Remember our playful visit with Katie and Jeremy of All Bower Power back in May? Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at what happens when two home bloggers get together: within minutes they’re directing the guys, moving furniture, and creating a mini bedroom refresh that cost exactly zero dollars.
The makeover took place in Katie and Jeremy’s bedroom—the very room that originally connected us. We’d met Katie online when she shared a bedroom makeover inspired by ours, and we quickly became friends. During our visit we stayed nearby in the guest room, and one morning the two of us decided to tweak the room that brought us together. I’ll admit, it already looked lovely when we arrived:
But Katie was already buzzing with ideas—she wanted to shift a few pieces around. We recruited the guys to move a heavy dresser from one corner to the opposite side, where a slipper chair had been. They hauled it into place, and we topped it with a mirror and a vase to add height and reflect more light.
The new layout opened the room up, creating better flow from the door and around the bed. The slipper chair moved into the corner vacated by the dresser. The guys were sent off to watch a strange TV show about oversized restaurant food, while we added an old floor lamp Katie had on hand—though it didn’t yet have a shade.
Next we turned our attention to a blank wall. We had already borrowed a hallway mirror for the dresser, so we scoured Katie’s things for something to hang. In a basket in her office I found a few old parasols left over from her wedding day. We both had the same idea: why not create three-dimensional wall art? We headed to the basement to experiment with tools—because when it comes to power tools, girl power.
We trimmed the parasol stems so each would only stick out a few inches from the wall. Flipped over, we wanted the pretty interior string pattern to face the room. Peeling back the paper at the parasol’s top revealed a small hole—perfect for slipping over a nail. With a simple nail hammered into the wall, each parasol hung easily and securely.
While hunting for a lamp shade, we found a blue wire basket candle holder. Instead of a conventional shade, we set that basket on the lamp for a graphic, linear look that echoed the parasol’s pattern.
To finish the corner, we swapped pillows on the tan chair (the same Dolce Lounge Chair from Target that we use in our living room and den) for more contrast. The result: a cozy reading nook—or, if you’re like me, a convenient place to toss clothes—all created with items on hand and a bit of creative thinking.
A parasol as wall art and a metal candle holder doubling as a lampshade might be unconventional, but that’s the charm of improvising with what you have. It’s the kind of playful creativity that comes from meeting online, becoming friends, and spending a few days together tinkering and laughing. Those little experiments make the best memories.
Curious to see more of our antics? We made a playful table-setting video together—full of mispronunciations and potty humor—that you can watch through the original post.