It probably comes as no surprise that I’m running a bit behind schedule on the One Room Challenge makeover of our basement bathroom. We got a late start and worked right down to the wire. We are SO close to being done, but there are just a few more projects to finish before I take the final photos. But I do have one photo of the almost finished bathroom below.

Here’s a quick reminder of where we started…

And this was the design plan that I came up with for our One Room Challenge makeover:

After we stripped it down and repainted (Sherwin Williams SW7005 “Pure White”), we were left with a blank palette.

All the major elements of the room are complete – the new vanity is in, as well as the new light and mirror. I finished caulking the countertop (and recaulking the shower) today.

UPDATE: We got all of the artwork hung, as well as the shower curtains. Now there are just a few small projects left to finish up and I’ll finally be ready to properly photograph the space. But in the meantime, here’s one quick iPhone photo of the nearly completed bathroom makeover!

One Room Challenge

As a quick reminder, we’ve been working on this bathroom makeover as part of the One Room Challenge – transforming it from bold but boring into a lighter and brighter space with a lot more style. The ORC was started by Linda Weinstein of Calling It Home, and Better Homes & Gardens is the official media sponsor. If that sounds familiar, it’s because this is my ELEVENTH time participating in the ORC.

In Case You Missed It…

If you want to see where we started and where we’re going, check out the before photos of our basement bathroom, as well as the design plans.  You can also find a round up of all ten of my prior One Room Challenge makeovers at the end of the week 1 post.

The post Basement Bathroom Reveal appeared first on Blue i Style.

If you’ve been following along with the One Room Challenge, then you’ve already seen how our basement family room started out and our weekly progress updates over the last two months. I’ll be sharing some before and after photos in this post, but if you’re interested in reading more about the design plans and what was working and what wasn’t in the old space, you can get those details in my Week 1 post. This was my ninth time as a guest participant in the One Room Challenge, and as always, I loved transforming a space in our home alongside more than 200 other talented designers. Sending a huge thank you to Linda Weinstein of Calling It Home, the founder of the ORC, and to Better Homes & Gardens, the official media sponsor.

Let’s start with some before and after shots, and then check back soon for lots more photos, all the details, and a complete source list!

Basement Game Room: Before & After

Game Table with Banquette Seating: Before & After

Game Room Storage & Video Games: Before & After

Basement Bar & Home Theater Concessions: Before & After

Pool Table & Metal Wall Games: Before & After

Home Theater Area: Before & After

The post Basement Game Room Reveal appeared first on Blue i Style.

One Room Challenge

This is my tenth time participating in the One Room Challenge, so many of you are probably familiar with it already, but let me start with a quick explanation for those that are new here. The ORC was started by Linda Weinstein of Calling It Home, and Better Homes & Gardens is the official media sponsor. The challenge was historically six weeks long, but it’s been extended to eight weeks this round to take into account ongoing supply shortages and shipping delays resulting from the pandemic.

For the next seven weeks, I’ll be posting weekly updates to show you the progress as we turn our basement into the ultimate game room, leading up to the final reveal on June 24th! The best part of the One Room Challenge is that I’m not going it alone! Each ORC round, there are twenty amazingly talented designers who headline the event, posting their updates each Tuesday night. Participation in the ORC is also open to other design bloggers, referred to as Guest Participants, and we post our progress updates each Wednesday night. The ORC gets bigger and more exciting every round, often with more than 100 participants!

For me, that means sharing encouragement with lots of fellow designers… for you, that means endless inspiration for every room of the house in every style! All of the participating bloggers share the links to their weekly progress posts on the One Room Challenge website, so you can find all of the ORC progress posts and final reveals in one convenient place!

Creating the Ultimate Game Room

Our basement has served as a shared family room and playroom ever since we’ve had kids, but as the boys are getting a little older, we’ve given a lot of thought to how we’ll use this space in the future, not just as a family, but also as a space for our boys to entertain their friends. When I was in middle school, I remember my mom saying her goal was for our house to be the place where all of my friends wanted to hang out throughout my teenage years. Over the years, I realized it was really a win-win scenario. I had the “fun house” where all my friends congregated, and my parents kept me close, really got to know all of my friends, and had the peace of mind that we were in a safe environment.

With exactly that same motivation driving me, I’m excited to share what we have planned for our basement family room as we transition from the playroom phase to the game room phase.

Our basement is long and thin, and our plan calls for three distinct activity zones – a game table, the pool table, and the home theater. But throughout the space, we’ll be incorporating lots of other fun elements.

The goal for the basement was always to give it a entertainment vibe – with elements of music, theater, and movies. I wanted to be careful not to go overboard on the theme, but somehow we stopped so short of overboard that we ended up with a space that never quite felt finished. We have a giant photo of the microphone in orange light that I love, but much of the wall space remained pretty empty. Now I’m ready to give the family room more personality!

The Space We’re Working With…

Since I rarely share photos of our basement family room on the blog or on Instagram, let me start by showing you the space. For maximum effect, I’ll include photos of how the basement looked when we first moved in back in 2008, and how it’s changed over time. Then I’ll share our plans to update each part of the basement family to create the ultimate game room for us to enjoy with family and friends.

This post contains some affiliate links. If you purchase something I recommend, you’ll pay the same price, but I may receive a small commission.

This space started as a typical new build beige box {you’ll note that the TV was our very first purchase in the new house, even before we had a couch}. Early on, we painted the walls gray (before gray was even in), with a few BRIGHT orange accents. We initially painted the lower half of the fireplace charcoal gray, but later added a dark grey metallic tile.

We’ve had the pool table before the kids were born, but for the better part of the last decade it’s served as the kid’s favorite place to play. My mom made a fabulous play-tent that fits over the pool table and features doors and windows. Rather than a simple “house” play-tent like I had as a kid, the four sides of this hand painted tent feature a theater, a museum, Denver’s Union Station, the zoo, the aquarium, and even our neighborhood farmer’s market.

While the kids still play under the pool table all the time {and we’ll keep the fabric play-tent in the family forever}, the boys are old enough now to show interest in learning to play pool, and we are excited to reclaim the basement as a game room for the whole family, rather than just as a playroom.

On the wall to the right of the pool table {on either side of the utility closet door} we’ll display several rows of framed Playbills from the Broadway shows we’ve seen. Above the door, I plan to hang the metal subway sign that I bought for Scott a few years ago {sad that it took us this long to get around to hanging it, but better late than never!}.

On the other side of the pool table, between the windows, we want to add some large metal wall games, including Chinese Checkers, Scrabble, and possibly even Connect 4. I found a really cool Etsy shop that sells these games, and I think they’ll make a really fun addition to our game room, in addition to this genius game idea!

The couch and rug on the “theater” end of the basement have both seen better days. Since we love having family movie nights down here, we want to keep this a space where we feel comfortable eating pizza and popcorn without stressing to much about inevitable spills. We’ll be replacing the upholstered couch with a new-to-us leather couch that can be easily wiped clean, and I finally found a gray rug I love that meets my dual goals of inexpensive and with just enough pattern to easily hide a few mishaps. {It probably goes without saying, but Thomas the Train has been retired and no longer occupies the entire space between the couch and the TV.}

The orange paint above the fireplace has had a good run {and surprisingly become one of my favorite spots to decorate for Christmas}, but we plan to repaint this section in dark gray and add this framed photograph. We’re also going to finally hang the large “R” marquee letter that my parents gifted to us years ago.

Looking left from the couch and tv, we have a small basement bar. Years ago we added a white penny tile backsplash and a cool wine back above the sink. If the budget allows, I would really like to extend the penny tile to cover the entire back wall – making the bar even more of a feature.

We received a movie theater-style popcorn machine as a family Christmas present a few years ago, and I bought the Porter rolling bar cart at CB2 to sit it on. The orange wall to the left of the bar will be repainted dark gray, and this is where the popcorn cart will go. Over the years, I’ve been collecting vintage film reels in a variety of sizes. I plan to paint them silver and high gloss white {with maybe one pop or orange} to hang above and around the popcorn machine.

The other end of our basement has served as the boys’ playroom for the better part of the last decade. They currently have a small play table, and a low cabinet that holds some of their toys {with the DIY dollhouse I created sitting on top}.

Before we had kids, the bookshelves on this end of the basement were once just filled with books and decor…

But after the kids came along, these bookshelves became additional toy storage. The large shelf openings have provided the perfect place to stash over-sized toys while always keeping them easily accessible to the kids.

Now that the boys are getting older, they have fewer bulky toys {replaced instead my thousands of little legos} so are ready for a new storage solution. I plan to add three IKEA bookshelves that will balance style and function on a serious budget.

We’re also ready to upgrade from the play table to a game table large enough to accommodate game nights with family and friends! As part of this ORC makeover, we plan to build a custom banquette table and game table to fill this corner of the basement. And this large piece of art will complete the space.

The boys have two Arcade1Up video games that my dad gave them for Christmas a couple of years ago. We added the risers below them to make them a bit taller, and I’m planning to add these riser decals to give them a more authentic arcade feel.

There are still a couple of challenges I have to figure out – like where we should our very heavy vintage slot machine. I am considering this rolling cart, that will give us easy access to the back of the machine when needed.

There are so many more details that I can’t fit into this week’s post, but I hope you’ll join me each Thursday as I share our progress! In the meantime, here’s a look back at each of my previous One Room Challenge makeovers…

Menswear Themed Boy's Bedroom

I participated in my very first One Room Challenge back in the spring of 2014. Baby #2 had recently entered our lives, and needed the nursery, so I designed a menswear themed boy's bedroom for my older son, who was 2.5 at the time. Since that time, the boys now share a different room (also an ORC project below), and we recently made some minor updates to turn this room from a toddler room to a playroom / hangout room.

See the Space

Master Bedroom Makeover Without Replacing the Furniture

The next ORC round, in the fall of 2014, I turned my attention to our master bedroom, which had been largely neglected in the six years since we'd move into our home. I made a big impact in this space without replacing any of the furniture, or even changing the placement of the furniture in the room.

See the Space

Rock 'n' Roll Playroom Under the Stairs

In the spring of 2015, I converted the storage space under our basement stairs into a rock 'n' roll inspired playroom for my boys. At only 3 foot by 12 foot, it's one of the smallest spaces I transformed, but what it lacks in size it more than makes up for in style and fun! This is still one of my very favorite projects to date, and it was featured in print in 5280 Home magazine!

See the Space

A Laundry Closet That Functions Like a Laundry Room

In the fall of 2015, I finally achieved my goal of making our laundry closet feel and function more like a laundry room by adding tons of style and storage, including removable wallpaper and, a hanging light fixture, and bold cabinets.

See the Space

Modern Master Bathroom Makeover

The following spring, in 2016, I updated our master bathroom to match the "graphic glam" style of the adjoining bedroom. The wall of graphic black and white cement tile and statement light fixtures are the stars of the show. I was thrilled with what a huge transformation we created in this space without replacing any of the existing cabinets or fixtures.

See the Space

Garage Organization with Style

Later that fall, I tackled the much dreaded garage! I was hoping to just create a more functional storage space, but in the process of cleaning and organizing, thanks to some creative DIYs, I also managed to make the garage pretty! I was incredibly honored to have our garage makeover featured on a two-page spread in the March 2018 issue of Better Homes & Gardens magazine!

See the Space

A Small Shared Boys' Room with Bunk Beds

In the spring of 2017, my boys (then 3 and 5) were begging for bunkbeds, so we turned the former nursery into a shared boys room, complete with lots of color and tons of storage for books and toys.

See the Space

Modern Kitchen Dining Area

In the fall of 2018, I took on a modern dining room makeover. We added more storage, finally found a solution to an awkward wall, and made a big statement on the kitchen island. And we did it all on a budget.

See the Space

Colorful Rooftop Retreat

In the spring of 2019, we turned our unused deck off of our master bedroom into a colorful and comfortable rooftop retreat for the whole family to enjoy. This deck is perfect for lounging and enjoying the summer weather, and when the sun goes down, it quickly transforms into an outdoor movie theater.

See the Space

Ultimate Game Room

In the spring of 2021, we turned our basement family room into the ultimate game room, complete with a custom-built game table, comfy banquette seating, and tons of hidden storage for all of our games and puzzles. On the other end of the basement, our home theater includes a stylish popcorn and candy bar.

See the Space

Bright Basement Bathroom

In the fall of 2021, we took our orange basement bathroom from bold but boring to a bright and stylish space. The playful artwork reflects our family's love of the theater.

Continue Reading

The post Ultimate Game Room Plans: Week 1 {One Room Challenge} appeared first on Blue i Style.

We revealed this updated space to the boys on Christmas day, but throughout the past month I’ve been sharing the makeover process here on the blog as part of the New Year New Room challenge. Today I’m so excited to share all the photos of the updated hangout room!

The other seven talented bloggers participating in the New Year New Room Refresh Challenge are also revealing their spaces today! Click on the links below to see their finished rooms:

Casa Watkins Living // Up To Date Interiors // House by Hoff // Our Fifth House // Jeweled Interiors // Blue i Style // Domicile 37 // Delineate your Dwelling

This post contains some affiliate links. If you purchase something I recommend, you’ll pay the same price, but I may receive a small commission.

As you may recall, we originally designed this menswear themed room for Beckett when he was just a toddler. A few years later, he and Cooper begged to share a room, so we purchased bunkbeds and Beckett moved down the hall. Since that time, the boys have been using Beckett’s old room as a defacto playroom, but a few elements of the room weren’t working well anymore.

Back in Week 1 of the New Year New Room Challenge, I talked in detail about what was working, what wasn’t, and what we had planned to update the toddler bedroom into a playroom and hangout room fit for two boys who will be tween, and then teens before we know it.

We started by finally getting rid of Beckett’s old toddler bed and replacing it with a small, affordable couch. We wanted something comfortable for the boys, but we also didn’t want to spend much since… well, two boys. We bought the couch during a Black Friday sale and got it for under $300!

On the other side of the room, we added a Roku TV so that the boys can watch Disney+ and Netflix. And my parents gave the boys a small DVD player, so they are pretty much set to watch any movie they could ever want!

But we also got a little sneaky… we plugged the TV into a smart plug that mom and dad can control from an app on our phones. We’ve set a timer that turns the TV off at bedtime, and turns it back on at an acceptable time in the morning, so the boys can’t sneak in an screen time when they’re supposed to be in bed.

You can see from the smile on these boys faces that this room makeover was a Christmas hit! They were excited about the changes, but they were just as happy about the things that stayed the same, starting with the hanging play tent in the corner of the room.

This play tent has always been my favorite part of this room, and the boys feel the same way – so see knew it had to stay. A collaboration between my mom and I, the roof of the play tent is covered in neckties collected from all the men in our family – dad, uncles, grandpas, and great grandpas. Beckett (our resident book worm) can often be found reading in this tent, but it’s also a popular spot for playing Nintendo Switch.

It goes without saying that the hand-painted argyle wall also had to stay. This feature wall was a true labor of love, and I don’t think there will ever come a day that I’ll be able to paint over it. If we ever sell the house, the new owners better lie to me and promise to keep it as well because seeing someone paint over my weeks of work would break my heart. {I’m only kind of joking.}

The three frames on the argyle wall used to hold photos of toddler Beckett, but since this playroom space is for both of the boys now, it was time to update the photos with both of their handsome faces!

Another DIY project in the room the room that has stood the test of time are the shelves hung with leather belts. We installed these belt shelves seven years ago, and I worried that over time the belts might stretch and cause the shelves to tilt, but they are still sturdy and level.

I styled the shelves with some of the souvenirs that we brought back to the boys from our trip to South Africa, as well as their autographed astronaut photos (from our next door neighbor’s dad).

Below the shelves sits the chalkboard globe that I painted, along side a collection of airplane and a Denver International Airport poster in honor of the boys’ grandpa who worked at the airport for years.

The bookshelves lining the far wall of the room are simple IKEA Kallax units, but we added the bright yellow bun feet to raise them up a bit and add an unexpected pop of color.

The top row of shelves holds the boys collection of chapter books, while the bottom row provides lots of toy storage. These gray tweed bins fit the IKEA Kallax shelves perfectly, and I added the brown faux-leather number labels to make it easy for the boys to stay organized.

Above the bookshelves hang the boys’ initials – B & C. When I designed Beckett’s toddler room years ago, I wanted to some wood and metals letters from Restoration Hardware, but the price tag was too high. Instead, I came up with an easy DIY version of these vintage industrial letters that mimics the high end look on a shoestring budget.

Originally Beckett’s initials – BNR – hung in this space, but this month I created new letters to update this shared space for both boys.

I received this Fisher Price record player for Christmas when I was six, and I love that it lives on in the boys’ hangout room. They have a large collection of records, including many that date back to their grandparents’ childhood days.

As you might have guessed from their book collection, these kids LOVE to read. This library book basket helps us keep the library books separate from all of their other books, making it easy to find them when the due date rolls around. In keeping with the menswear theme of the room, I used an extra strip of leather belt and a gold paint maker to create the simple label for this wire basket.

Another piece of furniture that stayed the same from the toddler version of this space to the updated hangout room is the coffee table in the middle of the room. The two giant storage drawers hold lots of toys, and the top of the table provides a great play surface. On an average day, every square inch of this table top is covered in the boys animal figurines as they play zoo or safari.

This room originally had an IKEA dresser (that we customized with leather drawer pulls), but over the years, we’ve discovered that boys Elfa closet systems provide them ample storage, and the dresser drawers were largely unused.

As we converted this space from bedroom to playroom, we needed more toy storage, so we relocated this storage cabinet from basement up to the new playroom.

The cabinet is deep enough to hold lots of the boys’ larger toys and playsets inside, and on the top we have Cooper’s giant red barn, and the dollhouse I made (which they still play with on a regular basis).

On the weekends, we have to practically drag the boys out of this room when they’ll play together for hours and hours and on. But most days after school, you’ll find Beckett relaxing on the new couch, quietly reading a book.

When the boys are at school, however, it’s our Schnoodle, Gatsby, who curls up on the couch to enjoy a little peace and quiet. He’s totally unphased by the presence of his pillow doppelganger.

The post Boys Hangout Room Reveal appeared first on Blue i Style.

All of the extra time at home this past year also shined a light on the spaces in our house that aren’t working as well for us as they could be – especially the kids’ play area in our basement, and Beckett’s former bedroom. Both of these areas were designed to suit our family when our boys were younger, but since they insist on growing up so darn fast (they are now 9 and 7), it was time that their play spaces catch up with them.

During the week leading up to Christmas, Scott and I did a very quick refresh of Beckett’s old bedroom to turn it into a playroom / hangout space for both boys. We revealed the new space to them on Christmas day to rave reviews, but I still have a few more little projects left to finish up before I can call the space officially complete.

I’m excited to be joining seven of my very talented design blogger friends for the New Year New Room Refresh Challenge. Over the next three weeks, I’ll share with you the details of our playroom refresh, starting today with the before photos, an overview of what wasn’t working, and the plans we came up with to update the space. Use the links below to see the plans each of these other bloggers have come up with to refresh their rooms as well!

Casa Watkins Living // Up To Date Interiors // House by Hoff // Our Fifth House // Jeweled Interiors // Blue I Style // Domicile 37 // PMQ for TWO // Delineate your Dwelling

The Before Photos

Back in 2014, baby #2 (Cooper) had recently entered our lives and needed the nursery, so I designed a menswear themed toddler room for Beckett, who was just 2.5 at the time. Painting the argyle wall in this room was a true labor of love, and it remains my proudest DIY accomplishment.

This was Beckett’s bedroom for three years, until he and Cooper began begging for bunkbeds and to share a room. In 2014, we converted the nursery into a shared boys’ bunkbed bedroom with lots of color, and personality.

Meanwhile, down in the basement, we have a shared family room and playroom space. One end of the basement has our couch and tv, and at the opposite end, we have a small play table and a variety of toy storage furniture.

What Was Working and What Wasn’t

When Beckett moved out of his menswear themed bedroom, it stayed exactly as it had been – toddler bed and all. Since it still had a wall of bookshelves with bins for toy storage and a low round table in the middle of the room, the kids still spent a lot of time playing in this space.

Both of our boys LOVE to read, and at one time, those adorable button tufted chairs were the perfect size for them {would you believe they are actually intended as pet loungers?}. The boys have recently outgrown these low chairs, so they were just taking up precious space in the room. The toddler bed, with the rails around the back, also didn’t provide comfortable seating for the kids. Not to mention that there was no where Scott or I to sit when spending time in here with the boys.

Down in the basement, we’ve been using these two bookshelves {one upright and one laid on its side} to store a lot of the kids’ toys. The large openings in the bookshelf were perfect for story bulky toddler toys, and more recently they’ve provided great space for the boys’ oversized Playmobil sets {which aren’t waning in popularity}.

While the boys still spend a lot of time playing with toys, they also now love games and this little table just isn’t cutting it anymore for our family game nights. Not only are Scott and I not comfortable sitting on these little chairs, the table top is too small for a lot of our board games.

We have big plans to add banquette seating and a larger game table to this corner of the basement, and to replace the bookshelves with a new storage solution… but that’s a post for another day.

Bedroom to Playroom Refresh Plans

Our long-term basement plans will provide us with the perfect space for family game nights, but it will also take away some of the existing toy storage and open floor space for play. With all that in mind, we decided it was time to update Beckett’s old toddler room to make it true playroom / hang out room that will grow with the boys.

We didn’t have a big budget for this refresh, and we still loved the menswear elements of the room, so we came up with a plan to updated the space with just a few minor changes…

Update the Seating

First on the list was updating the seating… both the toddler bed and small chairs had to go because the boys had outgrown them. But they still love the DIY play tent in the corner of the room {and it has tons of sentimental value with the ties on the top coming from all the men in our family}, so I started shopping for a small couch that would fit between the tent and the door.

Add Functional Storage

The bookshelves along the far wall of the room stay because they provide tons of the storage for both books and toys, and fit perfectly under the windows. But the dresser wasn’t living up to its potential. I still LOVE the leather belt drawer pulls that we DIY’d, but the drawers were largely empty and weren’t ideal for toys storage.

Meanwhile, we have a great cabinet down in the basement that holds lots of toys – but that we need to move to make room for the new game table banquette we have planned. So we planned to relocate the dresser to my parent’s cabin, and then move the basement toy cabinet up the new playroom.

There you have it – a pretty simple plan, but one that will turn an outdated toddler room into a fabulous playroom, while also helping us turn the basement playroom into a space for the whole family!

Be sure to visit all of the other bloggers participating in the New Year New Room Refresh Challenge to see what they have planned, and then come back next week for an update.

The post Bedroom to Playroom Refresh Plans appeared first on Blue i Style.

Since I plan to replace the carpet with wood-look tile, I’ll definitely want a rug to add some softness and warmth to the room. The rug will also be a great opportunity to bring in some pattern or color, and will really help me to set the design style of my new office. I was torn between going with a graphic black and white pattern {which you know I love from our dining room and master bathroom makeovers} or whether to choose a rug with a variety of colors to tie in with my colorful travel photos. Once again, I asked you to share your opinions with me once I’d narrowed it down to my top five.

The post Modern Home Office Design Plans 3 Ways appeared first on Blue i Style.

ROOFTOP DECK: BEFORE

PLANNING FOR AN OUTDOOR MOVIE THEATER

ROOFTOP DECK SEATING

ROOFTOP DECK DESIGN

COMPLETE SOURCE LIST

The post Modern Rooftop Deck Makeover appeared first on Blue i Style.

Where it was once just drywall painted the same teal color as the other walls, it’s now a graphic black and white tile!

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Especially when it comes to decorating a bedroom, this is totally doable, and I’m sharing my 10 best tips! Even though I’m sharing 10 tips in this post, I want to stress that you don’t need to make all 10 of these updates to get the new look you are after! With even just a few of these changes, you can totally refresh you space and create a room that you absolutely love on a very tight budget!

Before we dive in the tips, let me start by showing you a before and after of a master bedroom that I redecorated for a friend years ago. Not only did we not replace any of the furniture in this room {other than swapping the headboard with one from their guest room}, we didn’t even rearrange the layout of the furniture because the placement of the fireplace and windows clearly dictated where the king bed had to go.

Now that you see what is possible with just a few minor, inexpensive changes, I want to give you some concrete steps to follow to achieve the same kind of makeover in your own home! I use a master bedroom as an example in this post, but most of these tips apply to any other room, as well.

Rather than just giving your some generic advice about how to redecorate a bedroom when you don’t want to buy new furniture, I want to walk you though it step by step, using another recent client project as an example. So let’s start where every decor project begins… with the before photos.

After redesigning the entire main floor for a super fun family {you can see their family room here}, they asked me to help with their master bedroom as well. Here’s how it looked:

CONSIDER THE SPACE PLAN

The homeowners wanted to keep their existing dresser, chest of drawers, night stands, and stand-up mirror, so before we even started talking design concepts, I first considered the space plan and whether the furniture could be rearranged to create a better flow in the room.

In its original configuration, there was one big, empty wall. I felt like the vaulted ceiling should be more of a feature, so I wanted to reposition the bed to that wall. I also wanted to give the homeowners a comfortable place to sit down, but in order to keep all the existing furniture, there wasn’t room for a chair. Instead, I decided to fit a bench at the end of the bed.

I’m really happy with the new layout for this room that makes the bed more of a focal point, and the wall above it, more of a focal point, but in many bedrooms, the furniture will only fit in one configuration. This was the case in my own master bedroom, as well this prior client master bedroom I redesigned, and in both rooms I was able to achieve a completely new look without buying new furniture or rearranging the layout.

THINK ABOUT THE STYLE YOU WANT

When you’re ready to give your bedroom a new look, find inspiration in your favorite magazines or catalogs, on Pinterest, or using the Houzz app. It helps to have an idea of the style you want to achieve before you start buying anything!

You may already have a color palette in mind at this stage, but if you don’t, that’s perfectly ok. It can develop as you work through the process.

These homeowners love the outdoors and lived in the mountains before moving to their current home, but they also love modern decor. I wanted to give them a modern and sophisticated, but cozy space that drew inspiration from nature.

If there’s an element in the room that you can’t change, like the color of the wood trim or floors, carpet, or wall color {if painting is not an option}, then it’s better to work with it than to fight against it. Read this post about a bedroom I redesigned for another client for a detailed explanation of how to approach this kind of challenge, and see how that final room turned out.

*This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase something I recommend, you’ll pay the same price, but I may receive a small commission.

START WITH A NEW RUG

Once you have a general sense of styles you like, start by shopping for a rug for the bedroom. Choosing a rug first can help set the color palette and better define the design direction.

If you already know what color palette you want, utilize the search filters that most online sites offer to narrow your search to those colors. If you’re unsure on colors, filter by style instead, and see what rugs catch you eye. You can then develop the color scheme for the room around the rug you fall in love with.

For this bedroom, I envisioned a color palette in shades of blue, so I wanted to find a rug that would provide some interest while staying largely monochromatic. This Oriental Navy Distressed Rug caught my eye because of the depth of the over-dyed colors, and because the more traditional style would provide a nice contrast to the other modern and nature-inspired elements wanted to layer in.

I found an incredible sale price on this rug in a 9×12 – large enough to place below the entire bed. If the rug you love is not available this large, or if the price is too high for the budget, consider instead placing a 5×8 rug one-third of the way under the foot of the bed, so that the remainder of the rug creates a nice focal point at the end of the bed {as I did in this room}.

PAINT THE WALLS

If you have the freedom to change the walls {if you’re not in a rental space}, then paint is one of the least expensive ways to give a space a whole new look. A fresh coat of a light, neutral color {learn how to pick the right one} can brighten up a room and give it a fresh start, a bold color choice can liven up a room and give it new life, or a dark, rich color can create a moody, cozy vibe.

In my client’s bedroom, I struck a balance between light and bright, and rich and moody. The homeowners wanted to move away from the beige tones in favor of a more modern neutral, so most of the walls in the room got a fresh coat of light gray paint. But I also wanted to turn the vaulted bed wall into a dramatic focal point, so I recommended a shade of rich navy blue for that wall. They ended up choosing Sherwin Williams Anchors Aweigh (SW 9179).

By selecting the rug first, we were able to compare the paint samples to the rug to choose a good compliment. This is much easier than choosing a paint color first and then trying to find a rug to match.

ADD OR UPDATE ART TO DEFINE THE STYLE

With the rug and paint colors selected, you’re ready to start choosing art and linens. These are the layers that will really determine the overall style of the room. I find it easiest to shop for one thing you love, and then build on it from there.

One of my favorite sources for affordable art is Minted. I love that you can easily browse their extensive collection by filtering for color or style, and that anything you find can be ordered in a huge variety of size and framing options. There’s nothing worse than finding a piece of art you love, but having it be the wrong size for your space. Minted eliminates that problem and gives you lots of design freedom.

For my clients bedroom, I found this photo called “Aspens at Altitude.” I wanted to use it above the bed to give the sense of laying in bed and looking up into a forest of trees. I knew the white image was also perfect for creating contrast against the dark navy wall.

Rather than recommending one large print of this photo above the bed, I instead wanted to hang 5 identical photos across the wall for the feeling of being surrounded by the trees. To help offset the cost of ordering five 18×24″ prints, we ordered them unframed, and then purchased nice white frames at Aaron Brothers during one of their semi-annual “buy a frame, get one for a penny” sales.

I also wanted to add some other art in the room that would bring in more shades of deep, rich blues. I was searching for a modern representation of nature to balance the photography, and found exactly what I wanted in these coordinating ombre art prints of mountains and trees. I recommended one for the bedroom, and one for the bathroom as a way of tying these two spaces together.

CHOOSE SIMPLE LINENS

When it comes to picking bedding, I advise choosing a simple duvet cover or bedspread. If you choose a pattern, keep in a minimal so that you’re less likely to tire of it quickly. You can always add more color or pattern with throw pillows that can be updated easily over time.

For my client’s master bedroom, I wanted a light colored duvet to help offset the navy wall behind the bed. I choose this Belgian Flax Linen Ikat Stripe bedding because the pattern is subtle and has a modern, yet traditional feel.

REPLACE DRAWER KNOBS

Replacing the knobs and pulls on your existing furniture is one of the fastest ways to give it a new look on a budget. Decorative knobs and pulls are like jewelry for your furniture, and just like the accessories we choose for ourselves, they can be understated or can make a bold statement about our style and personality. By simply updating your hardware, you can instantly help adapt your furniture to the new style  you want in your room. I have a list of my favorite resources for affordable decorative knobs & pulls.

For my client’s bedroom, we chose these Twig brushed brass knobs to update the look of their existing nightstands, dresser, and chest of drawers. The brass will stand out nicely against the wood tone of the furniture, and the “twig” style is a modern twist on the outdoorsy inspiration for the room.

LAYER IN ACCESSORIES

Accessories make the difference between a room that looks nice and one that looks decorated. They add the finishing touches that give a room that layered look that makes it feel complete. It’s important to get the scale of the accessories right. People often make the mistake of choosing lots of small accessories that end up looking more like tchotchkes cluttering the surfaces of the furniture. Instead, choose a few larger accessories, and group them together for a bigger impact. You’ll see in the design plans below the groupings of vases I recommended for my client’s bedroom.

UPDATE THE LIGHTING

When updating the lighting in your bedroom, focus first on the task lighting. Choose nightstand lamps that provide enough light to allow you to see clearly if you want to read in bed, but with a soft enough light that you can still wind down and relax.

If your bedroom already has decent ceiling ligthing, then updating the general lighting is likely not a necessary expense. However, if you have room in the budget, swapping out a generic ceiling fixture for a chandelier is a great way to make a statement.

My clients wanted to update both their task and overhead lighting, so I recommended these etched table lamps and sputnik-style chandelier for some touches of glam.

CONSIDER REPLACING THE HEADBOARD

While matching bedroom sets were once considered a sign that you were a real adult, they now often feel a bit dated. Replacing just the headboard is a quick way to give your bedroom set a current look without spending too much. You can find lots of affordable options for every style, often for under $250.

My clients really wanted to add the look of reclaimed wood in their space, so I recommended swapping out the headboard. I was looking for something with a nice variety of dark and light wood – the dark to tie in with their existing furniture, and the light for contrast against the dark navy wall behind the bed. These were some of the options we considered. The first, second, and fourth were just to expensive, but options three and five provided the style we were after without busting the budget.

HOW THE PLANS CAME TOGETHER

Now that I’ve walked you through the full design process, I’m excited to show you how the plans for my client’s master bedroom came together. You’ll remember that the goal for this room was to incorporate the homeowner’s love of the outdoors into a modern and sophisticated space with a cozy vibe. The full source list is below the renderings.

The bed will be relocated to the angled wall, which will be painted navy blue. The existing nightstands will flank the bed with new lamps, and the bed will get a new reclaimed wood headboard and simple gray and white bedding. Five identical aspen photos will hang in a row above the bed, and a new chandelier will add additional light and a touch of glam style. Since we couldn’t fit a chair into the space plan with all of the existing furniture, we instead opted for an upholstered bench at the end of the bed.

We’ll give the homeowner’s bedroom furniture a new look buy replacing the drawer knobs with new brass twig-inspired hardware. Rather than a traditional full-size mirror above the dresser, we went with a round mirror offset to one side for an updated look. Navy and white art and textural vases in navy and white will add layers of style to the space.

SOURCE LIST FOR DESIGN PLANS

The post How to Redecorate a Bedroom without Replacing the Furniture appeared first on Blue i Style.

I’m so smitten with the gorgeous set of blue and white porcelain bowls that I picked up {here are some similar ones you might like}. They fit perfectly in the triangles and they are just the right size for containing all the small things I need, like my earbuds and fit bit. These bowls are also a great place for me to put my earrings and wedding ring while I’m working out.

In the other triangles I have my wrist/ankle weights, some rolled up white hand towels, fitness balls, and a blue lotus and cherry blossom scented candle in a cute blue and white jar {here are similar blue and white candles}.

The punched pattern in my metal hamper gives it soft and feminine look, but don’t be fooled – this thing is heavy duty. It’s really heavy and sturdy {way heavier than it looks}! This makes it perfect for storing my weighted body bars, but if you use hamper that’s not quite as heavy duty, be sure to lean your body bars or weights into a corner.

SHOP THE STYLE OF THIS SMALL SPACE WORKOUT ROOM

Some of the items I used in our space are no longer available from World Market, but I have found similar replacements for each.

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