Let’s Turn Beige Into Beautiful
Our bedroom was honestly my least favorite room In our house when we first moved In. It Is overwhelmingly large – It could be a quarter of the size and function perfectly so It felt like a ton of wasted space. I have always loved using every square inch of my home, so this has been an adjustment. We moved from a smaller home so our furniture was smaller and we didn’t have a lot of It so that didn’t help the scale of the room by any means. Upon moving In, we purchased a larger bed to help fill the space better. I opted for a canopy bed so It would fill some vertical space as well and It made a big difference. Our bedroom also has a nook off to the side that functions as a sitting room – which we haven’t needed because we don’t have enough furniture for It truthfully, so It’s been a giant empty space for a year now. This brings us to the design choices….
Deciding On A Design
I wanted our bedroom to feel calm but also moody and beautiful. It’s a place for us to retreat and reset after the long days and share details of the fun and exciting ones. The room was large enough to hold a bold color and a pattern so we decided early on that we wanted wallpaper on the wall behind the bed to add some visual Interest.
We then pulled a number of paint colors (5) from the wallpaper that could work to paint the rest of the room. We were deciding between blues and greens (my favorites) and landed on a moody blue color from Sherwin Williams called Poolhouse. We hesitated because picturing the entire room, Including the nook, In this color felt like too much. So we opted to paint the nook a warm white, the classic Sherwin Williams’ Alabaster. I was so happy with how this felt like a separate cozy space all on its own and not lost In the size of the bedroom altogether.
Before we knew we wanted wallpaper, I was confident we needed some box molding on the walls of this room. I knew It would elevate the space and help add some detail to the large blank walls. With the trim, wallpaper, and paint colors, our bedroom feels like a totally different space, one I’m excited to start each day In. Eventually we will get some sitting chairs for the nook and a larger dresser to fit the space better, but we aren’t In a hurry. Slow and steady wins the race 🙂 We have future plans for framed photos and artwork to fill these little framed spaces on the walls and I can’t wait!
Order of Operations
Wallpaper your feature wall.
Be sure to use a wallpaper primer first, and choose your paste and application style based on the paper you purchase and what It suggests. Different wallpapers suggest different application styles – some are peel and stick, some are pre-pasted, some aren’t pasted at all and you have to either apply paste to the wallpaper backing and “booking” it, or applying the wallpaper paste directly to the wall. Always follow the installation instructions on the wallpaper you purchase!
Wallpaper is ALL about patience. It is not in itself a hard thing to do. Make sure you have plenty of time available before you attempt to wallpaper. I’m thinking I’ll do a separate post on how to hang wallpaper with my learnings and tips and tricks!
Paint walls next
Paint trim before cutting or Installing If you can. Be sure to check locations of outlets, light switches, and vents before deciding on a size or layout for trim. I made sure the bottom piece of trim was below all outlets so I wouldn’t have to worry about cutting around them. Use a nail gun to Install the trim – I don’t like using any adhesive for these because one day, your style may change and you may want to remove them. Adhesive makes It permanent because It can cause damage to your walls when removing.
Make sure to caulk along all seams between trim and your wall for a seamless finish. The most Important step Is the most boring and tedious (isn’t It always?). And use wood filler to fill all nail holes from Installation and corner seams.
Fresh coat of paint over everything after trim Is Installed and you’re finished!
Sources
- Bed
- Wallpaper
- Paint – Sherwin Williams Poolhouse
- Paint – Sherwin Williams Alabaster
- Trim
- Wallpaper Paste
- Wallpaper Primer
- Duvet Cover
- Caulk
- Wood Filler
