When I moved into my house back in 2009, my bedroom was painted a horrid shade of glossy band-aid beige. Actually, the entire upstairs was. My aunt Shannon spent her days off helping me cover it up as quickly as possible with my home office across the hall becoming white with black trim and my bedroom becoming black with white trim.

I’d always dreamed of having a black room and finally owning a place of my own gave me that chance. The thing about my bedroom is that the ceiling takes on the shape of the roof so it has a very high center. Having a high ceiling that is edged in trim painted white means that the black doesn’t feel so suffocating.

While I’ve always been a fan of stark, graphic color schemes (surprise, surprise!), when Joey moved in shortly after, he wasn’t a fan of having absolutely no color. In my mind, I spend my days working with tons of colors as I create my clients’ brands. Color is always on my brain so when I go home to relax, I crave a blank slate.

I’d been talking to Joey about revamping our room with a splash of color over the Summer but felt stumped. I wasn’t sure how. Then, he asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I said, “A massive portrait of Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra.” I told him I wanted a piece of art for our room and since he loves pink, I went with a pink background. Joey is a painter specializing in pop art style portraits so he was up for the challenge. He kept her hidden in the basement until he was done and surprised me with a 4 for tall painting a few weeks later!

As soon as the painting was done, I ordered two Chad Wys prints splashed in similar colors, one for each side of the bed. A few weeks later, I was walking through the medina in Marrakech and stepped into a shop selling hand-loomed wool blankets. The pink stripes matched Joey’s painting perfectly so I bought it for a total steal (about $40.00) and it became our bedspread.

Our room still felt barren so I grabbed a big, lush plant from IKEA, along with a lamp and added a geometric wall planter.

Finally, Joey had the idea to revamp the built-in storage cupboards on the wall next to our bed. He removed the doors, knocked out the center framing, painted the interior black and mounted a TV. Now, it feels like a much better, more customized use of space.

The thing I should mention about our bedroom is that it’s even more challenging to decorate given that it has 4 full-size doorways. Yes, you read that right. This means that there’s very limited wall space for furniture. Door #1 is the entrance to the room. Door #2 is Joey’s closet. Door #3 was a storage space Joey remodeled and turned into a shoe closet for me. Door #4 was a massive attic area that Joey remodeled and turned into my walk-in closet. (For the record: yes, I know I’m lucky!)

That’s my walk-in closet above. With all the doors that need to swing open, we’ve purposefully kept the furniture situation super minimal. We just have a bed and 2 nightstands so the space doesn’t feel overly crammed.

If you’re interested, here are the decor sources for our space. Some items were purchased 8 years ago so I no longer have links but all the recent items are linked:

Elizabeth Taylor painting: Joey Maas
Chad Wys prints: Society 6
Face pillow: Urban Outfitters
White lamp: IKEA
Acrylic nightstands: Ebay (old)
Plant and planter: IKEA
Cut-out bed frame: West Elm (white is discontinued)
Pompom blanket: shop in Marrakech
Light: Ebay (old)
Statue bust: Home Goods (old)
Geometric wall planter: Urban Outfitters
White TV: Sceptre via Amazon

The cool part about this room revamp is that it cost very little. We already had the furniture and the walls were already painted — all it came down to were a few splashes of colors, some plants and a few pieces of art. I love how the vibe of a room can change with a handful of adjustments.

Of course, being Winter, the lighting situation isn’t ideal so I apologize for the graininess and lack of quality of these photos. I hope you enjoyed the tour and if you want a tour of my walk-in closet, let me know in the comments!

On a final note, Joey is accepting custom commissions so if you have a portrait in mind, get in touch at joeymaas@gmail.com.

Next up in home posts: our newly remodeled bathroom!