Style Spotlight: Bedroom Revamp
It’s the Little Things That Make a Difference
The room I spend the most time in, and yet, the one that always seems last in line for decor I love: the master bedroom. Probably because so many of those hours are spent in the dark, asleep. If your bedroom is anything like mine, it’s become the catch-all spot for whatever might not have a dedicated space at that moment. It’s out of the way, guests don’t see it, and we just sort of live with the clutter. My master bedroom could use a little work.
Photo by Drew Beamer on Unsplash
It hit home just how ignored the master bedroom was when we moved last fall. Suddenly, I had a blank slate and the opportunity to start from scratch. But let’s be real: I’m a girl on a budget, so a full-on bedroom redesign isn’t in the cards. We decided we had three goals for this new bedroom:
Get rid of the clutter!
Add bedside lighting that matches and works for both of us.
Brighten it up.
So, clutter. The biggest thing there is to stop tossing stuff into the master that doesn’t belong there. The next thing is clearing surfaces. Added a few shelves and bins in the closet (bigger in this house, yay!) and that made clearing dresser and chest tops easy. Rearranged to get phone and tablet charging off of our nightstands, which helped SO MUCH in terms of keeping the room looking clean and streamlined.
Bedside lighting – this is where it got fun. My husband likes bright light at the bedside, my eyes are super-sensitive and exposed bulbs or weak shades/diffusers are a big no-go for me. In service of cutting clutter, we decided plug-in wall sconces were going to be our solution here. We just had to agree on a style. He wanted simple and functional, I wanted stylish and eye-catching. His suggestion was something like this classic swing arm wall lamp. Nothing wrong with it, but it’s nothing I’m getting excited about. I countered with this cool floating orb style, but he hated it. Cue my sad tears. But I get it, he’s a simple guy and these would definitely stand out every time he walked into the bedroom.
A few long conversations later, he really wanted something adjustable for reading in bed. I really wanted a contemporary look and soft illumination. What’d we end up with? A pair of these:
He gets adjustable, I get a great diffuser (and added a dimmer!) and we both get the coordinated and composed look we were going for.
Our final task -- brightening up the bedroom -- took a little creativity because of the things we decided NOT to change. Namely the dark gray blackout curtains and medium gray quilt paired with black finish furniture. His suggestion was to add some white pillows to the bed. Sure, that’d help, but it’s boring. I ended up just coming home with throw pillows similar to these bright yellow, geometric beauties and trusting he wasn’t too invested in the pillows he tosses on the floor before crawling in bed at night. (Spoiler alert: He isn’t.)
The last major thing was a little more time consuming, but still fun. We created our own art with four fun frames, each with a different shade of yellow to create an ombre effect. We painted the frame and a panel to go inside in each of the four shades, and then hung them side by side to span the width of the bed. Simple, clean, modern, and definitely brightens up the bedroom!
Final verdict? Easy changes that didn’t require too much cash and I LOVE the results.