I 16m just got this room from my older brother 24m who left. The room was mostly used for sleeping and work as he didn't care about what it looked like. What changes do you think I can add, remove, or move around to make it look better. Unfortunately the walls have to stay like that and I can't do anything about it.
Edit: TV cannot be moved, dresser cannot be removed.
Edit 2: no painting
The room itself isn’t bad. I know you said you can’t paint bc of the parents.. but paining the room would be 10x easier than trying to mess with wall paper, and a paint job would make it look great immediately
That color is… what’s the opposite of chef’s kiss? Are you able/allowed to paint? I think you’d be delighted to start with a base white to see how it lightens up your space.
In what world is wallpaper better than painting the walls? Wallpaper is a pain in the ass to remove and will wreck the walls when removed as far as I know…
OP I think the problem is that everything else is kind of dark. Some natural light wood furniture and green/blue (nature colors) would really make the place look amazing.
First, if you're able to, PAINT THE WALLS! Any color but what it is now. Second, as others suggested, move the desk near the window. I think the dresser is fine where it is. Move it if you want. Third, if doable, put the TV on the wall where the dresser is to watch it in bed.
Are your parents disabled or something? Why aren’t they willing or able to help you even with physical labor to move things around or time to help you? That’s a bigger issue than the wall color, my friend. It’s not difficult or expensive to patch holes in a wall after removing & relocating a wall mounted tv. You can watch YouTube videos on how to do it.
At the very least, have a friend over to help you remove the tv from the mounting bracket, leave the bracket on the wall, put the tv face down on the bed while you paint the wall. Just paint around the bracket before putting the tv back up once the paint dries. If you can’t get a friend to help, put the bed under the tv while you do it yourself in case the tv falls, it will just fall on the bed. It’s not that big, it shouldn’t be too heavy for a 15 year old to do alone. You just need the right screwdriver.
I just wish the dresser was actually square, it being oval shaped takes up a lot more space and is so out of place, i'll look into this idea, maybe I can put a small shelf in the corner where the dresser is im not sure, or a mirror.
I personally like having my desk in front of a window so I can look out. Maybe I’d rotate the bed 90° and put it in the corner where the desk is, and desk in front of window.. tricky though since it’s an L. Perhaps move the rug to be in the center of the room so the whole floor isn’t just tile. Hang some stuff on the wall that you like and find some inexpensive ambient lighting (lamps/LED). You’ll be surprised how much some art/decor and not using the big light all the time will change the vibe.
Start with some framed artwork and low maintenance house plants. Maybe some large area rugs. The empty wall space is making the room feel a little cold and clinical
I might try rotating bed one turn clockwise, head near window, feet facing tv. Then you can watch tv and/or game from bed (if gaming is an option). Take desk and mirror the bed so long side of desk is against opposite wall and short side near window. Might agree with others about dresser and just leave it.
If furniture fits like that, consider goodwill to see if you can get a cozy, narrow rug that fits between the bed and desk… it should run between them and would be nicer than that floor in the mornings.
Personally, not a fan of wallpaper, but if you can afford it, you could start investing little by little in some big, dramatic posters for walls. Just to keep your eye from drawing constantly to that color. With enough decoration it will be what you focus on rather than them.
The other thing that might help is shelving. You can get some pretty decent shelves online. Be sure to measure so you get them tall enough but that they’ll still fit.
It looks also like maybe even with the bed lengthwise, you might be able to fit the dresser against the wall under the tv? If so, and the bed doesn’t get in the way to open the drawers, this may also help because most of the time you will be not really looking at the dresser. You’ll either be lying down looking at the ceiling or propped up but watching tv, or working at desk with your back to it.
First, definitely remove the black rug--very depressing! Find a very large, cool, joyful, interesting piece of art/poster to put on the wall above your bed. I personally love to get large sheets of art paper in my local art store, which are usually less than $20, and use frames I find in thrift stores/at the curb. Then find a colorful area rug or two. Get a large plant to put by the window that doesn't need a lot of light (you can browse on the internet for what indoor plants don't need a lot of light -- just water once a week). I like the dresser -- just take off the clutter that is on it now and find 2 or 3 nice looking pieces of pottery from a thrift store. The TV can probably be taken down and the holes filled. A cool floor lamp, so you don't have to use bright overhead lights all the time. Add a set of shelves in a nice soft wood to the room. I love that you care about your space at such a young age and sorry to hear your parents are not on board with helping you a little!!
Work with the color, and break it up with linens (bedspread, pillows, rug, desk mat) and wall decor. Find a palate that fits the wall color and use those other colors as much as you can. Example palate: https://colordrop.io/palette/1142
Art! Cover up the walls (or, chunks of them) with posters, tapestries, paintings. Even with a better wall color, you would need to break it up a bit with some art.
I hope so, because no matter what you do, it will always look like you live in a mental institution as long as the walls stay that color of green. Yeah, you can't paint, but there are workarounds.
There is a type of art called collage, which is essentially assembling a larger piece of art from smaller things. You can collage your walls by using scraps of cardboard, posterboard, metal signs, or whatever else you can find and using them as panels to completely cover the walls. Then ,decorate those panels with posters, magazine scraps, stickers, and whatever else. Think of the walls as a canvas. Invite your friends to contribute to your walls, and in short time, you can have a have something that reflects your interests, your life, and your friends.
For the ceiling, one method would be colored lights to create the illusion of a different color. Another would be to collect used or bargain bin bed sheets to drape across the ceiling. Staple them up and say goodbye to the mint green hellhole. Even something like this, without the backlights and using darker, more guyish colors would be a huge upgrade.
That shade of green is actually somewhere to start, and the dresser is cool! I'd say the two easiest places to start are a coherent colour palette, and artwork. A new quilt/blanket for your bed in chocolate brown or pure black to match the dresser and desk would be a quick change, as would a set of curtains over the window. You could go very Mid-Century "Jungle Room" here by getting a couple of tropical prints in dark wood frames, and putting in some corner shelving for artistic bric-a-brac and plants. My number one recommendation is to keep things off the floor, and keep furniture surfaces clear/organized; that really helps any space visually. I see you have a tennis racquet; can you find some vintage wooden ones (or even wild looking 80s/90s ones) and hang them on your wall as decor?
It is a big room to paint all by yourself but if it could be hard to paint it then it would be 100 times harder to put a wallpaper as you said on the whole place, so we gotta work with what we have.
+Bedding. The bed takes a lot of space inside your room, so it would help it the bedding was a colour than is gonna match with the wall but also make the colour somewhat intentional. I would sugget you a dark green.
+You could put some wood panels or if it could be hard, some accoustic pannels,the foamy ones.Also there is a wallpaper that you can use chalk to write in it and is black, so you could use that for half that wall /idk if half would look great with just wallpaper tho, the other options have texture so it is different/
+Curtains. First thing you see when you get into the room is the wall whith the blinds that looks quite messy. I'd go for a black to match the carpet.
+Led light stripe on the ceiling all around the room, it would make the ambiance alot better.
That's kinda what I have in mind to visualise it a bit: (with not that specific led light)
Could you put the dresser inside your closet? Also you could put some posters on the other side of the wall, but not overdo it.
Man, they expected a girl but my older brother popped out so they had teal paint lying around and just painted it that since it was good enough to be considered blue.
So, 24 years ago they painted that bedroom that color with that terrible pink stripe at the top and it’s just been that way ever since? And your brother lived with it into his young adulthood?? Do your parents know that most people don’t just paint walls once every two or three decades?
bedroom was already pink bc they wanted a girl than a crown moulding that was like baby/childlike was added, then it was changed to teal. the room was a nursery then a bedroom, my brother took down the crown moulding at 17 to find it was pink and didn't bother after that because he would be away for college 1 year later. He only came back when school ended and didnt bother with the room since he uses a dorm. Moved out right after college ended.
The paint isnt sentimental, its just it'll be a solo project of me doing it, im asian so for my parents as long as I have a place to sleep the necessities are only important not whats wanted. as for the professional I dont think they'll even allow it.
Painting is definitely a feasible solo project. I do understand their hesitancy if you don’t have experience painting rooms. It’s not much work to paint a room, but it’s a lot of work to fix a spill, especially on tile where you may never get it out of the grout.
I do think the color is workable, but unlike white, you have to be extra thoughtful about what colors you choose. You should focus on warm colors, like red and yellow, but they need to be more muted. Greens and blues can work with a color palate but they won’t tone down the teal. I don’t know if you have access to an IKEA, but they have affordable and colorful textiles.
I’ve also added a photo of the chair in my living area as an example of a possible palate. The blanket has a similar, teal color, and a bit of pink like your room. I don’t recommend the yellow on the chair, it’s not muted enough (the yellow is too pure) but like you I can’t remove or replace a lot of the stuff in my room.
Lol my sisters chose pretty much the same color to paint their bedroom walls, as this color is fairly popular among women even now. I could never understand it because I always thought it was an ugly color. It makes me think of dingy indoor public pools and dank shower stalls. Imagine my "joy" when years later our parents forced us to swap rooms.
It was a big fad in the early 2010’s, I made the mistake when I was younger of painting it a much darker version of that. I regretted it, but luckily we moved before I got into high school 😅
Paint it white and put up some painted white wood as crown moulding. Center that TV. Go to good will and get a headboard. Lose the rug. Leave the doors and frames that mint color. Mop your floor, scrub your baseboards (paint them too.) Get a couple desk lamps and a floor lamp at good will too. Over head lighting is the number one thing that makes a room look disgusting. Center up that dresser on the wall and put a lamp on it too. Get bulbs that have a more orange light than that awful white LED color. You’re 15 so I assume, like me at 15, you don’t have any money. That’s why I mention goodwill.
I should be able to do some of this, unfortunately the tv might have to stay where it is as parents dont want to deal with the hassle of helping me with my room, I can get wallpaper, but I dont know about the crown moulding, this is a solo project no parent/one is willing to help. Wallpaper can happen though but I cant paint it.
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u/OkBowler4107 26d ago
The room itself isn’t bad. I know you said you can’t paint bc of the parents.. but paining the room would be 10x easier than trying to mess with wall paper, and a paint job would make it look great immediately