new bedroom

I really wanted a pink bedroom with pretty wallpaper and a pink chandelier. But after a lot of browsing (both online and out and about) and price comparing, I decided that a pink bedroom will have to wait. For what? I don't know. But wait it will.

So my thoughts turned to white - an appropriate colour for peace, calm and fresh starts, don't you think? My apartment already has nice eggshell-coloured walls and 12-inch-high white moulding around the base of every room so I had an easy space to work within. My furniture is also white - making a totally white room make even more sense.

It was surprisingly easy to create an almost completely white room - white curtains, white duvet cover and pillow shams, white lamp base, white rug and voila. A white room.

The crowning glory of my bedroom is the hanging light fixture. I have a friend who's getting married soon so I have been spending more time than I should on wedding-related blogs. I was loving the idea of clustering paper lanterns for decoration and thought, "Why couldn't I have that in my room?"

Shortly thereafter my (very patient) brother took me around the stores as I scouted out possibilities and ideas. Luckily RONA isn't kidding when they say they have DIY experts because the lighting lady was amazing. She understood exactly what I wanted to do and told us exactly how to do it!

In order to successfully complete my mission, all I needed was a small metal plate, 3 rubber washer-type things, 3 dangling cords for hanging lamps (the kind you plug into the wall) and the lanterns.

Now, I'm not an electrical expert. So this is where my brother took the reins. I'm an idea generator, not a follow-through individual! Stephen drilled 3 holes through the metal plate and inserted the 3 rubber rings into each hole so that the rough edges wouldn't fray the cords. Then, we ("we") cut the plugs off each cord and spliced (is that even the word?) them to connect to the wires dangling out of the ceiling. We ran the cords down, screwed the metal plate into the ceiling, attached the lanterns to the bulbs and... Amazing! My very own paper lantern cluster. I love it. All it took was 3 hours and $75. Not too shabby to have something to smile at every time you walk into your bedroom!

The room isn't complete yet. I still need a headboard and some art on the walls. I also want an analog alarm clock that doesn't tick-tock the heck out of me. Digital clocks hardly hold the same charm. I am also looking for plants for my windowsill, a bigger, fluffier rug and... who knows what else. I'm sure with time things will fall into place.