A Beige Bedroom Gets a Daring Paint Color (Plus the Coolest DIY Canopy!)

ABOUT THIS BEFORE & AFTER

HOME TYPE: Apartment

PROJECT TYPE: Bedroom

STYLE: Colorful, Eclectic

SKILL LEVEL: DIY

RENTAL FRIENDLY: Yes

Sometimes, landing on the best bedroom design is less about adding in extra stuff and more about editing down what’s there. For example, Tricia Collins (@triciacollins_design) says her bedroom’s transformation was an exercise in paring down.

“The bedroom has been the hardest to get right for a lot of reasons,” Tricia says. “I think mostly because it always felt too chaotic and like we had too many things going on. It was the only room that really had to go through a lot of phases.”

The phases included various headboards, a DIY canopy over the bed, a gallery wall, and wallpaper above the fireplace mantel. While some elements remain (like that cool DIY canopy), the final result is a dark, moody space with a “toned-down design” that “feels like a very calm room to sleep in,” Tricia says.

A plum paint makes a calming sleep space.

The dark, moody paint color du jour is Backdrop’s Lobby Scene, and Tricia says landing on the right paint color helped the whole room come together.

Above the fireplace, where the wallpaper once was, she decided to continue the paint in an hourglass-like silhouette, leaving space for a bright green mural. “The Cupid mural I painted was the final touch, and I really love how it turned out,” she says.

The DIY canopy creates a centerpiece.

Tricia made the canopy above the bed using a gold vintage table “fashioned upside-down as the ‘crown,’” as she describes, and two Marimekko fabric choices. The canopy turns the bed into a focal point and not just a piece of furniture.

At one point, Tricia had her artwork in a gallery wall arrangement, but she says “the symmetry of the matching lamps, bedside tables, and the same-size art on either side of the bed really made it all feel intentional.”

The eclectic furniture works together well.

Tricia says one thing that surprises her is how well the furniture — like the two lacquer dressers and the fabric-covered chair that ties in the other fabrics — work in the room. The Goodwill, estate sale, and alley finds “all found each other over the years,” she says. She and her husband, Will, have collected them over time.

“The bedside tables are mirrored and have the same black lacquer finish as the dresser mirror, but were found at completely different times,” she says. (And the dresser mirror is actually a headboard that Will found. The couple once tried it over their bed but like it better here!)

“I painted a long, low dresser to match and make it feel like one unit,” Tricia explains. “It is one of the coolest and weirdest things we have. I wouldn’t like it as an actual headboard, but as a dresser mirror, I think it’s so cool.”

The rug in the bedroom is another vintage find — it’s over 100 years old! “It’s amazing, they are made so well they can last well over a lifetime,” she says of vintage rugs. Together, all of the elements of the room come together to create a cozy and eclectic space. Take the full tour to see the rest of the colorful, comfortable, creative row home.

Inspired? Submit your own project here.