Watch This Sunny NYC Bedroom Go from “Plain White Box” to “Elevated and Eclectic”
City life means having smaller spaces, but it doesn’t have to mean spaces that feel small — or boring. While most of Katelyn Sailor’s Manhattan apartment was a colorful celebration of maximalism, her bedroom felt like a blah white box. And not even a functional one: She had to sit on the floor to do her makeup!
On the latest episode of Apartment Therapy: From Plan to Perfect — our new series on The Design Network — Apartment Therapy Founder and CEO Maxwell Ryan and interior designer Mary Welch Fox Stasik helped Katelyn’s bedroom live up to its potential. The design duo used furniture and decor from Walmart — yep, that Walmart — to create a colorful yet calming city oasis.
Katelyn had tried a few different bedroom layouts and designs, but nothing felt quite right. Her desire for a relaxing respite kept her from imbuing the bedroom with her more-is-more aesthetic — but that ended up having the opposite effect and made the space feel empty. “It’s really just a white space, which is so not me,” Katelyn said. “It needs color. I can’t live in a white box!” Her bedroom also lacked some key features, like better storage and a vanity, that would make daily life easier.
With square footage at a premium, Maxwell and Mary Welch used our new digital Room Plan tool, presented in partnership with Walmart, to easily test out new furniture and layouts. Once you upload your room photo, Room Plan magically erases its contents. Then you can add on-trend furnishings from Walmart, from bedding to dressers, and moving things around until you get the look you love. The tool helped Maxwell and Mary Welch try different configurations of furniture and decor without having to actually move them around Katelyn’s cramped quarters.
Well-Curated Color
Katelyn was smart not to want the space to be visually overwhelming: Maxwell recommends cool-toned colors in the bedroom for their calming effect. He and Mary Welch kept the room’s foundation white, but chose a boucle platform bed that adds interesting texture. Then they incorporated soft blues and greens into other design elements, like blackout curtains and a slim-yet-curvy armchair, to create a depth of color that doesn’t overpower. Finally, they used Katelyn’s beloved bold hues sparingly — a bright striped throw here, a color block storage tray there — for just the right amount of pop.
Maximized Storage
In a small space, you have to take every chance to improve functionality, and one of the big functions that Katelyn was missing was a place to do her makeup. Maxwell and Mary Welch did her one better, adding a beautiful curved desk for a vanity-desk hybrid. They added a comfy ottoman seat that — surprise! — also doubles as storage. A stunning two-drawer burl wood nightstand offers another place to stash odds and ends. On the other side of the bed, Maxwell and Mary Welch opted for a dresser, which makes better use of that footprint than another nightstand, while adding a ton of storage. All of these smart organizational solutions add up to more space overall, so new additions like Katelyn’s reading nook don’t feel shoved in.
Complementing, Not Matching
It’s not an accident that Katelyn’s new room already looks personalized and lived-in: Maxwell and Mary Welch used key design principles to create a layered, eclectic look. They chose furniture in similar wood tones, like the nightstand and the vanity desk, as well as pieces with similar materials, like the acrylic in the nightstand drawer pulls and the color block tray. Repeating tones, colors, and textures around the room creates a space that feels intentional and cohesive, even if its contents don’t match, per se. (Besides, mixing things up is more fun anyway!)
Now, Katelyn has a colorful (but still calming) bedroom, with space to get ready for the day and storage to keep clutter out of sight. It’s a stylish, functional space she actually wants to spend time in. And all those beautiful, on-trend, colorful additions? They all came from Walmart!
Use our new digital Room Plan tool to add furniture, rearrange the layout, and see what style suits your space best!
Resources
FURNITURE
LIGHTING
DECOR
- ALEF HOME Art Deco Tufted Multicolor Grid Area Rug
- Beautiful Fluted Ceramic Vase by Drew Barrymore
- Urban Shop Acrylic Color Block Storage Tray
- Home Decor Collection Stylehouse Mila Knot Decorative Pillow
- Mainstays by Becky G. & Alejandra Patterned Decorative Pillow
- Deconovo Blackout Curtains
- Better Homes & Gardens Metal French Wrap Curtain Rod