Sadly, many homeowners focus on the main living areas of their home and neglect their own bedrooms. It can be hard to justify decorating a private space few others will see. However, the bedroom is your personal haven. I believe the bedroom is one of the most important spaces in a home to decorate. It should be a welcoming, relaxing, wrap-you-up-in-pure comfort space.
Recently, I had the pleasure of creating a Trouble Spot Plan for a client’s master bedroom. There were several things she liked about her room, but she said it just did not feel pulled together. The main trouble spot was the focal wall behind the bed. The main focus of my recommendations were for this area. Based on my client’s wishes for the space, I created two mood boards for the room.
Mood Boards
The main mood board depicts a collection of decor to address the focal wall trouble spot, as well as items to sprinkle throughout the rest of the room to pull the whole look together. The client had a beautiful duvet she wanted to keep in the space. It had an oversized floral/nature pattern with pops of color. With such a great presence on the duvet, I wanted the rest of the items near the bed to add to the look, not distract from it.
The second mood board, was what I call the Swap Options board. I design it to give client’s alternative suggestions to items on the main mood board. Overall, the items coordinate and can be mixed and matched with the main mood board items. I love giving a curated group of options, so clients can truly choose what appeals to them. My role is to curate the options and pull together a coordinated look.
Room Mockups
When developing the mood boards, I sometimes use Photoshop to test out ideas. In this case, I did two complete mockups for the client to show her what options from the main mood board and the swap options board would look like in her space. This helps visually show the client the impact the recommended changes would have.
The mockup below suggests a traditional update with matching table lamps and a monogram cut out above the bed. I really liked the idea of a round object above the bed to break up the boxiness of the headboard and nightstands. I originally tried more colorful lamp bases, but they were too distracting. Instead, I opted for a beautiful hammered metal for a little shimmer, but not enough to steal the show.
In the second mockup, I suggested a large teak slab as a piece of art above the bed. My client loves branches and birds. I thought this slab was a neat way to bring in a natural element and a big statement. It effortlessly goes with the other nature elements in the space. It draws the eye up to the wall behind the bed, but at the same time it does not take away from the beautiful duvet cover. Notice I also masked over those dark euro pillows in a lighter neutral color. The dark brown pillows just looked so heavy and dark.
I also love the pendant lights over the nightstands. They sort of remind me of cool, mod bird cages. By hanging pendants over the nightstands instead of using table lamps, you free up a lot of surface area on the nightstands. A nightstand with a lamp and stack of books looks cluttered pretty fast. A nightstand with a stack of books and pendant light hanging above looks amazing. The trick to pulling this look off is to hang the pendant lights lower than normal. The pendants should hang at the same height as a lampshade would be on a table lamp.
DIY Ideas
I feel pretty strongly that every space should include a DIY project or two. Not only can DIY projects help save money, but they also make a space more personal and meaningful. For this client, I created a DIY ideas board to inspire my client to DIY instead of buy. In this case, I found several great DIY tutorials to replicate items I suggested on the mood boards.
BONUS: Gallery Wall Arrangement
As a bonus for this client, I mocked up some tweaks to her gallery wall. She had a good start on one between the windows. I could tell she was trying to fill up the space by spreading the items out, but the result just made the gallery wall less impactful. For items to appear as a grouping, they should be no more than a couple inches apart. Two inches apart is good spacing for frames in a gallery wall.
I virtually rearranged my client’s gallery wall. With the closer spacing and the addition of few frames, the look is much more cohesive. Again, I created two different options for her. One added a rustic touch with the live wood frame. The other included a more sleek look with a few extra white framed art prints.
If you want to start a gallery wall and only have a few small frames to start with, don’t spread them out. It will look disjointed. Just cluster them together on the wall. It will start as a small grouping, but then you can keep adding to it and allow it to grow to fill the wall.
Note: Out of respect to my clients, I share client designs, but I do not share the source information.
Have a space you need help with?
My mood boards are like a visual shopping list for your perfect room. In addition to the mood board, I include a free DIY ideas board for the room. Get yours here.
