As many of you already know, I moved in to a new place a while ago. It was the same childhood house that I had grown up in, except my family and I knocked that down and built a new house on top of it. At my old house, my room measured probably 2.5m x 2m and definitely did not have the capacity to fit all my things, especially when I started blogging. My room now is a different story though. It’s bright, airy, and has a lot of space for me to play around with and turn it into an ‘Instagram’ dream. Unfortunately…that’s not how things went! Between juggling a full time job and blogging part time, I hardly found myself having the resources or the time to work on my room. Sure, I had bought new furniture and decor, but things were pretty substandard and it certainly didn’t look like what my Pinterest mood board was showing me. There were times where I had a sudden surge of motivation to start rearranging my room, but then I just thought of all the headaches I would get from choosing colour palettes, to picking what to buy, and I would just end up in the same spot as I did at the start!
About a month ago, I was contacted by IKEA Australia asking me if I’d like to be involved in creating content around their new catalogue launch. Almost immediately I said YES! for two reasons – one, my family and I are big fans of IKEA, we used to shop there almost once a month and who doesn’t love getting lost in their showrooms? Two, I just knew I needed guidance in how to furnish my room.
I decided to focus on three areas in my bedroom: my bed, my desk and a clothes rack area that I have for new campaign shoots, or any new clothes I plan to wear. Because I am a totally indecisive person, it was so hard for me to choose out of their beautiful 10,000+ products! Instead, I asked to be surprised and sent the brand a few inspo photos that I had (from that Pinterest board I mentioned earlier…). Luckily for me, they came back with an amazing selection of products for each area, both from their new collection as well as some best sellers. I already had some IKEA products in my room, so I decided to incorporate what I had + what I was given. I’ll admit, my room prior to the makeover was never close to being ‘aesthetic’ and no where near a ‘bloggers bedroom’. But I’m all about being as authentic as I can be, so I decided to take some before & after photos to show how big of a change this makeover really was!
THE BEDROOM.
BEFORE VS. AFTER
Before: I have a nice queen sized bed that fits perfectly in the centre of my room, it’s the first thing that you’re drawn to when you walk in. I’ve always crushed on these quilted bed frames as they look very elegant and classy, but the lack of cushions made my bed look very flat and almost empty. It’s great for sleeping in, but not very special other than that. The walls surrounding my bed are quite plain too, as I haven’t invested in buying any prints since I moved in. What I’m a big fan of in this area is that my two beside tables have a ‘his and hers’ theme to it; mine is pink whilst my boyfriend’s side is grey. We started out by buying these matching mugs when I was moving in because the matte glaze caught our eyes and almost immediately started to develop a colour palette for the way we wanted the bedroom to feel like.
After: What I love most about this new look is that it compliments my “his and hers” theme even better than it did before. What we had on either side of our bedside tables, is now blended seamlessly throughout! To add dimension to the front of the bed, we used 5 cushions and propped them over the sleeping pillows – not only does this look better, but it’s also comfier too. My favourite would have to be the HARÖRT cushions, they stand out from the regular ‘square’ shaped cushions, and are soooo soft like a cloud. Next, to make the walls stand out, I finally bought some prints and used the classic RIBBA frame, irregular sizes so it looks more abstract. We also thought it would be cool to place the Elephant wall decoration from IKEA’s new SOMMAR collection right in the middle of the bed, like a centrepiece that ties everything together.
For either side of the bedside tables, we decided to incorporate some florals and greenery so the area looks a lot more colourful than what it was before. On my side, I have a cute pink vase with a fake orchid, and my boyfriend has this amazing rattan plant stand that can be turned over and decorated differently to suit!
THE CLOTHES RACK.
BEFORE VS. AFTER
Before: Being a fashion blogger, I first invested in a MULIG clothes rack when I was moving in because it was an easy way for me to plan full day shoots and see what new clothes I had to wear. But then I started receiving things other than clothes, such as shoes and makeup, and had no where to place them since I couldn’t hang it! That’s when my boyfriend suggested I get the RIGGA clothes rack that has a little trolley compartment underneath. It was great because now I could place packages underneath, instead of just having them hang around my room hahaha. After a while though, I kind of lost track of what I needed to hang and what I just hung up because I was too lazy to move it back into my closet. Without a good system, I was having to clean up my clothes rack at least once a week because it would just become my lazy “hang everything” place. For example, that red dress in the before photo is definitely not new, and has been shot already! My clothes rack then became a mess because of all the packages that were coming in. Not because I wasn’t storing it correctly, but because the packages vary from different shapes and sizes – it looked messy.
After: I’m so so SO happy with how this mini makeover turned out! The team at IKEA recognised my problem straight away when I told them what kind of inspo I was looking for, and thankfully the brand is basically royalty when it comes to big living in small areas. We expanded the area wider and longer to include space for accessories and shoes, so now if I’m planning for a big campaign shoot, I can piece together the entire outfit instead of just focusing on the clothing aspect. I also have a very strict no-shoes-in-household rule, so we placed a TEJN rug underneath for a clean yet chic style. For accessories, I used a SAMMANHANG display stand, which not only saves a tonne of space, but creates definition to ensure it doesn’t get lost between all the flowing clothes (I used a BEKVÄM stepstool for height).
And for all of you wondering where all my packages went, well…they’re now all in storage boxes! My current favourite is the grey KVARNVIK box. It looks small on first impression, but I managed to fit all the packages in my before image, and still had more than half the box space still available. For smaller makeup giftings, I started using SAMMANHANG boxes and domes so they don’t get lost within the big box.
P.S: To keep your hair accessories tidy, use a KOMPLEMENT multi use hanger to tie silk neck scarves so you always know where they are 😉
THE DESK.
BEFORE VS. AFTER
Before: I have a very bad habit of using my bed as a desk, to the point where I developed chronic back pain at one stage because my posture was so bad. Prior to moving in, I made a promise to myself to use my desk as much as I can as a laptop and accessory space. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen hahaha. It’s safe to say that I have then since neglected the use of my desk, and it’s become more of a storage space for my makeup and jewellery if anything. It’s such a shame because I loved the trestle table when I picked it out as it looked so chic and modern. I also have a ANES mirror that I haven’t been bothered to hang because we couldn’t figure out a way to drill into the hollow wall and so it’s been sitting there since I’ve moved in. The pink/gold decor pieces have also been pushed to the corner (you can see unorganised items such as a hard drive lying there without any placement). I’m not the proudest of this area, as I feel like it needs a lot more life and functionality. To be quite honest, I’ve probably only sat here about 2-3 times and went back to my bed straight after.
After: Finally, a space that I would want to actually sit down and feel motivated to start working! Like the last area, we kept the colour tones of pink and gold quite consistent, but added some functionality by using GLITTRIG jars to keep my makeup and jewellery in one place. And YES! The mirror finally went up with the help of some strong 3M tape, which opens up the desk space so much more. Instead of using just one stationery jar, IKEA has an awesome LANKMOJ pen cup that comes in a set of 4, that snaps magnetically so you can position them however you’d like. I used this to keep pens, pencils, and small items like erasers and sharpeners separate, so I know what I’m grabbing from where.
To make the area more ‘breathable’, we decided to add greenery on one corner to complement the florals on the other (Did you know? Green is a calming colour!). We also utilised the space beneath the trestles by adding another storage box which now houses all my tech gear. On the wall to the left is a SILVERHÖJDEN gold frame with a print that reads “Shine Bright”. It sounds cliche, but you never know when you need that kick of inspiration!
I hope you all enjoyed reading about this IKEA makeover as much as I had fun putting it together. It feels great to start with a blank canvas and use tools to create something beautiful. My new room looks a lot more thought out, schematic, and cleaner with all the extra storage space available! IKEA truly does a magnificent job in making living spaces so much easier.
Where are those bedside tables from? 😍