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One Room Challenge Week 5: Master Bedroom Storage & Mattress Update


Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4


One of the biggest components of making this new transformation work is storage — no sense in having everything nice & pretty if it can’t stay that way because there’s no where to put anything. 

Our primary storage — our dressers — are in the closet to that there’s less visual clutter, and then of course the nightstand served as additional storage with 2 drawers. But with the addition to the bookshelf & vanity to the room this presented an opportunity for increased storage if done correctly, or increased clutter if done incorrectly. 

I already had a few baskets that I planned on keeping & using, even if their purpose might change. 

I had a basket for towels and a basket for clothes that are too clean for the hamper but too dirty for the closet, plus a third in a different style for all my tech & recording equipment. The book case is where I would place my tech basket, in addition to books & other styled pieces. 

After much thought and looking around the room, however, we decided to nix the bookshelf altogether — HUGE change of plans — so that every single corner wasn’t being occupied by a piece of furniture. Totally still deliberating on where all these things are going to go now that there’s no shelf but that just tells me it’s time for another purge.

Another big change…

Remember when I had said we were going to use some of the planks from our wall installation to create DIY floating shelves for above the vanity? That totally didn’t happen, and here’s why:

When we moved in, we purchased a pair of photo ledges to create a mini library for our daughter in my then office. When I painted the office last year, we took down the shelves, with the intention of putting them back up — they never went back up! So for the past year, they’ve just been here…in the house…doing nothing. We went so far as to almost donate or just throw them away…but that never happened either.

Knowing that vertical storage is a great alternative to crowding the vanity — make up, perfume, lotions, etc. — while lying in bed, a thought came to me! I could use those shelves & create a curated storage display!

Obviously nixing the intended DIY also meant nixing my idea of gold shelf brackets for a pop of glam, but you know what else I discovered while in bed — we still have gold spray paint from a previous project. My husband reminded me that we had barely used that can so I could totally refresh the gold paint on the vanity and this would be a great mix of chic & cozy!

On the vanity would be acrylic storage, housing the makeup items that I need to access more regularly while  still keeping it looking clean. 

I you haven’t picked up on this yet — a lot of my recent ideas came from lying in bed…specifically on our new mattress!

When we decided to upgrade, we knew we had to improve our sleeping habits. We went with the Alexander Signature Hybrid from Nest Bedding, designed for a firm but not too firm support. This was a perfect sweet spot for what my husband & I needed. And, fun fact: on my recent trip to High Point I got to visit Furnitureland South & test out their Bed Match powered by Sleep to Live, which totally confirmed we picked the right type of mattress.

Based on a whole gaggle of factors — age, weight, sleep position, etc. — the Bed Match recommended a variety of hybrid firm mattresses for us.

It’s now been just over 2 months since we’ve started enjoying our mattress and I can I just say — NOTHING HAS CHANGED! with our previous mattress, around this same 60 day mark is when we really started to think this won’t be our forever mattress, because we weren’t getting the support we really needed to stay asleep. With our Alexander Hybrid, it feels just as comfortable & supportive as it did two months.

I’ve said this before, but with our last mattress, I was patient because some things you buy you have to really live with em for a while to determine if it's a good fit. 

With Nest Bedding, you're granted a 100 day trial to make sure you really give your mattress a chance — which you should with ANY mattress you buy — and so even though we currently feel like we picked a def winner, it’s really comforting to know we still have another month, give or take, to live with our mattress to really make sure it’s the one.

If I had to find one “con” about our mattress is that it’s higher than our previous 10” mattress (our nest mattress is about 4” thicker). I’m reaching here, but the “problem” with this is:

  1. our current bedding, specifically our sheets & duvets, barely dust the top of our platform bed

  2. the already low headboard now looks even lower, bringing up old regret over not previously getting a high headboard bed

Now, to be clear — none of those aforementioned things are ACTUAL cons, so that should tell you how much we love our mattress; BUT they are very real issues that have come up for us. Now I want all new bedding & a whole new bed frame… #firstworldproblems!

While I won’t be running out to replace any of those things any time soon, if that’s the only thing I can find wrong with our mattress, I’ll take it, especially since the added height has also made the bed look and feel more “grown up” — the lower height was very clean & proportioned to the bed frame, but holistically, if never gave me that luxe, adult bed vibe, ya know?

For context —

  • I’m a side to stomach sleeper, while my husband is a back sleeper (who snores, by the way)

  • We both have our own brand of back problems, with mine being lower & his being upper (we’re just falling apart at the seams)

  • Our daughter still occasionally finds herself in our bed, right smack in between us, and ultimately taking over the whole bed

I am so glad we upgraded our mattress before kicking off this madness & mayhem, because while it may just be a redesign — no reno or major cosmetic upgrades — it’s still somehow managed to turn our bedroom upside down; so imagine having the bedroom in shambles AND an uncomfortable mattress!


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