April 6, 2016

A Tour of My Dressing Room

Martie Big Creek Farmhouse Remodel DIY vanity, dresssing room, farmhouse interior, lingerie chest of drawers, rainbow drawer storage, secret chamber, silicone hot mat, the dressing room, wicker chest 18 Comments

Farmhouse Interior | A Tour of My Dressing Room

If you love a good virtual tour of a farmhouse interior, then you have come to the right place. I’m showcasing one particular (and tiny) room today that just might be my favorite room in our old country house: the dressing room. Need to see more? There are links sprinkled in with views of my other amazing farmhouse rooms, as well. I am crazy about my dressing room, and also wanted to share some of my awesome vanity ideas with you.

*This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you purchase using the links I provided. All opinions are my own. 

If you’ve been with me for the duration, you might remember one of my very early posts, I’ll Take It Sitting Down.  I showed off my new dressing table, which was something I had wanted for all of my adult life, but never had.  I was so proud of that up-cycled school desk that Coach brought home and painted for me!  I still love my dressing table, but, much like the Jeffersons, I’ve moved on up once again!  Our Big Creek farmhouse interior came with a…get this…dressing room!  And it’s all mine!  Today I invite you to join me on a tour of my dressing room, because I cleaned it, and because it’s just really flippin’ cool.

The History

This little room off the master bedroom was once my Brother Bear’s bedroom. Back in the day, you had to go through the front bedroom to get in this room, but that door has been paneled over in the front bedroom (now the guest room). The door is still there, and it lurks in my closet like some kind of secret chamber, but can no longer be accessed from the other side. Don’t you just love farmhouse interior mysteries?

There is also a door from the little room into the master bedroom, but that door stayed closed all of my childhood.  Yes, it’s a really tiny room, but Brother Bear didn’t care…it meant he didn’t have to share a room (and a bed) with Brother Boo, and teenage boys need their own space.

It’s an interesting little room that was clearly added as an afterthought.  I wish I knew what its original purpose was.  It was added by my grandfather when (or shortly after) he added the master bedroom and bath.  I’m sure he had a reason for tacking this room on; maybe it just made the house look more balanced from the outside? If I’d had a say, I would have suggested he add this space to the train-car kitchen, but I sure do love the dressing room.

The Dressing Room

Once all of us kids were grown and gone and Madre had the front bedroom paneled, she opened up the door from the master bedroom to access the “little room”.  She had one of her handyman friends come in and install two double-door closets, and the dressing room was born!

I’ve loved having an entire (albeit tiny) room in which to store my clothes, my hair gunk, my makeup, and several other items that I just like having around.  Coach and I removed the little door completely to make room for our giant bedroom furniture, which was not so giant in our old house (click here to see all the amazing built-ins in the master bedroom). It’s a tiny little entry-way, and there are two small steps down into the dressing room, which I used to sit on to watch Madre do her makeup. We had some of our best conversations with her at her dressing table and me on that step.  Now it’s Tigger’s favorite seat, and we have very deep, meaningful conversations while I sit at my dressing table.

I have a small lingerie chest of drawers for unmentionables,

another small chest of drawers for leggings, tights and belts,

and a wicker chest that holds my collection of purses and handbags (17 years worth).

My necklaces hang on a set of antlers that Madre left behind.

There’s a shelf above it that holds some very precious items: a photo of Gran (Papa’s mother, and the matriarch of this house in my lifetime) and some of her special belongings, among other things.

My scarves are neatly hung slung over those knobby things…yes, there are two, but one is hidden by all the scarves.

My Dressing Table

My dressing table is perfect for this room…not too big, not too small, but just right.

Yep, I’m still using that same old up-cycled school desk-turned-dressing table, the same bench, and the same handmade waste basket from my earlier post. Sure, it’s a DIY vanity, but it’s all so functional!  You can tell I’ve rubbed off some of the paint around the edges, especially as I show you that “Jeff” is still hanging out in the drawer with all my bobby pins, nail clippers and loose hairs.

other dressing room accessories

I have entirely too many hair products on my rainbow drawer storage unit (I got mine at Big Lots, but you can get yours on Amazon by clicking here, and there’s even a double one here) but keep in mind, I did “retire” from a 19-year career as a hairdresser a mere 6 months ago.

Those are just a few of my favorite hair products in the dressing room, but the rest is bagged up in the floor and not pictured. There’s actually a LOT more, sadly, but I’m slowly using things up and giving them away.

See that Anti Monkey Butt powder?  Laugh if you must, but it was awesome to use on my neck brush at the salon!  It’s a calamine powder, so it puts a screeching halt to itching! I use it as a dry shampoo on occasion because it smells pretty nice. Daddy-O gave me some Lady Anti Monkey Butt Powder as a gag gift one Christmas, and like most of his gag gifts, it turned out to be one of my favorites!

This adorable little clay jar that Madre left is perfect for my makeup brushes, and I absolutely love my little V. Swish silicone hot mat for protecting the tabletop from the heat of my irons (I have way too many of those, too). With this mat, I don’t have to worry about bubbling the paint on my cute little DIY vanity! If I forget to turn off an iron (which I’ve been guilty of), the table is protected. BUT, ALWAYS TURN OFF YOUR IRONS!

I still have my earring holder that I made and shared with you way back when, as well.

Above the earring holder is one of my very favorite things.

Yep, that’s James, Elvis, Marilyn and Humphrey under the neon light.  James is the star in my dressing room, though.  Heya, Hot Stuff.

revealing the truth

I’ll admit that the room doesn’t normally look like this. It took me half an evening and at least an hour of the next afternoon to get it this organized and straightened up.  I couldn’t even close the closet doors before I went on my cleaning and organizing frenzy, and the top of my dressing table wasn’t visible for all of the junk that had piled up.  I’m going to do better, I swear.  Having it this neat is an inspiration for me to keep it this way. I even dusted all the surfaces with actual furniture polish!  It’s such a peaceful, pretty little room with plenty of sunlight, although one window is covered by my big, beautiful mirror

(there wasn’t another space in the dressing room big enough for my DIY vanity, and that window just looks out over the screened-in porch anyway).

It’s hard to believe I could take so many different shots of such a tiny room, but it goes to show how wonderful my dressing room really is, in spite of its “issues”, like the icky ceiling. It’s going to be really fun to take everything out this summer so we can replace the ceiling (read with extreme sarcasm)! This room was the leakiest before the roof got replaced, so it’s pretty bad. As with any antique farmhouse interior, it has its share of problems.

But, with a room this small that holds so much, I’ll just try not to look up until the repairs are done. It’s like Mary Poppins’s bag…lots more stuff fits in this room than seems possible!

share with me?

I hope you enjoyed our little tour, and I also hope you can talk your significant other into adding on a dressing room for you and all of your favorite things!  Why not? Maybe you already have one, or at least a giant closet, that you’ve blogged about before; please share your link in the comments! If you have your very own secret chamber, I want to see that, too (even if it’s a dud like mine). If you love your closet or dressing room but don’t have a blog post to share, post a pic on Instagram with the hashtag #MartieDressingRoom so I can see it!  Be sure to give me a follow while you’re there so you can keep up with all the fun stuff that goes on around here.

Have a beautiful, wonderful hump day, and I’ll see ya Friday!

X,O,X,O,    Martie


This post is linked up with Pin Worthy Wednesday, Over the Moon Link Party,  Thursday Favorite Things, and You’re Gonna Love It!