Reader Survey Results – And My Bedroom Makeover Plan!

Our big thank you to those who took the 2016 Plaster & Disaster Reader Survey as part of our blog anniversary celebration last week!  I’m not going to do a full run-down of the results because, in the interest of transparency and not-finding-a-new-survey-tool, the results can be seen by just clicking through the original survey (provided you’ve already taken it and the WWW can tell that you are the same person).

However, I do want to share just a few of the things that we learned from it.  For example, we found out that the typical Plaster & Disaster reader is a 25-45 year old who loves DIY, blogs, and the color blue, tolerates rose gold as a replacement for copper, has no idea who we are, and is either good at math or doesn’t care about math at all.

We learned a few insightful and non-intuitive facts things we probably already knew:

• Most of our readers like blogs and DIY… or at least DIY blogs.
• Only 3% of our readers’ favorite colors are Marsala, Rose Quartz, or Serenity… and we are deeply suspicious that the handful of you who made one of those selections were being snarky (which we totally support).
• You all didn’t seem too enthused by any of the options we offered for 2016 trends, but grudgingly agreed that rose gold would be the least painful of the bunch.  (The best write-in answer we got was “republican nominee-themed window treatments”… please identify yourself in the comments for the grand prize of… one of us responding to your comment.  We also made you this picture.)

The biggest bummer for us in the survey was that only 15% of you can tell which of us is writing each post each time, and the largest group of you can’t tell at all.  We will try to do a better job to differentiate our voices or identify ourselves in our posts!  We want you to know who we are.  (This is Naomi, BTW.)

We also asked you to guess which of our partners reads the blog.  By a slim majority… you were right!!  It is Brad who reads the blog – Hi, Brad!  Sam is either playing the long game by reading and pretending he doesn’t, or doesn’t care very much what goes on in his own house.

And you all either blew off my math question, got it right, or complained in the “other” field and asked for the answer.  The trick is that it isn’t a math question at all!  Just flip over the image:

Perspective.  Now you have it.

As for what you want from us, by far the most popular request for 2016 is more multi-post room makeover projects with big reveals.  Fortunately for you, that is just what we had in mind!  Sage has already shared the start of her HUGE room project for 2016 – her kitchen makeover!  And a big goal of mine is to take some of the rooms I’ve been working on for the last two years and finally finish them up.  First up, is my bedroom:

My Bedroom Makeover Plan Loose Set of Ideas That May Or May Not Pan Out

My bedroom definitely needs to be finished.  Here is what it looks like now:

Okay, I’ll be honest, that isn’t what it REALLY looks like.  That is what it looks like if I’m trying to blogger-manipulate the best photo I possibly can have.  That blue blanket isn’t usually in there, I usually don’t have extraordinary flowers on my bedside table, and the rug is moved waaaay over to be in the shot.  In reality, it is way too small in the room and is just hanging out at the foot of the bed until I find a suitable replacement.

Here is what it really looks like:

It’s not terrible, and it’s come a long way from when we bought the place.

We’ve put in new windows (including the beautiful bay), new wall material and trim, and painted.

But there is still a lot to improve.  We still have the same dinky light fixture in there that we want to replace.  The bedside tables don’t match and are too small.  We have to lean way over to reach them from the bed, and we waste space that could be good storage.  We never finished painting our windows, we need window treatments (hello, neighbors!), Brad doesn’t have a bedside lamp, and we hardly have any art.

While we like our bedding a lot, it is getting pretty worn out.  We need to get a bed, or at least have an attractive way to cover the box spring and basic bedframe that we already have.  And, as I mentioned, we need a rug that actually fits.

I also still haven’t gotten around to covering the gaping holes that are our duct work, in which we occasionally drop things.

That’s a lot!  But I do have some good stuff to build on.  Here is what we love about the space:

• The light.  We love the windows, and want it to continue being open and bright, even as we gain privacy with window treatments.
• The colors.  I picked Iced Slate by Benjamin Moore very early in decorating this house.  It’s unlike the colors I have in the rest of my house (it’s a mellow sort-of-in-between color).  It also looks great with the bright yellow doors (Yellowstone by Benjamin Moore) – the contrast looks pretty extreme in the image above, but in reality it is more tame.
• The vanity.  That is Brad’s piece, an antique that he bought in Albuquerque before we were dating.  I love the shape and detail, and it fits perfectly in that spot.
• The plants.  They’re staying.

I also know the overall look I’m going for:

Not a single one of these images on their own are exactly right, but the overall impression from all four give a pretty good idea of what I’m thinking.  I’m loving that the look is colorful, but not the highly saturated, hit-you-over-the-head-with-it-color that I use throughout most of my house.  I like that there are some dark, high-contrast pieces and spots of natural wood.  I like the gray, white, and light blue color pallet with a few hits of soft warmth.

My wall color is a good starting point for this, and the doors are a great hit of color, but I’d like to bring in some other complementary tones through a new rug, art, and maybe even a decorative pillow or two (but don’t tell Brad…)

Wait, he’s the one who reads the blog.  Shoot.

There is a lot to decide and buy before I get this room where I want it.  I’ll be in the market for a new rug, bed, and bedding.  Bedside tables, a bench for the foot of the bed, and art might need to be bought or DIYed, or some combination of the two.

I was originally thinking of doing coordinating artwork on either side of the bed.  But Brad actually suggested shelves, and I love the idea of the additional storage and chance to have some books in there.  I think if I make the bedside tables symmetrical, then having shelves on one side might be a nice point of contrast.  Thoughts?

So what do you think of this direction?  Any suggestions on furniture or color scheme?  Tutorials I should look at?

Either way, I see a lot of fun projects coming!  2016 looks like it might be okay, after all.

(Sharing at Two Uses Tuesday and Tip Me Tuesday)