When searching for design inspiration, one of my favorite things to do is scroll through Apartment Therapies' Home Tours. Apartment Therapy is a great resource when you need affordable, functional, and yet still aesthetically pleasing ideas. Unlike most design magazines, which feature multi-million dollar homes, Apartment Therapy often features the cutesy little apartments of your average Joe. It doesn't matter if you have dingy linoleum floors or dated cabinets... If you made the space work and the design is worth sharing, you can have a spot on their blog.
In addition to their wonderful Home Tours, Apartment Therapy is a treasure-trove of practical advice. One such tidbit of useful information was an article on selecting paint colors. The article suggested color shades based on the room's orientation and lighting. For example, you may paint a north-facing room an entirely different color than a eastward facing room. To my surprise, the article actually recommended avoiding light colors--like white, pale grey, or tan--in north facing rooms. Apparently the limited direct sunlight can render the pale colors a bit yellowy. Instead, they recommended using darker, moody shades. Charcoal greys, browns, navy blues, even blacks (if you dare.)
I suppose the philosophy is a bit devil-may-care. You don't have much direct sunlight; the room is going to be dark anyway...So you may as well make the darkness a dramatic statement.
Eyebrows raised, I realized this yellowing issue was probably the reason our bedroom color bothered me so much. The cream-in-coffee tan--while lovely throughout the rest of the house--seemed a completely different color in our bedroom. It just looked...blah. I decided to test out Apartment Therapy's advice by going with a bold dark color.
And so, without further ado, here is our bedroom reveal. Dun-dun-DUN!!
What I would still like to do:
- Buy blackout shades for the windows. At first, our new curtains did the trick. But since the City of Frederick decided to erect new light-posts downtown, the front of our house has been illuminated with all the wattage of the Second Coming. I've been eyeing this pair.
- Buy an area rug for the foot of the bed. Mark is a staunch fan of carpet in the bedroom. I much prefer hardwood or laminate floors. To compromise, I'm letting him keep his carpet and hoping for a pretty area rug to hide said carpet. I like this and this.
- Replace the painting over the dresser. (Maybe). I love that painting--so I'll most likely use it elsewhere in the house. I'm thinking I may replace it with two sleekly framed photographs.
The only major changes were paint color, window treatments, and bedding. So, an easy weekend redo with relatively low cast...yet it still delivered a big-impact change. Let us know in the comments below what you think about our bedroom's new look! I personally love it!
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