Guest Blogger: Top 5 Inexpensive Ways to Modernize Your Bedroom

 Guest Blogger #564, Entry #1279, June 13, 2012

When most people opt to do upgrades in the home, they tend to lean towards renovations that will add the most value and show the best return on investment. For this reason, kitchen and master bath projects are the most common. However, the master bedroom can also provide the potential to wow buyers down the road, and if you go about it in the right way you may not have to spend a ton of dough to engineer some truly stellar results. So here are just a few of the modern trends that will have your family and friends thinking a top designer created your nesting space, along with some tips to keep the cost affordable.

Give your bedroom an inexpensive makeover

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1. Walls.

A few years back the trend was to stick to a neutral tone on most walls while spicing up the space with one colorful accent wall. Then a few months ago the color-block trend took over, bringing with it a high demand for painter’s tape and T-squares. But 2012 has brought some exciting new trends when it comes to bedroom walls, and rectangular stone tile-work is probably the biggest. Of course, it can also be fairly pricy. So you might want to go with sheets of faux finish that merely look like brickwork or slate tiling. Or you could hit up the other hot trend: wallpaper. This decorative standard may have last enjoyed popularity during the disco era, but it has recently had a resurgence, complete with modern patterns and colors. Wall graphics (like those found at whatisblik.com) are also gaining traction.

2. Flooring. 

Hard surfaces continue to trend in bedrooms (perhaps because of the versatility they offer for the chameleons out there that love to change their throw rugs frequently). In any case, the current style seems to revolve around bleached woods, white or light neutral tiles (in a high shine), or even squares of slick linoleum accented with geometric designs (this last is fairly affordable and can be installed by DIY-ers).

Update your bedroom’s flooring

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3. Color trends.

Bright hues remain the order of the day, although the lemons, limes, and oranges from your fruit bowl have been supplanted by deeper tones of grassy green, oceanic turquoise, and the deep fuchsia of a stargazer lily. Whether you are brave enough to slap these crazy shades on your walls or you prefer to start with a neutral palette for the room and accent it with colorful linens, rugs, throws, and furnishings is entirely up to you.

Modernize your bedroom with great lighting

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4. Lighting.

There are some odd and amazing trends emerging in this arena, from backlit headboards to vintage chandeliers to inset wall sconces (placed inside dedicated, custom niches). But perhaps the coolest (albeit least functional) trend is embodied by a variety of dim-watted bulbs hanging at various heights in the room, resembling nothing so much as a field of lightning bugs. There are options at every price point, but the least expensive would be to find an antique chandelier on Craigslist or at a local yard sale and show it a little TLC.

5. Furnishings. 

When it comes to furnishings, multi-purpose pieces are in, and so is hidden storage. So whether you go for an ottoman or bed with storage or you simply build in some wall panels that hide your shelving, you’ll definitely be on trend by ditching the old dresser or armoire. Oversized headboards are also big (pun intended) and those with some visual interest (texture, multiple layers, or an organic feel, for example) seem to be on the hot list. Again, multiple options means you should be able to find pieces within your budget.

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