Dear Danica, My Bedroom Looks Stale & I Need Renter Friendly Refresh Tips

Dear danica,

My master bedroom feels a little stale. Not sure if it’s the drapes. We need privacy for it but it feels very closed in. Help!

– Tori

Simple changes will make a big impact in your bedroom. Currently, everything is a shade of beige and while beige trended hard, it’s a difficult color scheme to pull off without falling flat. Let’s add some color and depth to your bedroom! I’d add a good size rug to soften the space. Fold down your comforter and add a patterned (and colorful) blanket to the end of the bed. If I can see right, you have two quarter-circle windows above a patio door. I would actually drop your curtain rod below the quarter-circle windows, just above the patio door, and widen the rod so that your curtains can extend beyond the door frame. Swap your beige curtains for something with color, either solid or patterned, and double the width of each panel so that you have a fuller ripple when the curtains are pulled shut. Consider painting the walls a color as opposed to a neutral. Pick 2-3 colors (not including beige, white, or black) and 2 patterns (floral and geometric) and start infusing those into the space!

Dear danica,

Suggestions for mixing antiques with more modern designs? I like the look of both and would like to incorporate some clean lines with my otherwise collected-over-time and previously-loved (worn and imperfect) furniture and decor. Can you give tips to avoid ending up with chaos? Thanks!

– Jeska

Generally speaking, I recommend aiming for a 50/50 mix of antiques/secondhand/handmade vs new pieces. I personally find myself leaning more towards 75% antique and 25% new, but my style is based on historic architecture. When I’m shopping, I almost exclusively source antique or secondhand for all hard surface furniture: coffee tables, end tables, dining tables, dining chairs, desks, dressers, nightstands, etc. My decor is nearly 100% antique or handmade: lamps, vases, trays, books, pottery, artwork, etc. Soft surfaces are where I tend to source new: sofas, armchairs, curtains, bedding, etc. However, I’m not against purchasing antique seating and having it reupholstered in new fabric.

“Modern” can be interpreted in many ways. White is modern. Minimalism is modern. Simplicity is modern. Unadornment is modern. You can even have an antique chair that is modern. A modern touch can be infused through one or all of those methods. The addition of “clean lines” can be achieved through the shapes of the furniture you choose – nothing too intricate or detailed.

I recommend studying The Vintage Brutalist, The Colonial Modernist, and the Coasters Chance Cottage designed by Moore House Design. Blair Moore does an excellent job of blending old with new. She achieves a modern feel through paint colors, minimalism, and unadorned furniture forms. Yet her spaces feel layered and storied with weathered woods, vintage seating, worn pottery, and antique art.

Chaos starts to happen when you blend too many periods that don’t belong together. A Chippendale highboy doesn’t coincide with a primitive coffee table, and then throwing a modern abstract piece of art on the wall will have people confused. I’m all for juxtaposition, but that’s often best achieved when all your antiques carry a similar style, making room for your modern touches to be the only form of juxtaposition in the room.

Dear danica,

Really struggling with reimagining and refreshing my apartment rental living room. Accidentally went too boho and I’m more traditional, cottage, bungalow, and casual WITH little kids! Please help!

– Daniel

I would start by adding a rug to ground the space. Pull those vertical blinds all the way back and hang curtains instead for privacy. Let’s start fresh with the walls. Consider one large framed piece of art or two coordinating pieces above the sofa. You’ll want to hang the art 6-8″ above the sofa so it doesn’t look like it’s floating near the ceiling.

For the TV wall, I’d recommend removing the wall hanging and mounting your TV on the wall. Swapping your media console for an elevated sideboard, something with doors, will make a big difference too. I’d recommend investing in a quality, solid wood coffee table. A medium wood tone with an oval shape would be my recommendation. And lastly, I would make a trip to an antique shop for decor. When all the furniture is new, adding antique decor, pottery, artwork, frames, and lamps makes a home feel collected and storied rather than staged.

Dear danica,

We are in the midst of the house buying process, one gives us a lot of land but it’s not in a great location (better price). The other is in a great location but needs some renovation work (higher price). What would you do?

– Sarah

You can change the house, but you can’t change the location. The location determines your day-to-day routines…and as a result, your lifestyle. Life in the suburbs near amenities will result in a very different lifestyle from one in the country, far from people and things. Neither one is right or wrong, but it’s important to recognize how much location plays a role in our day-to-day lives.

As we were house hunting for our Maine home, we found an incredibly beautiful historic house built in 1810 that was significantly under budget. It needed a ton of work, but it had 9 acres of land and a forest of trees surrounding it. The biggest caveat was that it was on a heavily trafficked road and the road noise was constant. No matter how beautiful the house was, the traffic noise was permanent. A second house that we put an offer on (which was outbid thankfully!) was cute as a button, move-in ready, and under budget. But it was 30 minutes outside of our preferred location, and it didn’t have any trees. We could have updated the house and invested in the future by planting trees, but we’d always have to drive 30 minutes to get to the villages we love most.

In the end, we were so fortunate to find a house in the exact location we wanted. It requires some work, and the price was higher than the previous two, but the number one thing we say to each other every day is “I love our area.” We love where we live. And with time, we’ll love the house just as much as we love the location. So in short…location, location, location!

Dear danica,

Hi! I want to wallpaper my entryway but we have a couple of open ended transitions to other rooms. How do I “end” the paper without doing a shoddy outside corner? Thanks!

– Erin

Wallpaper would make such a fun impact in the space! I don’t think you’re going to like my answer, but I would only recommend doing wallpaper if you change the “open-ended” transitions to cased openings. Framing out the openings at the same height as the adjacent door, with matching trim, will give you a natural stopping point for wallpaper. If this isn’t an option, unfortunately, I would then forgo wallpaper and continue with the same paint color as the connecting rooms.

Dear danica,

Not design this time – how do you take the conversation about moving out of state from playful to serious? So inspired by your move and my desire to get away from the hot NE summer!

– KG

I knew when I met Chris that he was an adventure seeker. He was upfront with me from day one about his desire to move out of the Midwest. I, on the other hand, was very comfortable where I was when we first met. But when you’re around a dreamer like Chris, someone who not only vocalizes their dreams but follows through with them, the thrill and the realization that your dreams aren’t as scary as you thought they would be will rub off on you.

About 8 years into our marriage, we shifted the conversation from “someday we’ll move out of state” to “where would you want to move?” This shifted the focus from being conceptual to slightly more real and put more intention on the lifestyle we wanted to pursue. All the while, we were vocal and upfront with friends and family along the way. So when May 2024 came, and we finished our home renovation, it was no surprise to anyone involved that we were looking elsewhere.

As Chris has said to me repeatedly, “Sometimes life’s greatest successes are on the opposite side of fear.” And in fact, our move to Maine has proven that to be true.