Blue and White Summer Master Bedroom

Do you like to give your bedroom a refresh for summer. I do. After several weeks of transition and projects, we have a fresh crisp look in our blue and white summer master bedroom.

I know that it is halfway through June, but our summer master bedroom update is finally complete. It was a work in progress for several weeks, with several starts and stops.

Our summer master bedroom journey actually started before Easter. Yes, a looong time ago!

I have my excuses: a trip to Atlanta, a trip to Kansas City, multiple blog hops and Pinterest- Inspired Challenges and Memorial Day and DIY Challenges, and a backyard update.

The list goes on and on.

I’m so excited that our summer master bedroom is complete for us to enjoy, probably through September.

I can now share it with you. It’s a good story, a blue and white story, a never stop dreaming story. A story to sleep the night away. Let’s start at the very beginning.

Finding the Theme for our Summer Master Bedroom

This bedtime story starts right before Easter. As we know blue comes in all shades. And there is no better way to add interest to any room than with color, pattern, and texture.

I had given our bedroom a warm and cozy winter white look in January, and I was thinking about a new look for the warmer months.

I could have brought out our usual comforter and pillows.

Here is what our bedroom looked like in the past for spring and summer and our spring bedroom.

By the way, the yellow pillows are now on our living room sofa, the blue throw pillows are upstairs in one of the guest rooms, and the pale sage green shawl is on a hook with my other warm-weather shawls.

For this summer, I wanted a crisp, clean refresh. Some things would definitely not change:

• our bedroom walls are a soft blue  – Sea Salt by Sherwin Williams (We used Benjamin Moore paint.)
• our bed skirt is a plaid of blues and yellows
• our drapes, padded fabric headboard, and bench cushion are all in shades of yellow
• our white quilted comforter from Bed, Bath & Beyond

The best option would be to stick with a theme in the blue tones. Since I love blue and white – who doesn’t? – those would be color choices for my summer master bedroom.

Our Summer Master Bedroom Plan

Since I knew what would stay, what could I do that would provide the blue and white theme, be something I could make, and not be super expensive?

• new bed linens
• new throw blanket
• rearrange accessories

And here is when a chance stroll down the fabric aisles at Joann revealed the spark of inspiration for our summer master bedroom. You know when you see “the thing” that just grabs you and won’t let go? It was this buffalo check blue and light cream fabric. The perfect shade of summer blue.

Buffalo check in blue and light cream? It had me at hello. I stared and touched and ran my hands over the fabric. I was smitten.

But did I immediately buy it? No, this purchase needed some thought, some contemplation – dare I mention prayer?

At $60 a yard, it wasn’t the most expensive fabric I had ever bought, but it was still on the high end. How would I use it? Euros, shams, a throw? I needed to step back and think.

TIP: It is always a good idea to step back and think about a major purchase, except, of course, if you are at a flea market and another person is about to jump on the thing that you love. Then all bets are off. Buy immediately.

Noting that there was plenty of fabric on the bolt (Surely, I told myself no one else is going to come in and buy 40 yards of MY fabric before tomorrow), I went home to consider my options.

Looking through my boxes of fabric remnants, I found one large piece that could work to make a throw. I decided that I needed 1 fabric for 3 Euros and 1 fabric for 2 pillow shams. One fabric would definitely be the buffalo check.

Since the shams would take less fabric and be front and center, I decided to use the buffalo check for them. I measured the shams which were standard pillows. I did some math to determine approximately how much fabric I would need.

The next day, I headed back to Joann.

First thing the next day, I found the bolt of buffalo check and placed it in a cart. Then I looked for a fabric with blue and a pattern that would compliment the buffalo check. I ended up with 4 fabrics.

Have you ever stopped other shoppers walking by for their opinion? I asked everyone standing in line for fabric. It was a clear consensus. We all agreed that the right fabric was the one in the lower right-hand corner of the picture.

Cost:

• The buffalo check fabric (2 pillow shams) was $59.99/yard and I bought 1 1/4 yards. 40% off coupon.
• The patterned fabric (3 Euros) was $13.19/yard and I bought 3 yards. 40% off coupon.
• White grosgrain ribbon $5.99 60% off.
• 2 invisible zippers $4.99 each
• 2 spools of thread $3.99 each

I took my two fabrics and notions home. I was ready to start measuring, cutting, and sewing our pillows.

• Cut out the squares for the Euros
• Cut the rectangles for the shams
• Cut out the strips for the ties
• Pinned all the pieces together

And then it was Easter.

And then the day after Easter, I flew to Atlanta for the week.

And then I came home for 4 days.

And then I went to Kansas City for a conference.

So, finally, in the second week of May I was ready to start our summer master bedroom update.

I should mention that there were summer tablescape blog hops and Pinterest-Inspired projects and backyard updates and Memorial Day tablescapes and DIY challenges. And life. But finally, here is the reveal of our summer master bedroom.

I will show you the actual projects for all the elements of the master bedroom in another post.

Summer Master Bedroom Reveal

The first thing I made were the 3 Euros. I added white grosgrain ribbon as a decorative border and used invisible zippers since I knew that I would be changing these bed linens out seasonally.

Next came the pillow shams. I trimmed them with cording (pre-made) just on the front and left the sides open. I made ties on each side and tied them in a bow. I thought this look added a little farmhouse flair.

I added our boudoir monogrammed pillow that I had made a couple of years ago. The blue stitching was a perfect match.

I decided that I needed a solid throw at the foot of the bed, something to ground the space.

I looked at several stores, brought a couple home, but throws are not big enough and even twin blankets were more $$ than I wanted to spend.

Another trip to Joann (no big deal, I’m there at least twice a week.) and I found a beautiful shade of blue in the fleece area. Very inexpensive and no sewing is required. (I could also use this fabric to cover the yellow headboard.)

To embellish the fleece, I cut fringe at each end. I love how this turned out. I was so pleased how great the blue fleece looked with our bed skirt.

As you can see from this picture, I covered the yellow bench cushion with the large piece of fabric that I had originally planned to use as a throw. I love the pattern and the soft blue looks much better than the yellow cushion.

I had covered the cushion for our winter bedroom and I knew this approach would work. A few pins and tucking and it almost looks like it was reupholstered. And it really completes the blue and white of our new bedding.

We loved having the grey checked pillows as a back for the bench during the winter.

For summer, I used one of my grain stacks (I already had the filler.) as a pillow back and the natural fabric with the blue stripe adds another little farmhouse element and ties the cushion fabric to the solid fleece blanket.

We now have checks, paisley, an abstract floral, stripes and a solid on our bed. Sounds like a lot of different patterns, but I think it works beautifully together.

Accessories for our Summer Master Bedroom

On the console table on the wall across from our bed, I added blue candles (HomeGoods) and my favorite blue ceramic apple (also from HomeGoods from a few years ago).

Next came two small blue pitchers from my April trip to Atlanta. I found those in two different stores right down the sidewalk from each other; the total cost was about $8.

I love how the colors of our Venice scene can go with just about any color scheme, especially the blues.

On the table between our 2 chairs in the bay window, I added a blue stripe candle from Joann (on sale for $9.99). It’s a deeper blue that the others in the room. It was staying.

The white planter with greenery is a natural touch.

A few weeks ago I made a trip to IKEA and found these white ceramic planters and the faux kolache – the most realistic fake plants I’ve ever seen. I wanted more blue, so I painted the pots in a crisscross pattern. (Another project I’ll share.)

I also found these darling white ceramic lamps – I wasn’t even thinking about getting new lamps. I loved the shape and the sweet dotted pattern. They were just $39 each.

Our blue and white summer master bedroom is finally finished. It took far longer to complete than I anticipated back in April, but better late than never.

I haven’t figured out the total cost yet. I will share the DIY projects that I made in a later post. Next year I plan for it to be our Spring Master Bedroom.

Until then, I hope that you enjoyed this tour of our blue and white summer master bedroom. And, hopefully, you gained some ideas for your own bedrooms. I hope that you will PIN this post to share with your friends and as a reference for bedroom ideas.