How to Decorate a Boho Bedroom with Flair

We can define Boho style as an eclectic decorating style blending colors, patterns, fabrics, and eras, with a big heaping scoop of “free spirit.” It would also be the style our daughter was striving for in her new boho bedroom. Read on for ideas on how to add this style to your own home and bedroom!

Hi. You thought I’d disappeared, didn’t you? In a way, I did – into our teen daughter’s bedroom. I’ve been swamped turning it into a glam bohemian chic fantasy, with a slight edge, full of gray and silver tones then mixed with soft pastels! But I’m done now, which means I’ve poked my head out and it’s time. What time? It’s Reveal Day! Today you get to see the AFTER of our 6-week One Room Challenge. I’m SO excited to show you how it turned out!

 

If you’re new here, let me say that this room started as the smallest and most awkwardly laid-out room in my home. There wasn’t enough room for anything but a single bed, no room for homework or applying make-up and no hangout space.  On top of that, the style – or lack thereof – didn’t reflect my daughter’s interests or style one little bit. All the terrible before pictures are summarized for you below!

And without further adieu, here’s the after!

 

Can you believe it? I can’t even! Where do I start? Let’s start with the room layout!

The existing layout had a door or window on every wall. That coupled with a small footprint, the room was suited more to life as a giant closet rather than a bedroom.  It was indeed a bedroom though, as it contained a closet. The closet layout, however, was worse than the room. It was small, cramped and half of it included a sloped ceiling – more unusable space.

By turning the existing closet into a bed nook, we gained enough space for a full-size bed. As a bonus, it almost feels as though we’ve doubled the size of the room!

A built-in bookcase acts as a side table and storage.

The (larger!)closet finds a new home with custom floor to ceiling built-ins. The mirrored doors help to make the room look larger and reflect tons of natural light from the nearby window.

 

Make-up and homework move to the opposite side of the room, leaving room for a new sitting area – a great place to curl up catch up on social media with a good book.

Let’s talk color. If you know me at all, this color palette is different from the bold colors I usually gravitate to, but I had a TON of fun playing with a different palette and style.

We pulled most of the color inspiration from the floral quilt. The quilt is a bit of an heirloom as it was in her parents home when they were married. We were going for a current and on-trend color palette, but with our girl switching houses every week, (her primary residence being her mother’s – we share custody) it was imperative that the room feels “homey” with items that had a history. The quilt was a perfect inspiration for this!

I pulled pastels of yellow, rose and pale blue from the bold pattern and laid them against a moody gray neutral and crisp white,  finally mixing in metals of gold and both shiny silver, as well as brushed. The look is fun, trendy, and sophisticated.

To keep the room from feeling too stuffy, we added quirky elements throughout the room that upped the “fun” factor. The wall color has a hint of purple which is even more evident against the bright white trim – it’s a close match to a lilac color found in the quilt.

There was a danger that the new closet would stick out like a sore thumb. Continuing the paint color over the closet helps to prevent that and brings all the attention to the mirror detail.  For contrast,  the rest of the custom-built furniture is finished in warm oak tones and encouraged to show it’s imperfections.

Now, let’s talk furnishings. Given the (lack of) space I had to work with, every furnishing choice and placement was carefully thought out to maximize and increase functionality, and nearly everything had to be custom built to fit.  Think tiny house in one room!

The bed platform is low – a platform bed was on the list of must-haves – but set high enough to accommodate drawers underneath at a later date, and was built to slide into the nook.

 

That chair! I was almost giddy to put it up finally, and you can bet I clocked some time testing it out – I had to make sure it was safe! I love that despite being an oversized piece, That chair because it’s suspended, leaving visible floor space underneath. Don’t even get me started on the boho vibe it gives off! #loveit

The desk area is where things get creative and even a bit innovative.

 

I wanted to keep the design modern and simplistic, but I needed storage. Too, the desk also had to function as both a make-up vanity AND a homework desk. Let’s face it – the make-up is NOT going to be put away unless it’s effortless to put it away if at all which means homework had to happen somewhere other than the desktop. Here’s what I came up with:

A hidden cubby stores the everyday essentials and ensures they are close at hand. A rolling cart takes care of the rest.

Homework can be done on the secret pull out writing tray, regardless of whether makeup is littering the top of the desk or not. The desk has a sleek, narrow, modern look that checks all of the boxes. The subtle dot pattern brings a tiny bit of fun and whimsy to an otherwise serious piece. This is by far my favorite part of the room – I’m so proud of how it turned out!

Let’s talk about wall art! The cactus canvas print is from Pier 1 and is precisely the statement I wanted over the bed. I love that it adds a little pop of color to an otherwise neutral space and that it pulls even more color out of our inspiration – the quilt.

Rather than go with a themed piece of art, I decided on the larger wall art pieces being those that can grow with her and are relatively classic. The watercolor print especially is something she’ll be able to use in many settings for many years to come.

I tried to keep the trends to room accents, so they are easily switched out as she grows and potentially grows tired of things, but with so many cute things out these days, it was a challenge!

Pineapple accents are everywhere – the girl LOVES pineapples. A small palm tree sits atop her desk, surrounded by succulents – small picture frames that glitter like gold hold pictures of her favorite people.

We can’t forget to talk about lighting! The DIY faux capiz shell pendant light was in her room before but found a better home in the bed nook.

An adorable little Vintage Glass Cylinder Table Lamp graces the side table and is perfect for soft lighting at the end of the day.

To improve lighting to the makeup area, we installed a battery operated under cabinet light to the underside of the shelf that hangs over the mirror. It gives off a good amount of light and is on a timer, ensuring it can turn itself off when left on. The price is right, too!

A few more shots –

So, there you have it! Six weeks are done and done. It was so worth it – Finally, a room for her that meets all of her needs AND gives her space to stretch out.

It was SO fun revealing it to her yesterday and almost like we were on an episode of house crashers. You can catch the video of that here!

Thanks so much for following along with me on yet another crazy journey. I appreciate your support and all of your comments! Cheers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Huge thanks to Linda for hosting yet another stellar event! Be sure to check out all of the guest poster’s reveals by clicking here –  I can’t wait to see them all!

 

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