My husband, Nate, and I recently bought our first home and we are so excited to finally be homeowners! The house we bought is very unique and the moment I saw it I knew that it would be our home. My husband wasn’t even available to go and view it with me, so I video chatted him on my smart phone and gave him a walking tour via Skype. Within minutes, I had fallen in love and we put in an offer without Nate ever having seen it in person! I’m glad he trusted me!
One of the big reasons I fell in love with our house is what we have dubbed “The Nook Room.” It’s a lovely little room with a built-in that houses a twin bed and shelves for books. Being the bibliophile I am, I knew it would be the perfect cozy spot to curl up with a good book on a rainy afternoon. However, there was a big drawback about this seemingly perfect little room – it’s paint colors and design were drab and horrible; not at all what a reading room should be. Here is a before picture:
It looked like something straight out of the seventies – the furniture was outdated and the paint choices were borderline psychedelic, to say the least. The room was drab and without character and the nook wasn’t showcased in the best light. I wanted to make the room a lovely, inviting, and cozy spot to read a book and also a place to set up my personal office and craft studio.
The first thing to change was the paint. Freshening up the paint in any room can really make a difference! I picked out a nice Ivory hue from Behr for the majority of the room, to lighten and brighten the space. The space also needed some spice, so I decided to add a poppy accent color and chose a Coral shade (also from Behr) to bring a fun and feminine touch. Nate and I spent 8 hours over the course of a weekend taping off, painting and touching up the Nook Room. The hardest parts to cover were the batten squares; dark purple, bright orange and green paint are hard to cover and getting into all the tight corners of the squares was quite the project. But courage and brute strength overcame and we prevailed!
The next thing to give the room some more personality was some updated furniture. The previous furniture was worn and tired-looking and just gave the air of an uncared for space. I brought in my previous Ikea desk and cabinet, all lacquered in a bright white, to add to the lightness of the room. Check out my desk decorations! My husband works for www.funko.com, which makes the cute little Daenerys Pop figurine. The ampersand and painting were made by me, as well as the date night popsicle stick jar and the little figurines, which was our wedding cake topper! All in all, a very inspiring place to blog 🙂
Some final touches were to bring texture and darker colors to embolden the space and play off of all the white. I used bedding from my college days to give the bed a nice pop of pattern without breaking the bank. Added bonus: it also matches a lamp on my desk (also from college)! The rug is from Ikea and breaks up the monotony of the vinyl flooring. It provides an eye-catching design to draw your eye in as well as provides somewhere soft to stand or sprawl out with a craft project!
Personal possessions and artwork really add a lot to a space so I decided to hang some of my own paintings and handmade banners on the walls to bring a touch of whimsy and play up the feeling of a craft room. And of course I filled every bit of shelf space with my vast collection of books! The ripped chair is a garage sale find and will rehabbed in the near future!
Here is the current end product!
I still have some final things I want to do to the Nook Room, such as adding some new pillows to the bed and more personal touches like lamps or other pieces of furniture, but I think we’ve made great progress! Designing on a budget can be difficult, but if you find ways to use things you already have and make small changes over time, you can really turn any room into the space of your dreams. This room is now ready for a rainy day, a nice cup of tea, and a great book! 🙂
Love the makeover! You just need the kittens perching on the cozy nook bed!