I woke up feeling awful today—either food poisoning or a stomach bug—so while I’m taking it slow and trying not to spread whatever this is around the house, I thought it would be a good day to share a timeline of how our bedroom has evolved. It’s been a slow, imperfect process, but looking back at the stages the room went through makes all the trial and error feel worth it.
This kind of rundown is a useful reminder that small tweaks, along with a few bigger changes, can completely refresh a space as you discover what you love and how you want to live. We believe the gradual, over-time adjustments are part of the fun; if you had to freeze a room the first time you decorated it, you’d miss out on so much learning and improvement. Below is the progression of our bedroom over the twenty months since we moved in. It’s not done yet, but it has come a very long way.
On moving day the room was essentially a blank canvas. For the first few weeks we didn’t even have a bed frame and slept on a mattress on the floor—an experience we wouldn’t recommend for long. Once we brought in a large bed frame that felt right for the new, much bigger room, things started to take shape. Our old bedroom had been around 10 x 11 feet; this new room is 16 x 16 feet, so a bigger, statement bed seemed appropriate.
We found a clearance duvet that we used temporarily, with the intention of selling it if we found something better. That turned out to be a good plan: we kept it in storage for potential reuse or resale rather than forcing ourselves to like it. A few weeks later we added a dramatic chandelier that quickly became one of our favorite focal points, even though we had to make several adjustments to the bed to make sure nothing felt crowded or out of scale with the light fixture. A large jute rug helped warm up the old wood floor and anchored the furniture better.
One of the sentimental touches early on was a pair of Alaskan botanical prints we picked up at a yard sale—Alaska is where we honeymooned, so they felt appropriate for the bedroom. For a while those botanical prints flanked a piece of wall art we called Ramsey, until that piece got damaged during a photo shoot and we rearranged everything. A trip to a local outlet turned up a new rug at a great price, and swapping rugs revived the room’s momentum when the design felt stuck.
We experimented with different art groupings and pillow combinations, trying inexpensive framed prints and swapping lamps around from other rooms. Eventually we landed on the botanicals with a more considered pillow mix and dedicated bedside lamps we’d actually chosen for the bedroom. After some debate about bed placement near an off-centered window and a deep nook, we finally moved the bed to a wall that had initially seemed too complicated. Once we re-hung art and rearranged a couple of pieces, the layout clicked.
Over time we refined the bed itself, trimming the posts that competed with the chandelier and ultimately making a custom upholstered headboard to cozy the space up. Painting the walls a darker, moodier color (Rockport Gray) made the white trim and the new headboard really pop—and it turned out to be the change that pulled everything together.
There are still plans for more improvements: refinishing the floors, possibly painting the ceiling a pale blue, furnishing the large empty wall opposite the bed, turning a window into a door leading to the deck, and someday vaulting the ceiling for a cozier peaked look. Those projects will keep the room evolving over time.
Looking back across the different stages, a few items have stayed with us through the whole process: the bed (with a trim update), a hand-me-down dresser, a leaning mirror that was a wedding gift, and a budget chandelier. Other pieces migrated between rooms—mirrors and small cabinets moved from the living and dining rooms into the bedroom while older side tables and rugs were cycled out for future use or resale.
One principle we’ve learned is to keep things flexible: inexpensive or reversible changes let you try ideas without feeling trapped. Small investments like cheap yard-sale side tables or secondhand finds can live in the room temporarily, then move to another space if something better comes along. Undoing paint or changing upholstery is work, but it’s rarely permanent, and it often unlocks a whole new phase of the design.
It’s satisfying to see all the bedroom evolution photos in one place. We plan to document other rooms the same way over time—linking to project posts and updates—so anyone interested can follow each room’s journey. Have you ever photographed a room as it changed? Did it take more than one paint color to get it right? Which decisions surprised you the most?
What’s your favorite thing in your bedroom today?
P.S. We’re visiting family in West Virginia this month and would love to see interesting homes in Huntington or Charleston—if you’d like us to stop by, send photos to our submission inbox.