The vibe: Cool yet cozy, beachy. It’s serene, with just enough aesthetic appeal.
The palette: Pale blue, navy, white, and light wood tones. Blue is my fave color and has always been my go-to for relaxing, as do natural elements like foliage and wood. I chose a pale blue (Absolute Zero by Behr) with a slight gray to it, to ensure the room doesn’t feel too saturated. To keep a peaceful aesthetic, I used navy blue as an accent/contrast.
How this space is me: This room is all about balance, which is always important but especially for a bedroom. Through my life, I’ve come to learn what makes me tick and how to offset life’s chaos. This room provides that with its light and gentle energy, perfect for fostering a good night’s sleep and the occasional nap.
This bedroom really isn’t much of a stretch from my last bedroom, but features a softer version of those blues… think more airy than watery. I really dug the painted blue dressers from the last home, but blue furniture with blue walls would’ve been too matchy. So, I replaced the blue dressers with a mid-century modern piece from a local consignment store. I actually dig the new dresser more because it’s unique, plus infusing more wood to the room amps up the natural vibe.
A big challenge I faced with this bedroom was how to decorate the walls and fill the space. It’s not a large room by any means (nearly 12′ x 12′), but is more space than my last bedroom. Solution: create wall decor that blended and didn’t stand out. This took some trial and error but it’s fun to experiment in the bedroom, am I right?
One of those experiments was figuring out how to decorate beside the bed. I may or may not have created two large geometric paintings before realizing they were too visually loud. After that attempt the clouds parted and the design gods smiled upon me, gifting me an idea to upcycle these curtains into fabric wall hangings.
This was a beautiful solution because those very curtains were behind my choice of wall paint. Before moving in, I pored through many paint samples and swatches to ensure the colors would match. Unfortunately, I washed the curtains before moving (and YES, I did wash/dry per the label) and they shrunk about a foot. No bueno, Target. I still held onto the curtains because I loved the subtle pattern and knew I could repurpose them.
To create the wall hangings, I measured the wall space beside the bed (both slightly different) to calculate the perfect size and then hemmed each piece. I folded the top over to create a pocket for the dowel rods and then sewed crochet fringe at the bottom. All in all, these cost about $25 for both. I love that they blend in so well yet give just enough pop close-up.
The narrower wall sections were easy to decorate because they didn’t require much to fill the space. Flanking one of the windows are these wicker pieces from Target that I whitewashed for that beachy vibe.
Continuing with the beachy boho vibe, I hung my necklaces on the small bit of wall near the dresser. If your decorating style is reflective of your personal style, this is a wonderfully frugal way to decorate in your bedroom. I also made coordinating wall hangings above the dresser with beads, metal rings, and bamboo rope.
Another challenge to decorating this bedroom was how to fill the space across from the bed. I keep my bedroom functions as minimal as possible (hence, no TV or Cheez-Its up in there), so that area had to be simple. Solution: Hyllis bookshelves by IKEA. To continue the airy aesthetic, I decorated the shelves sparingly with plants and simple accessories.
Another trick to keeping this small bedroom feeling airy was in using leggy bedside tables. Typically nightstands are chunky pieces of furniture, so using bedside tables allows your eye to travel instead of settling on a heavy piece of furniture.
Lastly, the pillowcases provide coziness and a splash of contrast. I love batik, so I kept the body pillowcase from my last bedroom scheme. Typically I just use quilter’s cotton (Kona is my fave for solids) but I changed it up a bit and altered a few standard pillowcases with my envelope pillowcase pattern.
That leaves the spare bedroom and the bathroom to complete my first house reveal… and then makeovers, because I may or may not have repainted two rooms already. I don’t know why my family is surprised when I do this. They should know me well enough by now.
Sources:
Walls: Behr Absolute Zero
Bookshelves: IKEA Hyllis
Bedsides tables: thrift store find; DIY
Dresser: consignment store find
Fabric wall hangings: DIY, from these Target curtains
Wicker wall art: Target
Curtains: Home Goods
Curtain Rods: Dollar General
Lamps: IKEA Fado
Storage baskets: Home Goods
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