Primary Bedroom Refresh

Our primary bedroom refresh was a much needed one. You can see what it looked like before here. The room is huge, has two sitting areas off of it, three tiny windows on one wall and uneven spacing. Our carpet throughout the 2nd floor is brown and bland (we’re hoping to replace it after the pandemic when we redo the primary bathroom with Alexander James). The room gets lots of natural glowy light, but it always has a very warm glow based off the reflection of neighboring houses. There were two main things that had to happen in our primary bedroom refresh: add some color and fill the weird nooks.

 

 

HOW WE PAINTED THE STRIPE

 

The walls felt massive and sprawling, so last year, my mom came over and we painted this color blocked stripe around the whole room. We measured 18 inches up from the base board, then took a yard stick and measured another 36 inches up for the top of the stripe. We placed pencil marks at each measurement every 12 inches or so around the room. Then we took painters tape (we love Frog Tape in the 1.88 inch) and carefully taped off the top line and the bottom line. The trick to getting a crisp, perfect line when painting a color block stripe is to paint a coat of the original wall color first, then paint the color block. This is key because when you peel back the paint, any bleed will be the color of the wall, not the stripe.

 

Next, we took a 4.5 inch paint roller and painted stripe in Lambs Ear by Valspar. It took me four tries to get the color I wanted, so we tested it in a corner hidden behind the door to the room before committing. Lambs Ear was the perfect mushroom color that didn’t have too much yellow and wasn’t too dark.

 

 

WHY WE ROTATED THE ROOM

 

You can see in the before pictures, we used to center the bed under the weird tiny windows. The problem is, those weird tiny windows are centered on the span of the wall, which includes the weird nook. So no matter what, there was an extra amount of space on the right hand side with was too large to go unnoticed and too small to add a small sitting area.

Further, we had this beautiful four poster bed that didn’t square up with the ceiling fan, and it just always felt off. By rotating the bed to the other wall, we get to look out the french doors, the bed is centered on the wall, and we feed up some space for the dressers under the windows.

 

HOW I UPDATED THE FURNITURE IN THE PRIMARY BEDROOM

 

I swapped the bed for this rattan, low profile one instead. It’s super affordable, has twice as many supports underneath than our previous one, and just feels super sturdy. I have plans to repurpose my previous headboard cushion on this bed but wanted to capture it before I added that!

Additionally, I moved our nightstand dressers next to each other in the window niche, which created one long, beautiful console. They were too tall for the new bed, and too large on this wall. I LOVE this change so much. It feels so much more intentional, frames the windows, and feels like more substantial furniture. This one is similar, but I think this one is particularly beautiful.

 

HOW I CREATED BALANCE + FUNCTION

 

I wanted our room to serve more practically, so instead of the expected 2 nightstands, I put a desk on my side of the bed. When I ordered it, I had no idea just how useful it would be during this time of shelter-in-place. It’s actually a kid’s desk, but is full size and has the prettiest denim color and brass details. I love the wrap around piece on the back that just feels so custom. I use this desk as a vanity to get ready (with this tabletop mirror) or as a desk with my laptop. It provides the perfect amount of storage and is so nice to have a private place to work that’s not the dining table.

Because the adjacent night stand was shorter, I opted for hanging sconces instead of table lamps. This freed up a lot of space on Quinn’s side and makes the space feel more balanced. I had originally bought these for the living room, didn’t love them there, but think they’re perfect here!

 

Finally, I swapped out our trusty bleached jute rug for this more colorful wool version. Guys, this rug is luuuuuxury. I am so wildly impressed with it, at a very reasonable price point. It’s thick and heavy, feels amazing on my feet, and lays perfectly on top of the carpet. I know it’s backordered often, so I’m linking this option as well which is just as beautiful. Overall, I’m so happy with how this space has come together, and it’s proof that sometimes slow and steady is the way it’s gotta be. You have to live in a space for a while to know how it should function.

 

BUT WAIT, WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER NOOK?

 

If you’ve been following for a while, you know I turned that other nook into my closet. And an office. Then it was empty because I moved into a new office. I had considered building in a window seat and adding a sliding door. But I wasn’t ready to commit because we may make this into a nursery some day. So, in my nightly Facebook Marketplace scrolling, I found these beautiful club chairs and knew they were perfect. Kennedy has adopted them as hers and spends most of her day sun bathing in them. I paired them with an end table from the Studio McGee x Target collab and think it’s such a cute space now! Can you imagine, using a reading nook for reading?

So what do you guys think? I’m pretty happy with the overall makeover! I’d love to hear your thoughts or answer any questions.

 

 

SHOP OUR PRIMARY BEDROOM