My mother-in-law and father-in-law asked me to help them makeover their bedroom. Nothing had changed in the room since they bought their home years ago. Like most people, they renovated the rest of the house while their bedroom remained untouched. My in-laws have a wonderful traditional style and they really wanted their bedroom to reflect that. They asked me to come stay with them for a week to help them and of course I said yes! Before I arrived, my father-in-law removed the wallpaper and replaced the flooring.
We spent the week shopping for finishing touches, adding a trimmed-out feature wall, and painting the entire room. The end result is a beautiful bedroom that reflects their traditional style.
My in-laws bedroom furniture is really special to them. It was my mother-in-law’s parent’s bedroom set and they really love it. So, they wanted to update the room while still using those pieces. My suggestion to them was to keep the nightstands and dresser but get a new bed. I also suggested that they remove the two mirrors above the dresser and get one new large mirror. This is a simple switch that really updates the dresser.
When I am working with clients one of the first things I ask is, “What is important to you in this space? What do you really love and want to keep?” My end goal is not just that you would have a space that looks beautiful but one that reflects what you love and feels most like home to you.
A lot of my in-laws’ house is very neutral, and my mother-in-law really wanted to add some colour to this room. We had talked about blue, but she also loves green and we found a really pretty soft sage colour from Dulux Paints called Whispering Pine. My in-laws are drawn to rooms where everything matches. I wanted to honour that but also create a space with dimension and interest. I did this by having a very consistent colour scheme throughout the entire space while varying pattern and texture. So while it goes beautifully all together, it doesn’t completely match. It pulled them a bit out of their comfort zone, but they still love the final result because it is so cohesive.
They really wanted a feature wall and we went back and forth about what to do. Wallpaper was an idea but since they were removing wallpaper, they didn’t really want to put new paper back up. So we then talked about panelling. Originally they wondered about a vertical shiplap. However, vertical shiplap really isn’t their style. So I suggested we slightly move the layout and centre the bed on the wall, which allowed us to do this beautiful traditional-style panelling. It really elevated the room and added character, depth, and dimension.
After a lot of hard work we had taken a dated and tired-looking space and turned it into a stunning traditional bedroom. My favourite part is that it feels and looks like my in-laws live in it. It is truly their style and it honours the items that are important to them.
If you are struggling with how to update your space, Reclaiming Home can help you create something that feels like home to you.
