Brady’s Bedroom Makeover With Parachute+ Shop The Look

Hey guys and gals, it is me Brady and today we have got the FULL (yep, the entire thing) reveal of my bedroom. You would think that after living in my apartment for almost two years I would have had it all pulled together, finished up, and presentable to the general public but unfortunately that didn’t quite happen. There were other projects that were more important to me to finish up like my living room and kitchen (the places people actually would see) and also to be completely honest, I wasn’t totally inspired by the original space. So, when Parachute reached out about collaborating on some sponsored content and a bedroom refresh it was the perfect excuse to get things in order. But, before we take a look at what it is looking like now, let me show you what it looked like when I first walked into the apartment.

Scary (and very uninspiring) I know, granted these shots were taken at night, with a flash, while the previous tenant was moving out (that isn’t my mess in case you were wondering). But to put it simply, the space was a blank slate and didn’t have a lot going for it other than the coved ceilings which I loved. It had a row of three windows on one wall and then doors on two of the other walls but other than that it was a pretty long rectangle of a room looking for some love and life.

When I first moved in I tried arranging my bed against the wall adjacent to the windows rather than in front and although that worked it was a little bit awkward walking into the bathroom with the foot of the bed so close to the door and also walking around the bed to get to the other side if needed. Not to mention the view from the bed looking directly into the bathroom. So I tried a few other layouts and ultimately decided to divide the space into two areas. The bedroom area (with the bed) and a little seating area (with the bench, safari chair, and tv unit).

Let’s start over in the bed area. After searching high and low for the right headboard that was short enough to fit under the windows but still upholstered to rest my head on while watching “what the health” (have you all seen it yet?!), all while not feeling like I was essentially sleeping on the floor, I just couldn’t find the right shape, size, color or fit. So I decided to make my own. In case you missed the initial DIY headboard post and step by step click through – but once the headboard was in, the room really started to take shape and felt like it had a little life in it. It created a great focal point wall and also somewhere to lean some art and a little shelf for whatever I needed closest to the bed. (Don’t let the book and glasses fool you – it usually is just my apple remote, and a bottled water although I am trying to be better about reading before bed, but then I turn the TV on and well… 2 hours later I am still scrolling through Netflix).

You may have also noticed that the window is not exactly centered on that back wall (scroll up in case you missed it). It is slightly more to the left which meant that trying to do anything with too much symmetry on either side of the bed would just accentuate the fact that when they built the building they decided to move the window a couple feet to the left rather than centering it. So rather than letting it be an awkward feature of the room I decided to make it a distinguishing feature of the room (a la Barbara Streisand’s nose that she kept natural which is now one of her best features, if I do say so myself) by adding that huge wall sconce which added lighting to my side of the bed and also filled up the negative wall space. Moral of the story – when you have awkward, interesting, or weird architecture or features try to accentuate them rather than ignore them, which makes it seem like they were integral to the design of the room and helps them make sense.

Over on my side of the bed I framed one of my friends prints and then had some vintage notecards that I picked up at the flea market float framed to make the sentence “He has what I’ve wanted”. I thought it was more comical when I decided to frame it but now looking at it I kinda feel like Ariel when she longs for the prince to love her so she can get some feet to walk on, AKA too dependent on someone else. Either way, it is controversial, funny and interesting art which I love.

Now into what makes that bed so beautiful. The new beautiful textiles from Parachute Home. We have long been fans of the brand over here, but after sleeping in these sheets for the past week I have to say that I am a new convert as well.

Because I am THE ABSOLUTE worst person at actually making my bed in the morning and because when you are in a hurry to get out of bed and jump into the shower the last thing you want to do is worry about the perfect placement of a bunch of decorative throw pillows I kept the styling pretty simple. Here is my trick – which may or may not work for everyone but works perfectly for me. I have a queen sized bed but I sleep with and used king sized pillows to style. Not only does it make the bed feel full visually, but it also means more cushion for me if I need to prop myself up in bed to binge watch tv read at the end of the day. I ended up using two of their simple percale shams (which I sleep with every night) in the very back then I used a king sized quilted sham in the front of them and then one lumbar pillow from their collection with Caroline Cecil. So in the morning all the pillows can be thrown on quickly and the duvet pulled up without having to really style or futz with anything. Win for morning routines, and win for styling.

Another one of my favorite features of their bedding is that the pillowcases have an envelope closure on the back and a flange edge which makes it feel a little more decorative than the traditional pillowcase without adding anything too frilly or fancy. It also makes for easy styling as you don’t have a massive opening on one end that you have to deal with or look at. I combined their oatmeal, sand and white bedding for a tonal look and played with pattern by bringing in one of their lumbar pillows from their collection with Caroline Cecil. Then to help bring the oatmeal color up on the wall and further into the room I hung this oversized textile art (which we included in this recent post). It is HUGE and is such a good piece for the price to fill up a big empty wall space. I hung it with some hooks from MQuan and a copper rod but it could be hung with any sort of dowel and a few screws.

You might also notice that in these pictures I got rid of my nightstands and opted for a floating metal shelf that comes out from in between one of the panels of tufting. It ended up being super easy to add as I used a pre-made metal shelf (which is sadly no longer available in black), and it also freed up a ton of room around the bed making the space feel more open and tied into the matte black of the wall sconce. 

Moving down to the foot of the bed I used this bench from Rejuvenation’s collection with O&G Studio which helps to divide the “sleeping area” from the “lounge area”. (Look at me trying to make it sound like I also drink my tea in the parlor and sunbathe on the veranda with my fancy words). But the repeated vertical lines of the bench help to play with the large horizontal lines of the channel tufting on the headboard which visually helps the combo to work.

I love that it has a shelf on the bottom where I can throw some books, shoes, or some accessories which also helps to break up the large visual expanse of the bed with a few pretty items.

Now, let me introduce you to my TV cabinet. I know it looks like it is just a Mid-Century hutch, but let me show you what I did to it.

As much as I love watching TV, I also hate seeing a massive black screen in the room every day and it also is such an incentive to turn it on when you visually see it so by hiding it inside of the cabinet it solved both problems. The vintage cabinet came from Chairish and ended up being the perfect house for what I had planned. When I got it, the cabinet doors were one large panel and slide side-to-side rather than opened accordion style. So I reached out to our friend Chaffee at 4th Period Woodshop (who designed and built our office cabinets) to adjust this slightly to fit my needs. I had him take the doors off, slice them in half which allowed them to open accordion style and then reattach them to the sides of the cabinet rather than into the groves that they used to slide in. Then inside the cabinet I had him mount an extra long TV wall mount I bought which allowed me to open up the doors, pull the TV out, adjust it to any angle that I want and then easily push it back in when I am done. The cabinet is also just big enough that all the wires, cords, and accessories can fit inside it as well. And in case you are wondering where it all plugs in, I installed a power strip inside the cabinet that feeds out the back so there is one cable that plugs into an outlet in the wall directly under the cabinet rather than a mess of cords.

I love how it turned out, and I love that it gives me some additional storage and another surface to style (as if I need more decorative objects in my life). Up here I included another source of light with this task lamp (as the bedroom can get pretty dark and I put this one on a timer), and then a few of my favorite accessories and art (all the resources are below).

Next to it I have the “trend de jour” the leaning ladder and while I get that these things may be slightly controversial in the fact that they aren’t the most functional thing for pulling blankets on and off especially when I have styled it out with that beautiful handmade ceramic garland by MQuan, I absolutely love the way the ladder and the vignette looks, and it gives a nice friend to the sconce that is on the wall next to it. And for those of you that might ask how it stays up. I installed some brackets on the back of it where it leans up against the wall that I anchored firmly to my wall so that it doesn’t come toppling down if I ever decide to grab a blanket off of it during those cold LA nights… who am I kidding it is 89 degrees in my bedroom right now.

Directly opposite the TV is this little seating vignette where I actually spend a few hours almost every single night in that safari chair from Third Life Design (who hand makes all of his chairs and benches in his workshop and has some beautiful stuff). Whether I am finishing up a little bit of work on the blog, watching some TV or pinning away it is perfectly situated across from the TV and also speaks well to the bench that is at the foot of the bed. If you haven’t noticed from my kitchen post, I love art, and I am running out of places to put it so I pulled together some of my new favorite pieces into a collection here. Unfortunately they are all vintage besides the black and white textile art from Jane Denton (but I put a few look a likes below to get the look). They were all framed by framebridge and if you guys are ever in need of the easiest way to frame things then be sure to check them out.

On the last wall which is directly opposite my bed, is where the door to my little walk in closet lies and where I put this wall hook to house a few of my prettier clothing items and some of MQuan’s bells. (BTW we have a big post coming up for why these hooks are so handy in every space and make styling so easy – so stay tuned for that). You may be asking yourself why I basically just styled out this hook situation to look pretty but not functional, but my closet adequately houses everything that I need and has ample storage for clothes, shoes, accessories and my daily items so I wanted to keep the rest of the room more visually appealing rather than having my 23 reusable grocery bags and my dirty gym bag hanging on the wall. I’d much rather look at those bells, one of my favorite vintage hats, and that black leather back pack any day of the week than a visual reminder that I should be actually using said bags every day and getting myself into the gym.

And to give you a bit more context for the full room and how it really all plays with each other and is laid out, here are a few pulled back shots.

The door on the far right is the door to my bathroom. Which if you missed it here you can check out the facelift I gave to it in this post.

Then on this wall you see the door to the walk in closet, and on the left where the picture is cropped is the main door that walks into the bedroom from the hallway.

And because we LOVE a good before and after moment over here at EHD, here are a few side by side shots to show you how it was before I moved in and how it is looking now.

See how happy I am in my brand new finished bedroom? Also, Tessa told me I look short when we were taking these pictures which we were both concerned about as I am 6’2″, so what is the verdict? Do I look short or does this hutch just not make the best partner to photograph with? Speaking of the hutch, I am still figuring out what to do with that little inset area, right now I have a few trays in there with my cologne and a place to throw my keys but if any of you have any genius ideas for what it might be for or what I should use it for, let me know below.

If you are into the look then everything is linked up below in the “get the look”, and let me know if you have any questions on the room, and what you think below. Now who is ready for a slumber party?? I will bring the popcorn and assortment of classics (Devil Wears Prada, First Wives Club, Mrs. Doubtfire). In the meantime, if you want to read a little bit more of my process head on over to MyDomaine who has covered the reveal and Architectural Digest who has some more info on the DIY headboard.

1. Percale Venice Set | 2. Linen Throw | 3. Sheets | 4. Safari Leather Chair | 5. Wood Stool from Wayfair | 6. Floor Lamp from Wayfair | 7. Rug from Esmali Rugs | 8. Rattan Ottoman | 9. Sham | 10. Lumbar Pillow | 11. Alpaca Throw | 12. Swing Sconce from AllModern | 13. Ladder from Horne | 14. Ceramic Beaded Garland from MQuan | 15. Gold Sconce from Wayfair | 16. Wood Zig Zag Chair | 17. ‘Sable Song’ Print | 18. ‘Gesturing Man’ Print | 19. Still IV B & W Woven Art Piece from Jane Denton | 20. Ceramic Large Eye from MQuan | 21. White Bud Vase | 22. Black Candle | 23. Wall Hooks from Horne | 24. Tall Ceramic Bell | 25. Medium Ceramic Bell | 26. Leather Backpack from Yield Design | 27. Wood Wall Mount | 28. Woven Wall Hanging | 29. Bench from Rejuvenation | 30. Hutch from Chairish (similar found here) | 31. Pillow Inserts | 32. Duvet Insert | 33. Fringe Throw | 34. Table Lamp from Lamps Plus | 35. Wire Gem Art | 36. Relaxed Roman Shades from Tonic Living

For more of Brady’s Apartment: Brady’s Living Room Refresh with The Citizenry | Brady’s Kitchen Reveal | DIY Channel Tufted Headboard | Brady’s Living Room | Brady’s Bathroom Refresh | DIY Kitchen Flooring