The Making of the Fish and Hawaii Rooms

New Place, New Décor

To start this Decorate, Design, and Organize section of my blog I had the idea of sharing the updates to to lake home we made over the first year of ownership.  I thought I'd begin with the rooms we did the least to...but as I started documenting the updates...I guess I did get a little carried away...even for me.  

So here we go with the bedrooms upstairs - the Fish Room and the Hawaii Room.   For both bedrooms, all walls and the ceilings were painted using Sherwin Williams' Scrub Supreme Interior Latex Eg Shel, color Greek Villa (one of 62,123 ways to say off-white).  I don't have up close before photos of the ceilings, but they were pretty bad.  In the Fish room - it appears they literally gave up - there was still masking tape around the ceiling fan.  

Bedroom 1, before - only one original photo, no window coverings, and a fairly small bed, two dressers.  Didn't seem too crowded.  

Bedroom 1, after - now referred to as the 'Fish Room'.

New King bed frame with built in lights, king mattress from a local 'going out of business' vendor.  Tommy Bahama Turtle Cove reversible quit set in Harbor Blue from Wayfair, with Ikea TRIPPEVALS black out cellular blinds.

Hemnes dresser from Ikea, in black/brown finish and a Tall 3-drawer night stand from Walmart on each side; it does make the room a bit 'tight' but ok for our guests, and enough storage for our long term guests.  

I found a random clearance canvas print from At Home (I think it was all of $15) gives the room it's name, in addition to a kitschy fish hook wall hanging, idea courtesy of Pinterest.  The lamp was TJ Maxx clearance, transferred from our first lake home, Big Kandiyohi.

The hooks were in a tackle box my dad saved from my Grandpa Nix - some of these are 50+ years old.  The 'frame' was created by my dad; a Pinterest inspiration.

Brass closet knobs throughout the house as well as all of the brass door knobs (15) were replaced with black options from Home Depot.

 

 

I am working on a paint by number fish...I'll be honest it's slow going especially when it's nice out.  I'll update once it's complete.

Bedroom 2, before - only one photo in the original listing, and for good reason.  The wall you can't see was CRIMSON red.  Apparently a Cardinals fan resided here.  MANY coats of paint to cover that up!  No window treatment as you can see, but lots of pillows!  

Bedroom 2, after - now referred to as the 'Hawaii Room'.  This theme evolved as I collected photos, posters, paintings from our old house, realizing I had a ready-made concept for at least one room.  Mattress from old house, with a new Queen frame off Amazon (I didn't want any headboard).  The bookshelf is from our old house, with an added safety Hangman Anti-Tip Kit from Amazon.

Tommy Bahama Turtle Cove reversible quit set in Grey/Tan from Wayfair, with Ikea TRIPPEVALS black out cellular blinds.

This refinished dresser was purchased from a Facebook group specializing in furniture restoration - I had my eye on it for weeks before I finally purchased.  

View from closet corner, near windows.

View from other corner, in front of shelf.

While I did have a lot of 'stuff' already, I felt the spot above the bed deserved a larger piece.  Found this for a great price on Great Big Canvas.com.  It reminds me of sitting at Duke's on Waikiki - if you're ever there, get the fish tacos (and a Mai Tai, of course!).

The other piece you can see from that view is this 'sun', inspired by Pinterest, created for me upon request by my dad (yes he is very talented).

Another special piece in the room, at the center of the art collage, is this painting done by my mother of the boys after our trip in 2003.   Such wonderful work! It was in the boys'  bathroom in our old house for years.

     

Other pieces on the shelf and wall include family photos from the years, two pieces of wood art from our eldest he purchased during a visit to Hawaii with his friend in 2017, and a print purchased at an art fair on Kauai during a 2019 visit.  Not sure when we'll get back there - I like the idea of revisiting our memories every time I go into the Hawaii room.

What do you think?  How have you been able to combine your treasures with old decor?  Leave your comments below!  Enjoyed this post? Never miss out on future posts by following us.