kim’s coastal bedroom | the bedskirt & built-ins

by | Dec 15, 2015 | All Things Home, Decorating, home improvement, Room Makeovers, Tutorials, woodworking | 23 comments

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I know lots of you are eagerly awaiting the reveal of my mom’s room makeover.  Trust me…she is, too!  My design services are free, but they aren’t fast!

We have been making some progress, though.  I mentioned before that I made a bed skirt, but I didn’t have a chance to get a picture of it, until this weekend.  (…when we watched the Redskins beat the Bears.  Just throwing that out there.)

 Here it is on the bed…

It really adds a finished look to the bed and a hint of color and pattern in the neutral space.  The fabric is Adelaide Mist from Sailrite.

I wish I had made a tutorial of the skirt, but I flew through it to get it made for my mom’s birthday, so I could present it to her when I took her out to dinner a few weeks ago.  It involved lots of hemming and ruffling, I’ll tell you that, and it took four yards of fabric, so it is full and heavy.

I had the blue pillow already and I sent it home with my mom for her to see how it worked on the bed and we really like it.  It’s sticking out a bit at the moment, but we’ll add some more blue accents, which my mom really wants.  I am going to make a small bolster out of the floral fabric to go in front of the blue pillow to tie things together a bit more.

My parents also picked up their newly slipcovered chair and it looks great.  We’re going to look for a throw for the back, just to add some color.  My mom was commenting how white everything is right now, but that’s because we’re still building the foundation of the space.  It’s the accessories that will bring in more warmth, personality and color.  Since we’re going coastal, we needed to start at a soft, neutral, serene place.

And I’m just loving the wall color.  It’s just a whisper and it feels so fresh.

My dad and I started working on the built-ins last week.  There is so much math involved that it makes my head hurt!  I lassoed Jeff into helping me put together the cut list, because it had to be exact.

And my gifting lies more in the area of estimating.

He also helped me with cutting all of the pieces, so my dad and I could just build.  (I’m pretty comfortable with power tools, but I’m a total weeny around the table saw.)  We cut all of the pieces to our measurements and then labeled and taped them in bundles, so we (I) wouldn’t get confused during assembly.

Well, I still spent quite a bit of time staring quizzically at the bundles, so there was some confusion on my part, but we got it sorted out.

The first task was to build the face frames.  This is the front of the cabinet or shelves that hide the plywood edges and make everything look nice and finished.

Building the face frames was pretty simple.  I set them on the work surface and made marks where we wanted to drill the pocket holes to screw them together.

The pocket holes were always on the ends of the horizontal pieces, so they screwed into the vertical pieces.

The key to this kind of joinery is the Kreg jig.  We have a Kreg table and it makes building projects like this so simple. (This isn’t a sponsored post, by the way, but it will sound a bit like a Kreg commercial.)

You just put the piece in, clamp it and pull down the handle.  It drills a perfect pocket hole, so the screw can be inserted at just the right angle.

We clamped the vertical pieces to the workbench, so we could screw the horizontal pieces in.

Building the face frames went pretty quickly and without event.

The cabinets, though, were a bit more of a challenge.  I realize you might think that my dad and I together would be really good at this, but neither of us have built cabinets before.  I’ve been Jeff’s assistant and my dad has done some tinkering, but this was definitely the blind leading the blind sitaution.

The nice thing is that we’re very similar.  We both think done is better than perfect.  We both can improvise and be flexible when we realize we made mistakes, miscalculated or messed up.  Which we did.

Jeff is the “built-in man” in our family and he is a perfectionist.  Often times, my primary job as his assistant is to convince him not to throw away what he just made!

The first cabinet would’ve been chuck-worthy if Jeff had been in the room, but my dad and I kept taking it apart and putting it back together, fixing our errors.  We would laugh and comment that Jeff, who my dad sometimes refers to as “the reverend”, wouldn’t approve of our improvisation or the seams that weren’t perfectly flush.

It took us about 85 minutes to make the first cabinet and then 15 to make the second one, because the first one was our guinea pig.  We were slowed down quite a bit because we had to recut the sides, because of a miscalculation on my part, we screwed the face frame on inside out and by the time it was all said and done, had to take the cabinet apart and put it back together again about six times.

Despite all of the kerfuffles, the result was two finished base cabinets!

I nervously showed my first building projects to Jeff when he got home that day…

…and despite some imperfections, “the reverend” approves.

If you’d like to catch up on Kim’s Coastal Room Makeover Series, you cans start here…

Part 1 | the concept

Part 2 | the before pictures

part 3 | selecting a wall color

part 4 | the walls & built-in plans

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    23 Comments

    1. Toni

      I am really loving how you are demystifying everything!!! Thank you for doing this!

    2. Jessica @ Dear Emmeline

      Can’t get over how pretty the wall color is! It’s fun to see everything coming together.

    3. Marian@CMShawStudios

      Good for you guys! Nothing like pushing one’s comfort zone and broadening you skill set. Maybe that’s part of why Jeff is in school, so you can grow a bit too. If you guys are gonna outfit a new kitchen or farmhouse some day, it would go a lot faster with two competent builders. Just say’n.
      The Other Marian

    4. SuzyMcQzy

      How about a pretty, maybe metallic monogram on that blue pillow? It needs some sparkle!

    5. April

      Lovely and impressive! The skirt and rug really added a lot of interest and makes the room look so much more finished. I think even my husband will enjoy this post.

    6. Chris

      I love your posts, but … it is so full of “ads and stuff” that it causes my computer to lag all the time when scrolling through. Sometimes the stuff that pays you is just too much stuff to get through. It is really annoying. My computer is only 1 year old so it can’t be that I’m not up with power and speed. This site and one other that I look through does this and it has to be that your site is just TOO busy.
      There should not be more than 30 sec “catching up” delays before I can move on.

      • Miss Mustard Seed

        Chris,Thanks for the feedback. I’ve actually been having some trouble with the site lagging and it’s not necessarily the ads. We’re about ready to work on a revamp of the site to make it faster, more efficient, etc. We’ve been building on this same site for years and it’s time to get things cleaned up a bit. Just hang in there as we’re working on the issue. 🙂

      • Carla

        I have to say I experienced that today also. I usually view on my phone but wanted to see big pictures and it was very frustrating.

      • sandi

        If you install AdBlock (it’s free) you’ll never see ads again that interfere. It’s wonderful…and I do not have a fast internet plan. Works on websites and emails like Yahoo, etc. Good luck!!

    7. Joan Dorrill

      Lovely coastal room, perfect colors and nice texture with the rug.

    8. Joan Dorrill

      Lovely coastal room, perfect colors and nice texture with the rug. Bet your parents will love this for a long time.

    9. Denise

      It is amazing to see how the paint color transforms the room. It is so calm. It is fun to explore into something new and expand the skills.

    10. Beth Bull

      Could you give details about the rug? It looks very soft and pretty. Love everything so far!!

      • Miss Mustard Seed

        Yes, I’m going to share more details on it, but it’s the Petite Diamond rug in Wheat from Dash & Albert.

    11. Carla

      That is a fancy kreg jig! I have a small one I have to use my drill with. Thanks for the update.

    12. Melanie

      Love the wall color and the bed skirt! Please share how you made the bed skirt

    13. Kate

      How did you attach the bedskirt to the bed? For years I avoided traditional bedskirts because of the whole move-the-bedspring-hope-the-skirt-lies-flat thing. Then I realized I could make my own bed skirt from a long strip of fabric and then just staple it on (or if a was really ambitious, use velcro). Such a lightbulb moment.

      I’m like you and your dad with my building projects. Not a perfectionist. However, I always “set up shop” where I’m building and cut on site, to avoid major measuring mistakes. I’m pretty good as guesstimating how much lumber I’ll need. I could not handle all the math involved in pre-cutting!

    14. Laurie

      I love watching this! It’s slow enough to hear my own reactions and questions, which helps me learn more.

      The big white quilt stands out to me, at least at this point. It dominates. I am curious to see if this changes with the rest of the improvements you make.

      My husband is a cabinetmaker and it is not an easy thing to learn! Good work you two!!

    15. Kathrine Springer

      Thank you so much, Marian, for sharing these posts on your parents’ room. I have followed your blog for years and this series of posts has been my absolute favorite! I had just resigned myself to not getting another update before Christmas, and then you surprised me with this one. What a treat! I hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas! ?

    16. Lauren Baxter

      The skirt looks great!! So bright and coastal, perfect match!

      You are both brave for attempting something like that! Great job guys on even doing it 🙂 Glad you got the approval looks awesome, can’t wait to see more 🙂

      Lauren Baxter | Lovely Decor
      xx

    17. Mandy

      I’m finding this whole makeover fascinating as I’m doing my own bedroom at the same time in a very similar colour. My walls are a sligthy stronger shade and I have beige/natural carpet. I’m hoping for a relaxed country cottage feel rather than the ocean that your mum is looking for.
      I’m also interested in knowing how you made the bed skirt, even if you can just write up a brief description it would be appreciated. I’m also really interested to see what lighting you choose as I am struggling a bit with that. Looking forward to learning about layering and adding the personal touches.
      As you can see I’m getting a lot from this series. Thanks for sharing it all with us.

    18. Katie Epperson

      Umm, can we talk about how cute your Dad is?! I can appreciate a man that sports a denim apron (with a cell phone clipped on) WHILE wearing a puffy vest. The man has style! <3

    19. Teresa Ross

      You can cover up anything with a little caulk and paint! : )
      Nice job! We have the Kreg tool also, love it.

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