New look for our bedroom

See this cute little boy? That's Fred in December of 1964. See the couch behind him? That, until this past fall, was our couch (admittedly re-covered a time or 2 in the past 40-something years):



I offer this photo as evidence that Fred and I do not replace household decor on a whim. In fact, the old couch--and the coffee table, too--are still alive and well in our basement family room.

Eight years ago, when we moved to North Carolina for the second time, I went to a linen outlet and bought a comforter set for our bed "for the time being." I liked it OK, and it was an absolute bargain for the price, but it has been getting shabbier and shabbier:



I was looking forward to replacing it with something fresh and new, so a couple of months ago I started looking at my options. Let me just tell you right now--there is an awful lot of UGLY out there in the bedding department! I was beginning to despair of ever finding something I could live with. But then, under a clearance table in a Salt Lake City Dillards, I found my new true love: "Tahitian Breeze" by Studio D--a king-size set for $60 (marked down from $230).

When we got home from Utah, I thought I might contact our local Dillards and see if I could round up the curtains to match. Unfortunately, I struck out at the 3 Dillards closest to me, but a saleslady in Utah was tremendously helpful and called me back with SKU numbers for all the different accessories as well as the phone numbers for stores that might have them in stock.

I started out just looking for curtains, but I got so involved in the thrill of the chase that I started tracking down throw pillows as well. In the end, thanks to 2 Dillards in Montana and one in Colorado, I scored 6 curtain panels for the 2 windows in our bedroom as well as the one in the dressing room ($12.50 each, marked down from $50!!!), 2 European pillow shams, and one pretty little throw pillow. Two other throw pillows got away.

Here is our new, much improved bedroom:



Of course, shopping begets more shopping. I had European pillow shams, but no European pillows, so I had to stop by Bed, Bath & Beyond over the weekend to remedy that situation. And the comforter is much too heavy to sleep under, so I ordered this blanket from Target. And naturally our old sheets, even if they weren't faded and tattered, didn't match the new look, so I had to find sheets at the PX (one set red, one set cream). And our old lamps don't match, so they'll need replacing. Maybe I should get some new pajamas too. It's hard to know when to stop.