One Room Challenge Week #3:
Traditional Coastal Bedroom Makeover
Welcome back to Postbox Designs! If you are joining me for the first time: I’m a wife, mama of 3, interior designer, and since I’m always designing for my clients-I never get around to my own projects. Which is why I love the One Room Challenge so much. It is a six week design challenge to makeover any room you want. I have been slowly choosing one room at a time for my One Room Challenge Makeovers.
If you want to check out some of my past One Room Challenge makeover you can see them all here:
One Room Challenge #1: Kid’s Triple Homework Station
One Room Challenge #2: DIY Vanity Bathroom Makeover
One Room Challenge #3: Farmhouse Living Room Makeover
One Room Challenge #4: Boy Adventure Theme Bedroom
Traditional Coastal Bedroom Design Makeover
So if you are good at counting, this is round #5 of One Room Challenge for me! This time around I’m tacking my Master Bedroom and Master Bathroom. I’m giving our Master Bedroom a traditional, coastal look with lots of navy and white. You can check out the whole Mood Board and plans right here:
One Room Challenge Week #1: Traditional Coastal Bedroom Makeover
$950 Boho Bathroom Design
And I’m also tackling our adjacent Master Bathroom. While I would love to gut it, we decided to simply do a Mini Makeover for our Bathroom. So we have a strict budget of $950 to turn our boring bathroom into a Boho Bathroom Beauty! We are keeping the cabinets, countertops, shower area, tub, and floors. Instead I’m focusing on painting the vanity and adding in accessories on a budget. You can check it all out right here:
One Room Challenge Week #2: $950 Boho Bathroom Mini Makeover
Bedroom Makeover: How To Style Bedroom Nightstand
For Week #3 of this cycle’s One Room Challenge I’m focusing on the nightstands in our Master Bedroom. I don’t know about you all, but my nightstand quickly gets cluttered with empty water glasses, late night snack trash, and three pairs of glasses. Why you ask? I have no idea, but all of my glasses seem to make my nightstand at home…and yet I can never find a pair!
I’m sure none of you struggle with that.
So as part of our Master Bedroom Makeover I purchased brand new, larger nightstands. I loved these soft white extra large accent tables with spindle legs. P.S. If you love them, you can grab the whole Shopping List for both my Bedroom and Bathroom Makeovers in my Free Resource Library) We had enough space for larger tables so I wanted to max out this much used piece of furniture. Plus, I really needed my tables to have a bottom shelf for extra storage. Both my hubby and I are huge readers so we always have half a dozen books each on our nightstand. So here is what I did for this room makeover:
5 Tips to Style a Bedroom Nightstand
Bedroom Nightstand Tip #1. Pick the right bedside table.
It may seem obvious, but choose a nightstand that actually works for you. Do you have tons of clutter? Not so much? Do you keep your phone with you at night? I like having a bottom shelf on my nightstand, where I put a basket to corral my clutter. I usually throw books in there (so make sure you get the right size), or hide items like glasses, tissues, etc. If you need even more space, use a nightstand with one or more drawers.
Choosing the right size. Leave a few inches between your nightstand and bed in order to easily make the bed. Depending on the layout of your room, you want at least 30-36″ between your nightstand and other furniture for a walkway.
Choosing the right finish. I personally don’t like matchy-matchy bedroom sets. So I would NOT recommend getting matching nightstands to your bed. Mix up painted and stained woods. Try glass, metal, or mirrored side tables. If you are going to mix different woods I would recommend going with light and dark so it doesn’t look like a “near miss”.
Bedroom Nightstand Tip #2: Choose a few decorative pieces.
You want something out on your bedside table to make it look pretty and styled, but not so much that it isn’t functional.
You want me to be 100% honest? Most designers would probably never admit this.
When taking photos for the final reveal, most of us designers stage it with extra items that we don’t keep or use every day. We layer on these pretty decor items to make the room look rich and beautiful…but having so many items isn’t so practical. At least not for me. So while I have out these pretty blue vases, in real life I only have out this lamp and faux succulent plant. I want as much open surface area for these nightstands so I can actually use it! I wasn’t sure WHAT I was going to keep so I bought it all and decided on what I liked the best once I saw it in my space.
See? You can still see the tag on this plant in this photo! I did decide to keep it out however. One of my designer buddies and I left our kiddos home and went out on a HomeGoods shopping date. I loaded up on items for my Master Bedroom makeover and she looked for items for her own clients. I’m telling you, a trip to HomeGoods with two interior designers is our idea of a great Friday night…Plus we followed it up with drinks out!
Bedroom Nightstand Tip #3: Choose the Right Lighting
On that same HomeGoods trip I found and fell hard for these navy striped lamps. I told you on Week #1 that when it comes to navy and horizontal stripes, I literally have no control. Those lamps just JUMPED into my cart. I also liked them because they were the right scale for my large nightstands. If you have smaller tables, you will want smaller lamps.
Another way I love to use lighting with nightstands is scones. They clear up a ton of tabletop space. A note if you are using sconces:
Lay in your bed and try it out first! Make sure they aren’t too high or far out-you want to be able to reach them without crawling out of bed. I like to see sconces about 36″ above the nightstand.
Bedroom Nightstand Tip # 4: Add Wall Decor
The best way to make your nightstand styling have a finished look? Be sure to add something behind them. It helps ground the space, and creates a little “vignette”. It gives it a polished, finished look. You can put framed artwork behind your nightstand, or you can use a mirror like I did.
Hang your mirror or artwork a little lower than you would think. I suggest only about 12″ off your tabletop. And be sure your wall decor fits the right scale with your nightstand: I would recommend something at least 2/3 the width of your nightstand. I found these mirrors forever again at a Target clearance end cap and was glad to finally have a place to use them!
Bedroom Nightstand Tip #5: Think about Storage
The point of these bedroom nightstands is to have an easy access place to store our most used items either before or after bed. So think about what you use: A glass of water? A place for glasses? Books? Do you take off your rings at night?
For me, my chapstick has to be in arms reach at all times.
So if you have a lot of little things, consider using a nightstand with a drawer. If you read a lot, add a basket to corral the books. Sometimes I will throw my phone or Kindle in my basket while it is charging to keep it out of the way. If you really hate clutter, find a basket or bin with a lid to keep everything tucked away.
You could also use a small tray for rings, earrings, chapstick, etc.
One Room Challenge Bedroom Makeover Weekly Freebie
If you have been following along, every week during One Room Challenge I created a brand new Design Freebie exclusively for you guys! You’ll find free Design Guides, Shopping Lists, Mood Boards, and more. Each freebie will go along with that week’s theme. I already have a few dozen freebies hanging out in my
FREE RESOURCE LIBRARY
Which is where you can find all of these freebies. You have 24/7 access but you will need a password. After signing up, you will get an email with the link/password you need.
If you are already a member, you can find everything right HERE.
How To Style a Bedroom Nightstand Freebie
Since this One Room Challenge week is all about how to style a nightstand…our new freebie is “How to Style a Nightstand”. It also includes the source list so you can click and buy directly. You can have a new nightstand ordered by tonight!
“Style a Nightstand” Mood Board + Shopping List
Week #4: One Room Challenge Bedroom Makeover
Have an outdated, ugly fireplace? Yep, so did I. While I love having a fireplace in our Master Bedroom, it was a huge eyesore that made me not even want to use it. Instead of tearing it out and starting over, I did an inexpensive update that I think you will love. You may not have a fireplace in your bedroom, but you can get some great ideas for your Family Room or Living Room fireplace. Join me next week and I’ll show you everything!
Here is a little sneak peek of the “Before” and “After” of our brick fireplace makeover:
In the meantime, have questions about something you have seen, or have more questions on how Postbox Designs works? You can email me at kristin@postboxdesigns.com and I would love to chat with you!
Be sure to check out all of the other beautiful One Room Challenge makeovers going on right HERE
Shelley @ Calypso in the Country says
I am loving your ideas – and your colors! Good luck in the upcoming weeks. Also, thanks for commenting on mine…I couldn’t email back directly because I am not on Google Plus and it came up no-reply. Anyway, I can’t wait to see your completed room!
Shelley
PostboxDesigns says
I love ORC! Not only because I need it to actually work on my own project but I am always amazed by everyone’s amazing makeovers-they give me so many ideas! Can’t wait to see everyone’s big reveal!
Sean Mahan says
I’ve been looking into styling my bedside stand, gonna take this post as inspiration and start right away 😉
PostboxDesigns says
Wooohoo! So glad it could help…it took awhile to get mine into shape myself! 🙂