Sometimes you just need a fresh start
It was two years ago that I stood in my bedroom doorway staring blank-faced at the space I had lived in my entire life. Squeezed into the compact room were a narrow twin-sized bed, a tall dresser, a secretary desk and a little nightstand. With chic accessories scattered here and there and a stack of books on every available surface, the area was overspilling with my personality. So where was the problem? Well, that’s just it—there wasn’t one. Nothing was wrong with my bedroom and yet it didn’t feel like it was reflective of me anymore.
Perhaps it was the fact that I had been confined to the space for almost 10 months during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that forced Ontarians into their homes. Or maybe it was simply that as I was set to celebrate another birthday in lockdown, I had outgrown the baby blue walls and cramped layout. Either way, I decided that my room needed a modern upgrade. (Just take a look—it kind of did, right?)
So without a second thought, I hopped onto Pinterest in search of bedroom inspiration. And it didn’t take me long to create a board titled “Bedroom Design” with a clear aesthetic of what I envisioned for my room. White minimalism is what I called it, taking a page right out of the Scandinavian design playbook.
The Scandinavian interior style is known for its simple and clean design that gives any space a light and airy feel. This is typically achieved through neutral walls, wooden elements, simple decor and soft pops of colour—all of which I wanted for my space. And with a mental concept of my bedroom aesthetic and plenty of online inspiration, I created a digital mockup of how this minimalist theme would translate into my small room.
The problem with the digital mockup
I started with the creamy white walls, sheer white curtains and a wicker chandelier, which were all non-negotiable musts. Just these few elements were already bringing my vision to life, but changing the wall colour and adding some new textiles and accessories wasn’t enough of a change for me. Something was missing in my digital drawing that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
I went back to my Pinterest board and asked myself what it was about all these bedrooms that made me save them to my page in the first place? Sure, they all had white walls, light furniture and dreamy decor, but there had to be more. As I scrolled for what felt like hours, it finally hit me: it was the open layout of the rooms that made them spacious and inviting—even if they were as compact as mine. That’s what I needed to take my space to the next level. Up until that point I hadn’t realized that my sleigh bed (pictured below), which had always been pushed up against the wall by my bedroom door, was actually making the space feel constricted and hard to maneuver.
So with my mom by my side, we got to work rearranging my furniture until we found the setup that made my room feel bigger. But, of course, this task was far from smooth sailing. We ran into several problems, these being:
1) My room is really small so there was only so much we could do in repositioning my bulky furniture
2) I have a set of french doors opposite my bedroom entrance that takes up the majority of the wall and it also limited much of my rearranging possibilities.
Really, I had only one option: pushing my tall dresser up against the French door wall, rotating the end of my bed so that it now rests against the adjacent wall and moving my nightstand to the right of my bed where the footboard once stood. It wasn’t a perfect setup, but it was a start. I kept this positioning for a few days to get used to the new layout and boy did it take some disoriented mornings to finally adjust to the change. In the span of a few days, I created a mockup of what the new arrangement, white walls and modern decor would look like altogether (see below!).
It was safe to say that I absolutely loved it. I added a few minor adjustments, like swapping the spots for the dresser and my desk and adding in a full-length mirror to fill the space between my nightstand and bedroom door. I’ve always wanted a standing mirror so that quickly became another must. With a finalized plan and parents who were willing to help me turn my concept into a reality, I was ready to begin the makeover.
First on the agenda was deciding on a paint colour. I’ll spare you the gruelling details of going back and forth on three colours that looked more or less the same. How I eventually chose the colour didn’t come down to undertones or colour stories. (Confused? So was my mother.) Instead, I picked the colour based on its name: ’Greek Villa.’ Doesn’t that just sound so dreamy? I sure thought so and without another internal debate, I went with my dad to pick up two cans from Sherwin-Williams.
To paint or not to paint
Once we brought the paint home, the next hurdle arrived. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always had a strip of moulding (which I just only recently learned was picture rail) that runs across all four walls. It divides the length of the walls a little more than three-quarters up and is typically used to suspend picture frames without the need for nails or hooks—hence the name. Although I’ve never suspended any decor from it, I’ve kept it all these years and with it came another dilemma: should I paint the space above the moulding or leave it white as it’s always been?
The answer was an easy one for me before I even brought the Greek Villa cans home: paint everything—including the upper walls and moulding. My parents, however, weren’t so on board with the idea. Not only would doing this be a lot of work, but they also pointed out that keeping the wall space above the moulding a crisp white (the same as the ceiling) would help make my space feel both brighter and larger. It took a lot of convincing on their part but eventually I caved and I’m so glad that I did.
Although the two coats of ‘Greek Villa’ on all four walls do a great job in brightening my room, keeping the moulding and upper walls white makes them seem as if they’re an extension of the ceiling. In doing so, the walls feel so much taller than they really are and draw the eye upward. Even with all my furniture back in my bedroom, the space still seems so much more open—or at least as spacious as can be. Take a look below at the new wall colour and my furniture in their new positioning.
Truth be told, my room still seemed a little hard to maneuver and the footboard of the bed frame was a huge part of this. But with a few adjustments—which I’ll detail in the next part of my bedroom facelift—it looks like a completely new space.
If you’ve made it this far, I want to give a big thanks for reading all about my process. Be sure to check out part two of my bedroom transformation which includes my personal decorating approach with a complete product list and of course details my final results that I’m so excited to share. Hope to see you there! 🙂
Paper & Lore 