This “Lifeless” Bedroom Got a Makeover with Lakehouse Vibes, and the Result Is Stunning
It’s rare for city apartments, but in larger homes, sometimes rooms can feel too big. Blogger Christin Cielarski’s (@myhomierhome) bedroom is an example; with its tall ceilings and 234-square-foot size, it felt a little too cavernous, and Christin wanted to layer in some texture and add some coziness.
Circa 2015, she’d painted the wall behind the wall behind the headboard black, but “after a while it felt lifeless,” she says. Not to mention the bed was swimming in a sea of carpet. “And as much as I loved the painting behind the bed, it wasn’t the right size,” Christin adds.
Here’s how she transformed the room and made the design more proportionally appropriate during the Spring 2025 One Room Challenge.
Sage green paint makes everything feel more connected.
Painting all of the walls — rather than just one — gave the room a more enclosed, cocooned feel. Christin picked Sherwin-Williams’ Evergreen Fog. “Painting alone made a huge difference,” she says. “My husband was worried the green would make it too dark, but it catches the light so beautifully.”
Christin also gave the old ceiling fan a spray paint makeover. “It was a reddish tone that no longer went with the design,” she explains. I simply spray-painted the fan blades and replaced the light bulb covers and bulbs to make it look more modern. …The fan upgrade cost me less than $40, and it actually looks like it goes now with the rest of the space.”
The “wood-clad” ceiling creates a lakehouse look.
The statement wood ceiling (which cost $2,500 of the $4,000 total) also adds texture to the room and brings the height down slightly — a good thing in this bedroom with somewhat low-profile furniture.
Christin enlisted the help of a handyman named Steven from Moffat Contracting for this project, which required gluing on sheets of groove paneling and nailing up faux beams to give “the wood ceiling look without the heaviness or the high price,” Christin says.
“One of our long-term goals is to someday own a lakehouse, but I didn’t want to give up those feelings in the meantime,” she adds, and this step of the makeover certainly added lakehouse vibes.
Smart accessorization finishes the job.
“The hardest part was figuring out what to do with the awkward shelf above our dresser and bathroom door,” Christin says. “I happened to inherit some crates from a neighbor and gathered a bunch of old books to create a pseudo library with some battery-powered lamps that have a remote. It definitely fills the space nicely.”
Another difficult step was adding the rug underneath the bed; she had to fully disassemble the bed, roll out the rug, and then put the bed back together.
One of the easiest parts of the makeover was adding new curtains hung higher up. “I always go as far up to the ceiling as I can [with drapery],” Christin says. And new drapes are a good starter project to kick off a whole-room transformation.
This DIYer’s advice? Tackle one project at a time.
“My advice would be to not wait any longer to make upgrades to your bedroom, but also consider different phases of the project,” Christin says. “Start with simply adding drapes that go floor to ceiling. Then look for a rug in the right size.”
In her own bedroom, she still wants to get her battery-powered sconces hardwired because they have to be charged often, and she wants to hide the cords behind her mounted TV. “Other than that, I literally love everything about this room,” Christin says. “It does make the en suite and my closet look like a sad reject room, but one thing at a time.” (Perhaps her next room makeover?!)
This project was completed for the Spring 2025 One Room Challenge, in partnership with Apartment Therapy. See even more of the One Room Challenge before and afters here.
Inspired? Submit your own project here.