surprise! happy birthday honey

I have a friend who is awesome. She works hard, is tons of fun, and makes her family a priority. She has 3 kids, and when the youngest was just 1, she was called to serve in Afghanistan for a year. I can’t imagine how hard that must have been. Just last night, she told me she would have to miss the planning meeting for our kids’ upcoming school auction, because she had to work late; she was pulling chicken bones out of an 84 year-old man’s lungs! (She’s a pulmonologist). I have to admit, it was the best excuse I’d ever heard for missing a PTA meeting. She has a great perspective on what’s important in life, and I’ve learned a lot from her.

So when her husband asked me back in December to help him to surprise her with a bedroom makeover for her birthday, I could not wait to get started. Here is their bedroom before:

He wanted a place where his wife could relax that had REAL furniture, cool art, and reflected their preferences for simple lines and a mid-century aesthetic. Since I'm a design pleaser and am always up for a mid-century vibe, we pulled in two dressers from this collection at Room & Board. The simple, clean lines and the airy base were perfect for their tastes and the smaller size of the room.

Source: roomandboard.com via Lisa on Pinterest

Even though my clients’ design preferences are far from traditional, I wanted to change the arrangement of the furniture into a more symmetrical layout with the bed under the window flanked by matching nightstands. These hipsters from West Elm were a slam dunk…

Source: westelm.com via Lisa on Pinterest

To soften the straight lines in the furniture, we needed bedding that had an organic quality, but still retained the hip, modern effect we were working toward. This Marimkekko collection was a perfect match.

Source: crateandbarrel.com via Lisa on Pinterest

The husband and I schemed, planned, emailed, and texted for nearly 2 months until we had orchestrated every detail. I stored everything in my garage until the big day when she went off to work, and we got to work! Something we didn’t plan on was 6″ of unexpected snow, but the movers showed, and we made it all happen anyway.

When my friend got home from work, her family couldn’t wait for the big reveal. She walked into the bedroom and screamed! Later she told me she hasn’t been that surprised since her seven-year old birthday surprise party. But even better, she told her husband that it was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for her. Sigh!

If you want to truly love where you live, please contact me about design services.