Decorative wall treatment begun

My husband had the day off for Veteran's Day yesterday so I didn't get much accomplished.  I did at least settle on which option I'm using, and it's going to be the trees.  I was leaning that way simply because I've had this stencil for soooo long and wanted to finally use it somewhere in my own home, but also because the one vote I had when I was ready to get started was for the trees.  Here's my very minimal progress so far....

Just the trunks so far!  Dimensional stenciling has to be done in baby steps compared to regular, painted stenciling because each step has to dry somewhat thoroughly before going on to the next or you're going to mess up the plaster.  Which I actually did in a couple of spots that we won't dwell on.  This group of trees is next to the window at the end of the room opposite the bed.  I planted another group...

across from them and wrapping around two walls.  There will be a chest of drawers to the right of the outlet you see there, but it will sit back far enough not to interfere with the trees.   (Psst - see my luggage rack?  I'm inordinately excited about that thing.)

I came to another decision last night while I was working on the tree-trunks.  Well, a most-likely decision, and that is to nix the hidden rope lighting around the upper perimeter of the room.  There are a slew of reasons for nixing it:  1) it was going to be really wonky-looking in the corner where a window butts right up against a wall; 2) it was going to break up the flow of the trees; 3) it was going to make the room seem even more squat than it is (the walls in this room are only 7-/12' high); 4) it was going to be a nightmare to install; and most importantly 5) I had another Eureka! moment while working in the room as regards the wall behind the bed that would further interfere with lighting around the ceiling.  As you may recall, I was bemoaning the fact that I can't center the bed because of the window on that wall...

Then it occurred to me "Well, of course you can, bozo - all you have to do is pull the bed away from the wall a bit and hang curtains on either side.  It's going to push the bed further into the doorway than I like, but also further into the room so that it's not going to feel (too much) like you're tripping over the bed to enter the room...

This shot is taken from a couple of feet out in the hallway.  Now that the bed is shoved further into the room, the fact that it juts into the doorway is minimized a bit.  

Since a couple of my used-furniture store pieces are showing in that photo, I may as well give you a little preview of them now, too....

If I had seen this piece in a used furniture store a month ago...  No, scratch that.  I wouldn't have even seen it.  There's simply no way it would have caught my interest.  Then I happened upon another blog that made me see clunky, dated, 70s Mediterranean furniture in a whole new light.  I can't wait to get started on this baby!  Hopefully I'll be starting on this piece and the dresser sometime next week, and I'll share the blog that inspired me at that time so don't forget to keep checking in.

In the same shop, I picked up this footstool....

I love the mid-century modern lines and it'll be a piece-of-cake to reupholster.  

Of course, the best part about each of these pieces was the minimal expense:  The drum table was $12.50 and the footstool $20.  Woot!  I also picked up two bedside tables and a chest-of-drawers and altogether spent just over $100 for all five pieces.  For you local readers, I purchased all but the chest-of-drawers at Kathy's Used Furniture, which is where I've been buying most of my used furniture for the past thirty years; the chest was from Goodwill.  

That's it for today!  Thanks for stopping in - please let me know you did by saying "Hi!"  or "Are you outta your mind; there's no way to make that drum table look good!" or something.  ;)