My Secret Seven Day Bedroom Redo, Part I

(Well, Seven Days + 5,475 More Days)

As I write this, it’s the week of Thanksgiving 2025. My honey will be traveling the week before Christmas and I’ve come up with this crazy plan to secretly make our bedroom while he’s away. (Yes, I did say “make”. I would say make over, but that implies it was ever made and it wasn’t. Isn’t. Like, at all. Not in fifteen years of living in this crappy house. OMG I am so lazy.) This is what it looks like right now…

Totally not made. Not even the bed. Clearly, this is a room that has given up on life. This room answers the door in its underwear.

My Secret Plan

I hatched this plan a couple of months ago when I was browsing Home Goods and came upon this rug:

Pretty, right? It’s super soft, too. I bought it, but, on a whim, decided to stash it at my mom’s house instead of bringing it home because I had a tiny thought. A thoughtlet, if you will. And that tiny thought became an idea. Which grew into a plan. A secret plan. Like a “what if I were to finally make our bedroom pretty whilst my honey is away on his seven day trip” kind of secret plan.

Is This Ridiculous?

It would be a lot of work, but I could do it. I really could! And it would be a Christmas Surprise Miracle! One week to finish repairing and spackling the walls, install window, door, base and crown moldings, paint the walls, paint the ceiling, hang rods and curtains, replace the serial-killer bare bulb hanging over our bed with an actual light fixture… Literally everything. This room has nothing. I could do it!

So I’m doing it! These last couple of months, I’ve been gathering supplies on the sly, buying paint samples, planning logistics and scheduling tasks. I’ve been having deliveries sent to my mom’s house so my honey wouldn’t see them. Secretly sewing a new duvet cover from the sheets I bought three years ago and hid in a drawer. Figuring out how to disable our Ring camera as soon as he boards his flight so he can’t see what I’m up to. Basically, I’ve been lying my ass off. Why? I’m pretty sure the answer is dopamine.

Dopamine: When You Get a Gold Star

When I was a kid, and my parents would go out for an evening, I would clean the living room as a surprise for when they got home. I’d pull out the Pledge and one of dad’s old t-shirt rags and dust the furniture, drag the heavy Electrolux canister vacuum around the carpet, straighten mom’s Family Circle magazines on the coffee table, fold the crocheted granny square afghan over the back of the armchair, fluff the throw pillows… I mean, it wasn’t all that messy to begin with, but… whatever.

Surprise, mommy! 

Now, as an alleged adult, I realize my motivation must have been dopamine. When my parents would walk in the front door and my mom would say, ‘OMG it looks so clean in here! You are so amazing, my favorite child!’, my kid-brain was flooded with happiness. 

Ahhh. Hello, sweet dopamine. Why, yes, thank you. I would love a gold star…

Dopamine: A Good Reason to Blog

I am fairly certain it’s that aspect of my personality that led me to start this blog. The concept: I write about the fabulous projects I finish and you all say, ‘OMG, that looks outstanding! You are so amazing, my favorite blogger!”

The key word there, in case you missed it, was finish. But who’s finishing anything over here? Not me! That’s where the concept falls apart. I actually have to do the freaking projects. Turns out motivation is a problem for me because, despite being a dopamine whore, I’m also an award-winning Gen X procrastinator with a Gen Z attention span.

OK, there’s no procrastinator award, but if there were, my mantel would be full. 

If I had a mantel. Which I do not.

Anyway… What was I talking about…?

Oh, yes. The point of this post. 

WTF is the Point of This Post?

It seems your adoration is not enough to motivate me, but I do believe I have figured out how to hack that childhood personality revelation and make it work for me to get some serious crap done around here in a very short amount of time. Hence the “Secret Plan”. I’m going to make the heck out of this bedroom in a week and my honey is going to walk in the door and say, “OMG! This room looks amazing! Ima marry you all over again!”

Gold.   Stars.   Everywhere.

The Design

This is a mood board of what I’m thinking for this room. I’ve even purchased a lot of these items, so this won’t be like that post from five years ago where I blahty-blah-blahed on about my design for my neglected bedroom and then didn’t do a freaking thing to make it happen. This is happening!

Ceiling Fixture | Area Rug | Similar Table Lamp | Headboard | Similar Sheets | Similar Gold Curtains | Cream Sheers

I’m not set on exact colors, but I’ve got a good idea of what I want. I’ve got samples of some contenders that I will slap on the wall the moment Schmoopy leaves so I can have maximum time to contemplate them. I figure I have three, four days tops to make a decision, which feels impossible right now, given past experience, but this is the beauty of an extreme deadline: no time to procrastinate. (I bet I find time to cry though. I can multitask.) Here’s the short list:

SW = Sherwin Williams, BM = Benjamin Moore

Sealskin will be my trim color. I’m already set on that, as I’ve used it elsewhere in my crappy house and I love it. Google any of the other colors and you will see they look different in, like, every single photo, so I have no idea how they are going to look in my room, but I really hope I love one of them. I don’t have time to mess around. I’ve got less than a week to get some freaking color on these loser walls.

There’s Nothing I Can Do

Color will make the most impact, but there’s soooo much to do before getting to that point. I wish I could get a jump on things– cut some molding or do some spackling, but I really want to make this a total surprise, so I’m stuck in a holding pattern until my honey leaves. There’s nothing else I can get done without him noticing and therefore nothing else I can write about at this point. That’s all on Future Me.

Future Me Sucks

I know what you’re thinking. (Partly because I just wrote it right there above and you can read, but partly because you know me…) Future Me sucks. I’ve promised follow up posts before (I’m looking at you, basement steps, shed, CAMPING…), but this time is different. If you are reading this post right now, then the bedroom is finished. There’s just no freaking way I would tell you about this plan if it failed. I wouldn’t tell you anything at all. (You guys know I’m excellent at not posting.)

So the fact I did publish this post means it’s done. Finito. Mission accomplished. All that’s left is for Future Me to post a Part II. I’m sure she’s busy making that happen for you right now. Writing the words. Taking the photos. Procrastinating the doing. You know. The usual. But, I promise you the bedroom is finished. I bet it looks pretty. We’ll both find out very soon!

(Well, *I* will. You’ll find out soonish. That’s in the hands of Future Me and, as we’ve established, she sucks…)

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