Martha Tip of the Week (2)

A few weeks back I shared with everyone my favorite Martha Tip of Week, well I'm back again. I always love Martha's celver ideas to make life simple and prettier. Of course her tips all always great it was hard to pcik only one tip.

Martha Tip One

Martha suggests using sturdy wood benches and turning them into bookshevles, by stacking them on top of each other. She also suggests using a maxium of three benches and then scewing them together (click on the how to for more information on these benches)

I think this idea and would work really well in a Craft room for books and storage bins. I could also see the bookshevles under a window like in the picture above but in a kids room for books and toys. Another spot for these benches can be outside on a patio or deck - pretty plants could be on top of them, and they could double as a buffet for parties in the back yard. The cool thing about these benches, is they can be painted any color or left natrually rustic. What do you think, could this be a perfect bookshelf solution for your home?

 

Master Bedroom: Layout Ideas

Right now I'm in the process of deciding our Master bedroom layout for our re-do. We have an average size small bedroom for a 1956 house, and not many layout options. My layout options also got reduced when we bought our Craigslist dresser in from the garage, of couse its larger then I thought, oh well. On the plus side once I primed the dresser white from its previous dark brown the dresser appeared to shrink.

I drew some layout designs last night { both with pluses and minuses } to get a better idea of the layout without all the heavy lifting.

Master Bedroom Option One

When you enter our bedroom, our bed (1) would be the main focal point of the room, on each side of our bed would sit our nightstands (3) Since our Craigslist score dresser (2) is large, it fits best on the right hand side of our room, it will also hold our TV, so I prefer it not in front of the window (6). My bench (4) would sit next to our closet allowing me a spot to get ready in the morning. A large area rug (5) will sit under the bed and center the room.

Plus: I like the feeling of walking into our room and seeing our bed, and this layout makes our room look larger
Minus: The dresser might feel bulky to move around the left side of the bed

Master Bedroom Option Two

When you enter our bedroom, it might feel more spacious and airy since the bed (1) is under the window (6) and the curtains would flank the bed. The dresser (2) will be at the foot of the bed, and I will be able to watch HGTV easier (mush to the dismay of Mr. CLH) Our nightstands (3) would be on either side of the bed. However I would no longer have room for my bench (4) next to the closet instead it would be next our dresser (2) Under our bed would be a large area rug (5)

Plus: Again the layout will make our bedroom feel roomier
Minus: i'm not sure how I feel about our bed being directly under the window, and I'm sad our bench would have to move to the other side our bedroom

I also thought about placing the bed on the wall the door opens, but it will make the room appear smaller and we'll have to walk around the bed to enter our room. Which layout to do you prefer # 1 or # 2 ? Have you had similar layout issues with your bedroom?

This weekend I'm be doing so touch up painting in our bedroom and adding molding to make our baseboards tallER & the husband is building our headboard we finally agreed on. I also have a top sercret project for our bedroom, I havn't told him about yet.....