Are you saying you have a new bedroom set? Can we see it?
Dee

Do you have a pic of the window(?) wall?

Here is a picture of the window wall, i don't have tie backs so the curtains stay closed all the time.

No we don't have a new bedroom set, I don't even know what to buy. Decorating is something that overwhelms me.

Okay, sorry, I thought you had a new cream bedroom set. After re-reading, I see that you meant bedspread set. So, I have a few more questions.

Do you have any inspiration photos of what you like?

What color would you like the room? There's a lot of really pretty lavenders right now, if you like purple, and that would very nice with your new cream set.

Do you want new furniture, or do you want to paint what you have?

Do you intend to keep the carpet or are you replacing it?

Getting an idea of how much work you want to put into the room, and what you intend to replace, and what your vision (even if it's vague) is for the room will help others help you obtain that vision.

There is so much talent here that can help you make a beautiful room for your new marriage.

And, believe me. I understand the need for complete darkness during the day; DH worked nights for many years.

Dee

Hi Holly, I would start by painting the bedroom a warm cream to bring a little romance to your MB~the dark color is too dreary to make any sparks fly, LOL, at least IMO.

Do you really need black out drapes or could blinds be enough? You might have standard size windows and be able to purchase them right off the shelf at Home Depot or Lowe's. If you still need more darkness you could add sheer curtains under the blinds, and pull the blinds up when not in use. Blinds could be white, sheers ivory.

Would you or DH object to painting the baseboards, window/door trim, and doors white? That alone would brighten up the room.
IMO, those are the main things you need to concentrate on to bring some life to your MBR. Are you trying to stay within a certain budget? It isn't as hopeless as you might think, Holly, just a little work/effort. You definitely came to the right place. ;o)

Dee I believe she was talking about the bedding. I think what I'd do is paint the walls a warm creamy white or soft gray to match the bedding. It looks as though your carpet is gray so the gray might work better.

Though I'd normally not suggest painting nice wood furniture, it could be something to think about. A satin black would give it more of a contemporary look.

Well that's what I get for chatting and forgetting to post my message. Sorry

What do the windows look like if the curtains are open? To the floor, or shorter?

Would you consider filling the entire inset window area with curtains? If you are seriously never going to open the curtains, what about moving the chest with two mirrors over to the niche (still filling it with curtains - from end to end). Do you really need two mirrors? Chest nest to bed could move to wall where mirror/dresser is now. Or put the taller chest in the window/curtain niche.

Use the round table for a night table on far side of bed and get something for other side. Pair of lamps (can mix or match).

Paint wood furniture, if not getting new. Carpet going? Painting walls is a given. Add crown moulding.

Don't they make "blackout" drapes in different colors? I know I saw a plain white blackout curtain at Bed Bath and Beyond. If you found some drapes you liked, you could always get a double rod and hang the blackout curtain behind the others.

As for the furniture, if you are planning on getting rid of it, you might try staining it first, a dark espresso maybe? And get new more modern hardware for it. Here's a link that might help:

Here is a link that might be useful: Gel Stain

Finding out more about the direction you want to go will help us.

I think the window area could look better if you mounted a longer curtain rod along the whole outter part of the wall and the curtains completely covered that cut out.

The furniture you have would look nice painted or stained. You could even add new hardware or spray paint the existing to change the look. Although, painting the walls will change how they look in the room.

Maybe consider getting rid of both the mirrors on the dresser and replacing with a decorative one (maybe round) above or even keep the mirros you have but only use one. That will help update the look.

What color is your carpet? On my monitor it looks green on the one and blue on the other.

Just coming back to this now that I'm finished chatting and can pay attention to what I'm doing.

I drew up a floor plan that might work for you. The bed is moved to the alcove in front of the window. Use two round tables as night stands with the mirrors from the low dresser on the wall above them on either side of the curtains. Oh and push the curtains rods in if you can so they don't stick out so far from the ends of the curtains. Possibly look for a headboard on CL to keep your pillows from falling off the head of the bed. I left the low dresser where it was and moved the tall dresser at an angle to the left of the bathroom door. I also added a bench/chest at the end of the bed, but that's not necessary, of course. Oh and the TV can sit on top of the either dresser, depending on where your cable comes in.

You both have equal access to the bathroom too. LOL

The carpet is a lighter blue. We?re both not big fans of it but it?s not really in the budget to replace it right now because we?re planning on putting hardwood floors in the living room and dining room in the next month. The carpet isn?t in bad condition so for now we?re willing to look past it. As far as spending I would like to keep it around $300-$500.

For curtains we first bought some cream colored ones but it really didn?t do much for blacking out. I would like to be able to bring some light in the room but when I try move the panels to the side the whole rod slides so I just leave them down.

I like the idea of re-doing the dresser and I totally agree with getting rid of the mirror, I?ve been after my husband to take them ugly things off. I?m not quit sure how to re-finish them though, I?m not one for doing long tedious jobs. Is there a simple way of stripping? I would like to get rid of the tall dresser by re-doing the walk in closet but I?m scared it won?t be enough room.

I hate those two round tables but right now we need it for the TV but we are planning on getting a new Flat screen TV to put up in the corner (so I can actually see the dang thing in bed) but again with doing the floors and the baby due in July who knows when we?ll get one. Maybe they wouldn?t look so bad with some sort of new material?

I think painting the walls a cream like the comforter would be nice but would I go a little darker or lighter? As far as the white scarf the obviously isn?t going to work anymore and I?m assuming neither is the picture?

As far as trim I don?t think we?ll be changing it to white because all the trim and doors on the first floor are the same color stain.

Congratulations on the upcoming new addition to the family.

The dressers look like they are in good condition so if you don't like doing long jobs than I'd leave them and since you're pregnant it's not a good idea to be messing with anything like that. Not that most of it is healthy for anyone at anytime.

As for the round tables I think new covers can make a big difference. If you can sew I like the ones found in the pattern linked below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Christopher Lowell Rnd Tbl Cvrs

I'd get 2 skinny panels in cream and put one on each end of your curtain rod. It would add to the current setup and tie in the bedding. I think cream colored headboard would also work and maybe even a cream colored ceiling. You can repaint a headboard from freecycle or CL for a great effect or even cover with fabric.

One note: I am very sensitive to light when I sleep and tried using a sleep mask several years ago for the first time. They are amazing and do wonders no matter what time you sleep. Even the glow from the vcr or alarm clock would bother me before, yet now, nothing bothers me and I sleep better than I had my entire life. I also paired it with a sound machine I had started using a few months prior and found that is the perfect combo to signal to my brain it is time for sleep. I have read that mice who sleep with lights on, the same amount of time as those without, weigh more and have a higher incidence of cancer. It is something to do with melatonin. I buy my sleep masks from Amazon.com and have tried a few brands (I like to keep back ups, just in case and for when they are drying from being washed). Also, the straps wear after a while, so I am on my 3rd kind (trying it tonight for the first time) in 5 or so years. I read reviews each time and have not gone wrong with any of the ones I bought (different styles).
If anyone is sensitive to light or sleeps during the day, even for the occasional nap, I can't recommend them enough. They are in the movies as a cliche, but in real life, they are amazing. The very first one I bought was in a local pharmacy and was a really cheaply made one. It blocked out light except for what sneaked in around my nose, surprisingly a lot, and the straps let it slip around my head because they were not adjustable. I was still grateful for how it was better than nothing and did not know any better. For Valentines Day, dh did some research and found some online and had me choose any one I wanted. I went with one for something like $7 and he was disappointed I did not pick one fancier/more expensive, lol. It was one of the most thoughtful gifts I ever got and I still think of him when using one. You don't need to spend a lot, but get the kind that works best for your face and how you sleep.

Here is the cheapest way to make that room look good:
Since you are stuck with the light blue carpet for now, paint the walls the same light blue as the carpet, and the color should be muted, not bright, toned down, a bit grey. Then add a floral wall paper border at the ceiling line with blue flowers and other pastel colors. Then paint all the doors and trim white. Then place an inexpensive duvet cover over the comforter in light blue solid or light blue floral print, and add a white dust ruffle, you can get that at Amazon. Change the window treatment to any version of white/light blue, and back it so that it does not let light through, sheets make great inexpensive drapes. Get the carpet cleaned and add a pastel blue/white/pink area rug. Keep the dressers they way they are they are fine. You also need a bigger bed, preferably king sized, with a headboard and a pair of night tables. Best to learn to garage sale everything, or even better yet trash sale, like I do, you never know what you will find. Best of luck to you.

Here is a link that might be useful: sample bedrooms

Here is idea #2 - Purple/grey:
Keep the purple/grey wall color. Keep the dressers. Keep the black window treatment. Keep the wood door and mold finish. Remove the blue carpet, and replace it with dark grey commercial grade carpet, it is about $10. a yard. If you cannot afford the new carpet, lift the blue carpet and find out what is underneath it, the plain floor could be fine. If it is grey concrete, clean the concrete and put polyeurethane on the concrete as a shiny finish, and add a dark area rug in purple/grey. Then add a duvet cover over the comforter in grey, with a grey dust ruffle.

Here is a link that might be useful: Red and grey bedroom

"I tried putting a pretty picture and scarf with the thought the room would be black and white but for our wedding we got a beautiful set that is more of a dark cream color so now I want to work around that....."

Here's the color scheme you really want - BLACK

Paint the walls AND ceiling plain BLACK, flat finish. Carpet the floor in black, or if you cannot afford it paint the bare floor black with floor and porch paint. Here's the part that costs some money - you need a king sized bed with a headboard in black, or paint one black, and the other furniture needs to be black also, so hit the garage sales. The bed has to be a platform with a solid base, because around the base will be strip lighting. The ceiling fan gets changed to one single down light. Then you add mirror, which can be on one wall, from 30" high up to the ceiling, and/or hang a large mirror with a wide metal frame above a dresser. The lighting for this room is at the floor line and indirect. The room gets it's lightness from the comforter, and shiny metal trim on the furniture, and the mirror. Best of luck to you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Black color schemes

I really like the bedding and yes, BBB sells a blackout lining meant to be hung under curtains. Not inexpensive, but effective. Also, you might want see if you can fit some pillow shams into the budget to give the bed a little more presence. Really want to see how this comes out. I think it will be beautiful!

Miss_trapper, I wouldn't click on the links in braider's posts (seems to be SPAM).

Paint alone will make a huge impact in your room. BTW, what color is your ceiling? It looks dark but I can't tell if that's just the lighting or if it really is charcoal color.

As it is now, you are decorating around the blue carpet and a comforter that don't flow well together. Are you sure that there isn't hardwood under the carpet? It would be another huge improvement to remove the carpet. Regardless, if you like the comforter and want to work around that, I'd probably paint the walls a creamy color the same as or just a bit darker than the cream on the comforter.

I'd also get familiar with Craigslist if you have it in your area so you could possibly find an inexpensive headboard and/or nightstands that will work with what you already have.

Congratulations on your pregnancy! It will be nice to have a "haven" in your MBR when you're farther along!

You've received lots of ideas here - but you are trying to freshen your room on an understandably tight budget. So, learn to love paint!! That's what's bringing the room down. Pick a rich cream with the very slightest hue of blue in it (since you don't want to replace the carpeting now). Paint the ceiling, too! Make sure that the dust ruffle reaches the floor...and if necessary, add a black trim along the bottom to make the length correct. Take down the scarf (it doesn't add anything) as well as the calla lily picture (might be able to use it in the room elsewhere - later). Be on the hunt for a more substantial lamp for next to your bed - and also one for the dresser. And it's not that hard to remove the mirrors - and see how it looks with just one. As to the window treatments - just adding cream panels - full ones - to both sides of the blackouts would help make them feel richer. And, just propping the bed pillows up against the wall would give you a more finished look - maybe even adding a black toss pillow or two would make it look dressed up.

Maybe once one mirror is gone from the dresser, you could try the TV on the dresser and lose the little round table. If necessary to keep it on the round table, a black skirt would help make it look 'not so fragile'.

Just keep in mind that when decorating, especially on a budget, keep the big things in hues you can live with. Meaning: you might want to change the bed covering down the road and you'd already have the 'bones' in place to do just that! I think once you get rid of the purple, you'll instantly feel calmer.....which is where you should be at this time in your life. Congratulations on adding to your family. Good luck.

I really think the biggest impact is going to be bringing in more light and brightening things up. I would definitely paint the walls a warm cream as suggested. I would err on darker than the bed coverings rather than lighter but then again I would definitely paint the trim white. If you are against painting the trim white then I might err on lighter for the walls. The next thing I would do is get a new drapery rod that mounts to the edges of the window alcove so that you can keep the curtains all the way open during the day to let some light in. If you need privacy, maybe some sheers that can stay closed with the black out drapes pushed to the side during the day. Or even roman shades/bamboo shades that allow the light in. If in the budget, I'd add crown molding and a head board.

Thank you for all the great advice. I will have to post pictures as the room progresses!

miss, there should be little screws on the brackets of your drapery rod. If you tighten these your rod will not slide around. HTH

Dorothy

Well, my 2cents! I would not paint the trim-it will chip unless you sand all the wood very well before painting-trust me. I would paint the walls a creamy beige. No borders or paper, just a warm beige to match the bedding. Paint stores can match almost any color. Bring a swatch if you can. I would add beige black-out curtains between the black panels for some added interest and move the rod holders out so your drapes can cover the whole rod. You could put a little double sided tape around the ends of the rods(just to the finial) if them slipping is a problem. Put your pillows on top of the comforter-buy plain black pillowcases if they don't match now. For a quick fix for your tables get beige table cloths and top the with large black fabric squares. I like justgotabme's furniture arrangement. I think painting the furniture a satin black would be fabulous(when you have the time, LOL!) Country Curtains has Lenoxdale Toile, a pattern similar to yours. You can see it on their website. If you do not want to move your bed, a bigger picture above the bed would look better. And open the drapes! Daylight is so uplifting!

The color that comes to mind when I saw your bedding is BM Shaker Beige on the walls!

I agree with the others about a lighter paint color on the walls. I really think as long as you keep the blue carpet, the present bedcovers just aren't going to do it. Places like Overstock.com have great deals on comforters and bedspreads. I've forgotten how to post pics, but there was one in particular, you might want to check out - the "Embroidered Leaves 8-piece Chocolate Brown Comforter Set." The set is quite lovely, (brown with light blue accents) has many good reviews, and even comes with the large eurosham pillows. Would really give some "oomph" to your room. Total cost: $99. If that's not in your budget and you really need to keep your present comforter, I would accent with euroshams and decorative pillows that are similar to the blue in your carpet.

Good luck with whatever you decide. Can't wait to see how it all turns out.

I think we've decided on using the floor plan justgotabme drew and the idea of panting the walls a cream is kinda what we were thinking to begin with. I really like our comforter set so even though the carpet is blue I'm willing to just pretend it's not capret until we get a different color (and no there is no hardwood underneath, the house is only 5 years old). My husband really likes the idea of re-doing the furniture but he's not sure how to strip it without having to sand everything.

I'll be watching this thread! I'm about to start my own master re-do. Is it wrong that I'm so excited we have the same dresser and mirror? Our master is pretty dark too - we have a lot of trees on our property that block the sun.

Good luck with your project! It sounds like you are getting some great advice!

My two cents. I agree with the previous post re: cream curtains to flank the existing ones. Then I would put a darker cream/khaki. Black, cream, and khaki scream classic/universal to me. And it makes a great canvas for black and white artwork, etc. I would also suggest you do one of three things with your current curtain hardware:

1. Leave as is, and allow the flanking cream panels to take up the rod space that is exposed now. In fact, what fabric is your bedding? Is it anything like linen? If so you could do $4 dropcloths for panels.

2. If you're going to keep your black curtains and not add anything, either move the brackets in and shorten the overall rod so that the finials just protrude from the rod pocket, or...

3. Well, I lied. There is no 3. :) I was thinking you had tab tops but you don'tm, you have rod pocket. If you had tab tops I was going to suggest moving a tab or two to the other side of the bracket so that your curtains took up the entire longer rod length.

The goal would be to cover or remove the exposed naked rod length. (Umm, that sounds bad...)

The purple sponged walls don't do anything for me personally. Apart from the khaki (think classic Dockers khaki) I could see a very light bluish gray too. Carpet is one of those things that (to me) disappears after a while, so just work with it until you can afford to replace it. Or if you don't plan to replace it, work with it in a more comitted way! :)

A headboard would definitely help. You can get them left & right secondhand. You can also make them out of something as simple as some broadcloth yardage, MDF board and polyfil. Or an old window, or a room dividing screen, or a stencil/vinyl applique, or...

I don't know if it's just your pictures, but it looks like you have two schemes going on. "Black and white" (lilly print, white gauze canopy, tripod table skirt) and "black and cream" (bedding). Is it just the pictures, or is it a mix of B&W and B&C?

I might try the chest angled in the corner where the TV is now, TV on it if possible, and using the tripod table the TV is on now as a nightstand. I think it'll be a more comfortable viewing height, both sides of the bed will get a usable height table, etc.

I would make hubby hang his hat in the closet. :)

You might want to look in the Gallery here, or google, and find a few inspiration rooms. Rooms that really call out to you. Then post and we can help you determine what it is you're drawn to, and how to incorporate those same principles into your space. Without knowing your desired outcome, it's hard to make specific suggestions.

Can we see some of your other/finished rooms so we can get a sense of your overall style preferences? Do any of these strike you as a color combo you can work with? (they're predominantly black and white bedding, so pay attention to the way the wall color & accessories work).

BTW, here's and inexpensive headboard you could DIY. You could even use the calla lilly shape instead, and move your print elsewhere. Just one example.

Your furniture could be painted by your husband in satin black without too much difficulty, and wouldn't require being stripped first. It sounds as though he's interested in tackling that project. What's important is that you paint it first with a good primer, like Zinzer Coverstain base primer, which you can get at Lowes or a home improvement store. Apply two coats, following the directions closely on drying time, etc., and then apply a statin finish kitchen cabinet paint in black. This alone would greatly change the look of your room, and would work well with cream colored walls and ceiling.