall, as well as decorating the room!

This particular fabric was so resistant to the dye!

I had to work the color into the cloth with my hands, which stayed blue green for days.

Rinsed and washed, it faded to a mellow aqua.

Later, I decided to make a coordinating panel in a darker color. This time after I put on all of the rubber bands, I popped the fabric into a gallon size bag, added the dye, sealed it up, and worked the liquid in.

I found this blue recliner chair on sale for $70 at the Christian Sharing Center. It replaces a pink one bought at Salvation Army last year, but that my kids broke by sitting sideways. (I also found a nice china cabinet for $35. See here: Autumn Decorating 2015.)

The new-to-me furniture was a birthday present to myself. My little girl, knowing how much I like tie dye, picked out this balloon for me.

I used to have a tall bookcase between my recliner chair and my desk, but I kept bumping into it so I moved it across the room. This gave me room to move the bulletin board over to the right.

While I had the bulletin board off the wall, I took the time to refresh it. I removed everything, picked out new items, arranged them just so, and tacked them on the board. When my new granddaughter Lyla is born (probably this next week!) I'll take off that chalkboard from it and fill in that space with baby pics!

This is actually a vinyl pouch designed to go in a notebook. I've got it hanging on the wall for when someone wants to leave me mail or other papers and not get it lost on my desk, which is usually messy.

Blue lamp, blue stapler (stands vertically), blue mouse, blue accents...

The tall one is my coin jar. Shhh. Don't tell my kids.

This encouragement hangs next to my desk.

I visited the Pastiche Home Market decor store where they sell vintage and refinished furniture and accessories. I bought six blue knobs for my desk since the old knobs were falling off and ugly. I needed seven, but I temporarily made do with a white one for the top middle drawer. Later, I found a seventh almost matching knob at Adjectives Unhinged.

Lovely, yes?

A mini metal chalkboard for my desk reminds me to think of what I really want in life - so I can get busy working toward it! I FB messaged my sister this pic today, and she answered it for herself, "I want you to come help me do my bedroom!" I sure wish I could take a trip to Maryland to see her!

I love the vibrant colors of soft pastels for my chalk art. I have two sets! (All of these posts have chalk art in them!)

I created this board months ago, but it sat in my closet for a while after I first had it up. I had to touch up the letters and dust around them. What do I really want? In my challenging season of life, I want courage that is calm, creative, and cheerful.

Unfortunately, the board didn't have anything to hang it from on the back. I thought for a few minutes and decided to make a hanger from a piece of duck tape. I folded the middle to make a flap to hang on the nail. Voila! (Note: the tape came loose from the board the next day, after I posted this. I put it back up with LOTS more tape on it.)

Now it's by my bed where I can see it when I wake up or as I'm preparing to sleep. 

I had a dark blue plaid comforter on my bed for several months, but I brought this one back out since it fits the lighter blue spectrum. It's so comfy. It was a hand-me-down that I had to repair, as you can read about here: Refresh and Renew: Quilt and Pansies.

The bedside table (recently brought home when clearing out a storage unit to save money) has a handy drawer for my morning and evening medicines, protein bars, and other little necessities.

At night, I lay my glasses and phone on a soft blue padded box on my headboard shelf.

My little girl gave me this mug for my birthday, and it goes perfectly with the perky pad that my friend Lisa crocheted for me many years ago.

My third daughter brought back this small translucent blue glass plate from Bath, England, and gave it to my for my birthday. Perfect color for my room!

Do I look happy with my blue haven? I am!

Do I look different than in the picture near the top of this post? I'm wearing makeup here. With blue eye shadow. :-)

My previous bedroom and desk posts:

• My Bedroom and Bathroom
• Organizing a Little at a Time: My Desk and Bedside Table
• My Cottage Dreams (Why Not Now?)