Hope you all had a wonderful Easter.  Now we can wear white shoes and all that, so it’s officially springtime!  So let’s start the week with a colorful bedroom makeover.   This bedroom is in the home of one of my favorite clients.

My client is a vivacious lady with a great eye for color.  She already had chosen a really great blue for her walls when she was going through her “beachy phase.”  It’s a wonderful color, and she wanted to make it more lively with the introduction of yellow accessories.  Where she really needed help was in a new arrangement of her furniture and accessories.  I hope you’ll see what a huge difference that can make.  Here is the before:

Here’s the after of this area of the room:

What you just saw is the view from when you walk through the door.  Previously, her antique pie safe was the main focal point.  It is a beautiful piece, but I am a firm believer that the bed should be the focal point of a bedroom.  So the first thing I did was re-orient the room to make the bed the focal point.  Then the pie safe was placed in the next most prominent space.  I created a cozy seating area with an upholstered garage sale chair and a cushioned rattan chair in the part of the room where the bed was previously.  Below you’ll see the before of the area of the room to the right as you enter:

The traditional end tables and small lamps weren’t really working for me, and the painting wasn’t large enough above the bed.  She had picked bedding and window treatments that definitely matched the wall color, but lacked any lively contrast.  Below you’ll see how I placed the pie safe on this wall and created a conversation area.  We gathered artwork from around her home to create art groupings that move your eye around the room.

Now, if you stand at the back of the room and face the doorway, this is the before:

My client obviously loves art, but the arrangement lacked cohesion and meaning.  Below is the after shot from this angle of the room.  You’ll see that everything is placed with a purpose, and is cohesive, interesting, and peaceful to the eye.

The side of the room that was viewed from the door was cluttered and overwhelming.  It is always important that the entrance into a room is clear and open.  This sets the tone for the room and impacts your perception of its size.

Although we kept the dresser and television on this side of the room, the trunk found a new home as a coffee table in another room and most of the clutter was removed.  In this pic, the door to the left is the entrance.  Now the room looks huge – open, peaceful, and welcoming.

In a few action-packed hours, this bedroom was transformed into a springtime oasis of comfort and peace.   Don’t you want to just walk right in and relax?