old country house blog

5 STEPS TO A BEDROOM MAKEOVER

DOMAINE HOME GOLD AND WHITE
DOMAINE HOME GOLD AND WHITE

PHOEBE’S BEDROOM MAKEOVER IS IN THE PLANNING STAGE

1. GATHER INSPIRATION FROM EVERYWHERE – This is the stage when there is NO WRONG ANSWER -. you will weed things and colors and patterns out later…but STAGE ONE…(which is some cases can last months…sometimes, in very procrastinary CASESI made up a new word – THIS stage can last …well, forever. BUT in a perfect makeover world this stage would last a few weeks to a few months as you comb the internet, stores, those stacks of magazines you have, look through ART books and ask friends what they like, take walks outside and on the beach and visit museums and watch movies…BASICALLY EVERYTHING is possible inspiration…take it all in and let the creative process roll!

INSPIRATION IS EVERYWHERE!

INSPIRATION IS EVERYWHERE!- STYLE ME PRETTY
INSPIRATION  STYLE ME PRETTY

FYI –  A USEFUL place for Color inspiration are believe it or not – WEDDING SITES!!!!!! –  PINTEREST is overflowing with innovative and colorful DIY ideas…but generally speaking, Delicately planned weddings are designed to the tiniest detail and often the colors are a good indicator or what is BIG at the moment!

gold-and-white-copy
Exclusively Weddings Blog – “what color is your wedding”
MOD WEDDING
MOD WEDDING
DANIELLE MOSS - CAITLIN WILSON DESIGN
ART AND COLOR INSPIRATION – DANIELLE MOSS – CAITLIN WILSON DESIGN
HOUZZ - Kristin Peake Interiors, LLC Architects & Building Designers
SO MUCH INSPIRATION HERE!!!!  HOUZZ – Kristin Peake Interiors, LLC
Architects & Building Designers

THIS PAINTING HAS PROVIDED ME WITH TONS OF  INSPIRATION FOR PHOEBE’S NEW ROOM ROOM!

ETSY - ParimaCreativeStudio Original Abstract Paintings, and Fine Art Prints
ETSY – ParimaCreativeStudio
Original Abstract Paintings, and Fine Art Prints

2. MAKE LISTS and COLLECT FAVORITES and FIND YOUR ANCHOR  THE ANCHOR IS THAT UNIFYING PIECE – a wall color,  fabric, wallpaper, a rug, a painting, the thing which unites the ingredients in a common purpose and makes your space grounded –

THIS LARGE CABINET IS THE ANCHOR IN 8 YEAR OLD SCARLETT'S BEDROOM  MAKEOVER -
STYLE AT HOME – THIS LARGE ANTIQUE CABINET MIGHT JUST BE THE ANCHOR IN 8 YEAR OLD SCARLETT’S BEDROOM MAKEOVER !

THEN,  either in your head or on paper or ON A bulletin board or on your phone or computer…COMPILE lists and pages and photographs of things you find that you keep coming back to. Phoebe and I have been sharing photos of rooms she and I see, even simple vignettes in books, scenes in movies – where she will say “MOM! THAT is how I want my room to look!”

THIS DRESSER IS INSPIRING TO ME...SOMETHING ABOUT IT FEELS RELEVANT AND SWEET.
CUCKOO 4 DESIGN – THIS DRESSER MAKEOVER IS INSPIRING TO ME…SOMETHING ABOUT IT FEELS RELEVANT AND SWEET. AND WHILE WE MAY NOT USE THE EXACT IDEA…THESE ARE THE KINDS OF IDEAS I MIGHT COLLECT AS I AM PULLING IT ALL TOGETHER.

3. GET SAMPLES – Once Phoebe came up with the “GOLD AND WHITE – with an accent color to be announced” theme, we stopped looking so broadly and focused our search on fabrics, wallpapers and paint colors that could work with this color scheme. Since she already has 3 white walls and a navy accent wall, we decided to keep that layout. RIGHT now, she thinks she would like the accent wall wallpapered with a Gold and White paper…and we have been gathering samples…most wallpaper companies are GREAT about sending samples…

H2 DESIGN AND BUILD
H2 DESIGN AND BUILD

….we just got these two from HYGEE and WEST –

OH JOY! PETAL PUSHER GOLD
OH JOY! PETAL PUSHER GOLD
DAYDREAM GOLD BY JULIA ROTHMAN
DAYDREAM GOLD BY JULIA ROTHMAN

THIS IS AN IMPORTANT STAGE. SAMPLE SAMPLE SAMPLE.

Quite often, it is only when you see something, a color, a pattern in real life do the wheels start to spin and you may find yourself…either smitten or going off in a totally different direction. When we did Phoebe’s bedroom for her 13th birthday, ONE WEEK before I started her room, AFTER seeing the color we had selected up on her wall…I abandoned my original brown accent wall idea for the navy one we went with…Had I bought all of the paint , without laying samples up first I NEVER would have seen how much better he NAVY would be…Even if you complete ALL of these MAKEOVER steps in one short week, it is worth the extra time to sample colors.

PHOEBE'S ROOM - Photo taken by John Petersik of Young House Love for our HOUSE CRASH and published in the book "DECORATE FEARLESSLY" by Susanna Salk.
PHOEBE’S ROOM – Photo taken by John Petersik of Young House Love for our HOUSE CRASH and published in the book “DECORATE FEARLESSLY” by Susanna Salk.

4. LAY IT ALL OUT TOGETHER – SIMILAR TO  when you collect your ideas in one place, ONCE you have found your unifying anchor, or HAVE decided on your theme, gather all of the ingredients and look at them all side by side, on a bulletin board, in a collage, a notebook…some people call these “story boards” Idea Board, put things someplace that helps you pull it all together.THIS is a GREAT step when you are SAVING for things like expensive wall paper or THAT perfect rug…it make sit more real and accessible…and fun!

CHAIRISH INSPIRED STYLE BOARD - it all started with a CHAIR!
Lay out all of your ideas….WHAT do you think unifies this room? The Chair? The painting? What is the ANCHOR

5. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL YOU HAVE IT ALL TO BEGIN – WHILE YOU gather your MAIN players, the colors and the fabric choices…the smaller ingredients – ART, RUGS, Bedding and Fabric can guide you in the OVERALL PICTURE – Phoebe’s chandelier was added after her room was completed…as were the twin beds…I usually work with what I have and then keep my eyes open for late additions to complete the LOOK. In a perfect world you can BUY IT ALL, but often, budgets dictate a slower pace but I am a STRONG believer in working with what you have and can afford, knowing that you can always pull things in later…otherwise…you may wait forever…and that is just NO FUN!

Urbanchandelier

 and ONE FINAL BONUS STEP –

HAVE FAITH – It never fails- almost every painting I ever paint, almost every makeover I undertake…there is at least a MOMENT where I think – “THIS STINKS! – this will NEVER work!”. It is often not until I have al of the ingredients together does it all start to speak to me…and WORK…Have Faith in the process…be patient with yourself and TRUST that is you TRULY listen to your eyes and your heart – you will make beautiful things happen. Don’t second guess yourself…your first answer is usually right…at the same time..it never hurts to have an extra set of eyes to validate decisions or spot disasters!!!!

AND OH YEAH..HAVE FUN! REMEMBER, IT IS ONLY DECORATING!

1 thought on “5 STEPS TO A BEDROOM MAKEOVER

Comments are closed.