I am SO excited for today’s post!! As some of you know, one of my huge New Year’s resolutions/projects was revamping and re-doing our apartment. We’ve been here for about 5 years now and have finally decided that we will be staying in this place until we leave the bay area someday. I’ve always loved home decor and really making a space your own so I decided to take this revival head on.
The room was painted a dark shade of blue when we moved in and our landlords had painted the ceiling that dark blue too making it feel very small and enclosed. The first step to this room revival (and the longest) was repainting the entire room. Our apartment is very San Francisco in the sense that it’s very limited in space. Moving all of our furniture out to the living room and living with the mess while we repainted was miserable! I love a tidy home so this was probably the worst part of this project for me.
We chose to go with Behr “Sweet Coconut Milk” for the walls and pure white for the ceiling. It took us an entire day to paint 2 coats of primer + 2 coats of paint – such a long process and really tiring. But then the fun part came! Buying all the new furniture and shopping together for our room was such a sweet experience. We watch HGTV all the time so it was great getting to do this mini room renovation together. Before I get to the photos, I wanted to add in some tips/tricks for redecorating on a budget and decorating a small space (our room is 10 x 12).
Re-Decorating Tips & Tricks
- Don’t paint your ceiling! – Leaving the ceiling white will create the illusion that your ceiling is taller than it actually is which creates makes the room feel more open.
- Throw away things you don’t need – This was probably the best part of redoing our space – throwing away all the junk we just don’t use anymore and haven’t touched in years!
- Move around the furniture in your room for the perfect layout – Our bed used to be on the opposite side of the room and it made our room look so tiny. When you walked in your eyes immediately went to our bed instead of the rest of the room. Moving it to the other side allowed more walking space between our desk and dresser and allowed for great flow in our room.
- Splurge on bigger items such as your bed frame, dresser, and desk. It’s better to invest in larger items that you can use for years and bargain hunt for decorative items. We were over the IKEA furniture and just wanted sturdier furniture that wouldn’t break down on us after a few years. Joss & Main/Wayfair are great sites for finding quality furniture at affordable prices. If you’re not on a budget, I love Z Gallerie, West Elm, and Pottery Barn.
- Add in a large mirror – Adding in a large mirror above our dresser really opened up the space in our room. It creates the illusion that our room is bigger than it actually is by playing a trick on your eyes when you first walk in. We got our mirror at Home Goods for $35 – such a steal! I highly recommend checking there for mirrors – other places I checked were almost $80-$100 yikes!
- Try out ghost furniture – Acrylic items like our desk chair created a ton of space in the room. We used to have a large bulky desk chair that was super comfy but unfortunately just a space hog in our room. We traded in for this sleek ghost chair and it added so much walking space!
- Get creative with your storage – Adding in a bar cart or a storage ottoman as storage devices really allowed me to keep our room organized/decluttered while still keeping it stylish.
I am so so so happy with the way our room turned out. I had a very clear vision of what I wanted and I’m so thrilled it all came together so quickly and so well. Daniel was so helpful/supportive during the whole process and I can’t wait to re-do other rooms in our place. (Next stop: the bathroom!)
Hamper: World Market | Desk: Wayfair | Chair: World Market (I was able to just purchase one chair instead of a set in person) | Lamp: Target | Stapler: Target | Photo frames: Home Goods
Bar Cart, Flowers, Book End Cubes, Pen Holder, Mail Holder: Home Goods | The pen and mail holder actually came in different colors but they were so inexpensive at Home Goods and we had extra white paint so we just went home, sanded and refinished it! 🙂
Bed Frame: Joss & Main | Duvet bedding: Ikea | Pillows: Target
Dresser: Joss & Main | Mirror: Home Goods | Storage Ottoman: Target in ‘Heathered Grey’ (I actually store all of my makeup, hair tools, and beauty products in this ottoman! Completely removes clutter from the room since we don’t have space for a nice beauty vanity 😉 )
Wicker Basket & Sign: Home Goods | Candle: Gifted
Framed Board: Home Goods | Candle: Bath & Body in “Hawaiian Hibiscus” (my absolute favorite scent! I’m a little concerned I don’t see it on their website for their spring candle scents.. but Caribbean Escape is a close second 🙂 Also only buy these candles when they’re having their 2 for $24 sale and use their $10 off $30 coupon to save some extra bucks!)
My favorite perfumes: Chanel Chance Eau Tendre (I wear this everyday!!), Versace Bright Crystal, Marc Jacobs Daisy Sunshine (Limited Edition 🙁 ), Escada Sexy Graffiti (Limited Edition 🙁 )
His favorite colognes: Gucci by Gucci & Bleu de Chanel
Flowers: Home Goods (I would really recommend going here for these potted flowers – these ones actually feel real and that way you never have to worry about them dying on you! I save the fresh blooms for the dining room table) | Mirrored Dish: Nicole Miller
My watches: Michael Kors ‘Dylan’ Rose Gold Watch (old) , Nixon Kensington Watch in Gold, Daniel Wellington leather watch | Michael Kors ‘Parker’ Watch in Tortoise/Gold
His watches: Michael Kors Watch (old) similar here | Invicta Watch (old)
Thanks for stopping by and checking out this room renovation blog! Always feels great sharing other parts of my life with you guys other than my closet 😉 XOXO til next time!