If you’ve been following me for awhile, you know that about one year ago I started renovating my apt. Today I’m beyond excited to start sharing the result. First up I’m revealing my bedroom makeover!
Let me take a quick step back and give you a bit of history. I moved into my current apartment almost 11 years ago and brought all my old furniture with me. And when I say old, I’m not kidding; some of the pieces were from 2001 when I graduated college (yikes)! My plan was to slowly replace all the furniture and makeover the apartment. I started doing just that and had made a few purchases when I made a major life choice. I decided to stop working as a lawyer and pursue a career (in an industry I loved) as a personal stylist and fashion, style, and beauty blogger. Knowing that my income would decrease dramatically, I halted all new purchases for the apartment and put all my money towards building my new business.
Years passed and before I knew it I was approaching my 10th year anniversary of having moved into my apartment; a perfect time to finally tackle my apartment makeover! First on the to do list – hiring an interior decorator to help me with the process. And I knew just the person I wanted: Taylor Spellman. I was a huge fan of her ideas and work that she posted on Instagram and knew we would be a great match. As they say the rest is history.
Without question, my bedroom was the biggest project we tackled. Remember that furniture from 2001? Well two of those pieces were the dressers in my bedroom and let’s just say they were in awful condition. Several of the drawers wouldn’t close and one of the drawers had to sit on the floor next to the dresser because the rolling mechanism broke (awkward). Add in the paint color on the walls, no lights, and the dusty blinds, and the overall result was depressing. Don’t think it was that bad? See for yourself!
In fact, I hated my bedroom so much that I literally didn’t sleep in it for over two years and opted to sleep on the sofa instead. So, it should come as no surprise that when I decided to makeover my apartment I told Taylor that I wanted my new bedroom to feel like a cozy sanctuary.
In order to give Taylor a clearer understanding of my vision, I searched for bedroom inspiration photos online to share with her. All the images I liked had the following characteristics in common – a light color palette, slight accents of pink, and furniture that was a mix of modern and vintage inspired pieces. Using this information, Taylor sourced several paint color options for the bedroom walls (I chose Cloud White an off-white, warm white). She also suggested wallpapering the back wall to add dimension and character to the room. I LOVE the wallpaper Taylor found. It’s tough to see in the photo, but the wallpaper is textured, and the color is a beautiful mix of copper, dusty pink, and cream.
After not sleeping in my bed for over two years, you can imagine that the bed was a really important decision to me. I tried out several mattresses and my clear favorite was the Tempur-Pedic Cloud Supreme Breeze Memory foam mattress. The mattress was the most expensive item I purchased for the bedroom (and come to think of it, the most expensive I purchased in the entire apartment makeover), but factoring in the lifespan of a mattress and the amount of time spent in bed, I felt it was worthwhile. Finding the perfect mattress was only half of the equation. Just as important (and perhaps even moreso) was finding the bed frame and headboard for the mattress. I cannot adequately put into words just how excited I was when I saw the white velvet bed Taylor sourced. I seriously love everything about it – the shape, the fabric, the gold legs. It is by far one of my favorite pieces that I have in my entire apartment!
Of course white velvet isn’t the most practical of fabrics, so I decided to have it protected (along with a few of the other pieces I purchased for my apartment). Taylor recommended Fiber Seal and so I hired them. [A quick note on Fiber Seal: I would whole heartedly recommend their services if you need to protect furniture or rugs in your apartment/home. After their initial visit to protect the pieces, they have continued to follow up every few weeks to see if I need any spot cleaning or services (which is all free of charge for 18 months). I have literally never had a company be so proactive in offering their assistance, much less when that assistance is free of charge!].
Another crucial part of the the bedroom makeover was lighting (one of the biggest reasons I hated my bedroom was because of how dim and dark it was). For the main source of light, we chose track lighting (as opposed to floor lamps) in order to save space. For ambient lighting I was deciding between placing table lamps on the side tables and sconces. Taylor felt sconces were the best choice for two reasons. First, I knew I wanted mismatched side tables and lamps can look awkward when the side tables are different heights, whereas sconces would look much cleaner. Second, table lamps take up a lot of surface space on a side table. I am SO happy I listened to Taylor’s advice because the sconces are one of my favorite things in the bedroom. I love the character and charm they add to the room and of course having the added room on the bed side tables for fun décor!
Speaking of side tables, as I said earlier I knew I wanted mismatching side tables. For the entire apartment I wanted the feeling that it was a well curated space with both new and modern features as well as “found” pieces that gave the space more character. Finding the side tables was one of the hardest parts of this bedroom makeover. Let me just say there are a LOT of side tables out there and I came up with some wacky combinations. Luckily Taylor was there to reign me in and give me some guidelines; the most of important of which was that even though the side tables may be mismatched, they still need to share some elements in common. We had already chosen the wooden dresser, which I wanted to balance with more modern side tables, so I decided to make the marble finish and gold accents the common thread between them.
Of course no bedroom would be complete without the finishing touches. We chose to place a dusty pink rug under the bed to make the room feel more cozy and also bring in the pink accents I wanted. We also replaced the blinds with curtains, which was a small change that had a HUGE impact on the overall vibe of the bedroom!
The final piece we chose for the bedroom was the mirror. I’ve always loved antique gold mirrors and I knew I wanted one in the apartment. Taylor made the brilliant suggestion of placing the mirror over the bed, which I love! Not only does the mirror add a Parisian vibe, but functionally it opens up the space and brings in more natural light.
So there you have it! I know I didn’t go into detail about the dresser and some of the decorative pieces (this post was getting insanely long) but if you have any questions or want me to do another post and talk about them I’m happy to. I’ve linked to all the pieces below, but if I’ve missed something you want me to source definitely let me know. Also feel free to let me know if you have any questions about the pieces I purchased, the overall process, etc!
{Paint: Benjamin Moore (Cloud White in Eggshell Finish) | Wallpaper:Decorative Guild | Bed: CB2 | Bedding: Snowe (c/o) | Comforter: Snowe (c/o) | Mattress: Tempur-Pedic | White Decorative pillows: Crate & Barrel | Pink Velvet Pillow: West Elm | Mudcloth Pillow: Etsy | Knit Blanket: Sarah Lou (c/o) | Pajamas: Equipment (c/o) | Sleepmask: Outnet (c/o) | Sconces: Restoration Hardware | Track Lighting: WAC Lighting | Side Table #1: Nuevo| Side Table #2: Lulu and Georgia| Stone Bowl on Side Table:Lillian August | Pink Planter: Urban Outfitters | Faux Succulent: Crate & Barrel | Books on Side Table: Bulgari, Chanel | Candle: Snowe (c/o) | Agate Coasters: Anthropologie | Picture Frame: Isaac Jacobs | Wooden Dresser: West Elm | Gold Canisters on Dresser: McGee & Co.| Books on Dresser: Lanvin, Fashion, Vionnet | TV: LG | Rug: West Elm | Curtains: Crate & Barrel (shade ivory) | Curtain Rod and End Caps: Restoration Hardware | Mirror: Restoration Hardware}
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