Back in January I mentioned that after 2 and a half years I finally decided to tackle our "master bedroom". It isn't really a master, its just got the better windows than the other bedroom, there is no on-suit or walk in closet. But hey, saying it's a master bedroom makes me feel a little grown up :)

Anyway, I was finally ready to make this room be a place I enjoyed. We had moved furniture around multiple times and I had even painted the walls but I never attempted to make it look like anything special. With a few minor tweaks and a teeny tiny budget I was able to take our hodge-podge college-esque room and make it feel like adults live in it.

The first part of that revamp involved figuring out a space to put all of our clothes and shoes. Like I said before there is no walk-in closet so I have the one closet in the room, Reed has the one in the guest room and before we had a metal rod that Reed hung his work clothes on. Not so pretty....

These built-ins where a hassle because we didn't really plan super well, but they are a god send now!! (Just check out this before picture... ugh horrible.)

After we got the built-ins in place I realized I needed a new bedside table. I just didn't have enough space between the bed and the built-ins. So this lovely galvanized tray turned hanging table was perrrfecct!

Then I needed to make our furniture match. This dresser is one we've had since Reeds high-school days but it was kinda orange and didn't match the stain on the bed or the new built-ins. So I fixed that one lovely afternoon with a can of paint and stain :) Now it may possibly be my favorite piece of furniture in the house.

Last but certainly not least, we got new bedding. I found this lovely ruffle quilt set online, to be honest it wasn't exactly what I wanted. It's more dingy than ivory, but hey it hides Tepes hair and dirty paws quite well :) And now I get to enjoy my room. All the little details fit, and it's a space I feel like belongs to the rest of our house.

It may not be a big room, it may not have a walk-in closet or on-suit, but it fits us well. It's a lovely "first" master bedroom. I'm sure it will be changed again before we leave this house but for now I'm extremely happy and so proud of us for finally finishing moving in after almost three years :)

PS> Check out these links for the posts on each one of the projects that completed this Master Bedroom Revamp!

Vol. 1 -Dresser Makeover

Vol. 2 - DIY Hanging Bedside Table

Vol. 3- DIY Built-Ins

Last weekend I was in my cousins wedding and it was AWESOME! So beautiful, fun, and lots and lots of laughing :) She had her bridesmaids buy these beautiful mint chiffon dresses from Davids Bridal. They were perfect for her Gatsby theme and gave the bridal party that elegant edge we all needed. But, like most bridesmaids, I wasn't sure when I would wear this dress again and started thinking about how I could modify it to fit my personal, everyday, style a little better.

I thought about cutting it short, doing the high low hem line, or even just cutting the lining short for a flirty look. But none of those styles changed my biggest issue with the dress. It didn't really fit. Yes it stayed up and that was all I needed it to do, but the sweetheart neck line kept folding over and it was a bit boxy around my waist. So I decided to chop off the top and attach a fun tank for a more casual maxi dress.

To start I found an awesomely fun tank from Walmart that features a silver snakeskin screen print pattern all over for $3! I then tried on both pieces to see where I wanted to cut the dress and tank.
(You can kinda see in the above picture how boxy the top looked, not bad but not good enough for me to wanna wear it erryday).

Then I pinned the tank to the inside of the dress. Yes I know that usually you do this stuff inside out but I thought I would be able to just cut the top of the dress off and have a fun flirty fringe around the waist of the skirt. I also knew that I needed to keep the zipper intact. The tank was stretchy and could easily be pulled over but the skirt wouldn't fit over my shoulders or my hips with out the zipper. I got hung up on this part for a while but eventually made it through :)

Once I got it sewed all the way around the waist band I cut the top of the dress off, being sure to leave the zipper. I then turned the dress inside out and cut the tank top leaving just a few inches for safe keeping. Then I sewed the exposed zipper to the tank top and then unzipped the zipper and cut the tank down the center. Making it look like the zipper went all the way up the dress. Sadly my zipper didn't reach the top of my tank so I had to add a hook and eye to close the top.

TA DA! Thats all I needed to do! I did a bit of finishing around the edges but once the zipper issue was figured out my dress is now something I can wear on the reg! I really really like it and am surprised with my ability to refashion a bridesmaid dress in to something I may actually wear to another event. There are some issues like uneven stitches, uneven cuts, and yeahhh its a little crooked. But for a first time refashion project I think it looks pretty good! And if I need it to look real fancy and not so "handmade" I can just through on a belt and Wah La it looks professional :)

Here are a few images that show how it fits now.

Do you have any dresses in your closet that need to be refashioned in to something a little more usable? I've got a couple other dresses I may try to play around with, this one has certainly given my confidence a boost :)