Back in September, I had the earth-shattering (by which I mean it was totally not earth-shattering but felt earth-shattering to me) idea to completely revamp my bedroom and build myself a dedicated writing space. I was really struggling to complete my work in progress at the time (the recently released When the Lights Come On!) and to find ways to be creative and productive while juggling the impact of the pandemic with some stuff going on in my home life. Basically, I was feeling the way a lot of people have been feeling throughout this past year: drained and uninspired.
I come from a long line of DIY-ers who always have some home reno project or other on the go. I've learned time and time again that slapping a fresh coat of paint on something can be a great way to get out of a slump, whether your slump is related to furniture or not. There's something really energizing about changing your space around. I think shifting your outer world can often prompt your inner world to do some much-needed shifting to.
September was also the time when I discovered the amazing Alexandra Gater on YouTube. She has SUCH great budget DIY makeovers. I absolutely love her style, and the finished results for my room are highly inspired by her work.
As home makeover projects usually go, mine ended up taking a lot longer than intended. I finally wrapped up after Christmas, and I'm so excited to share the finished product now! But first, let's take a trip down memory lane...
These are some shots of my room before the redo. It wasn't bad, but it felt outdated and a little immature. It just didn't feel like the current me. I wanted to refresh that and also make it feel more styled and cohesive.
Enter: my Pinterest board. Extensive Pinterest scrolling is one of my guilty pleasures in life. I had so much fun making the board for my new room and then turning it into a collage mixed with images of products I was pretty set on buying.
Also, yes, I did Photoshop my face onto the girl in the middle. Just taking vision boarding to the next level over here.
Then came the makeover! I'm so thrilled with how things turned out. It definitely has that styled feeling I was looking for while also feeling like a better representation of me. I even got two photographs I took myself professionally printed out to hang over the couch! I also discovered one of my now-favourite artists during the decor process: Fran Rodriguez. That's who the two big prints over my bed are by.
The couch itself is a hand-me-down that I revamped with a goooorgeous velvet cover from Etsy and some new retro-looking gold legs. I'm also super pleased with how my DIY basket light turned out! I found the perfect basket at a thrift store and turned it into a pendant lamp. It makes really cool shadows when it's on.
An important part of the makeover was making myself a special space to write. Doing all my business admin stuff and my personal computer use from the same desk out in the open in my room was making it really hard to see it as a ~sacred~ writing space. I decided to convert half my closet into a mini desk area that I use just for writing.
Here's a look at the closet before the makeover:
And here's how it turned out after consolidating all my stuff to one side, adding a door to cover the middle shelving unit, and installing a simple desk and some decor, including my paperback copies of my books! The delightful boobs wall hook is from Urban Outfitters. It's one of my favourite things I added to the room. What romance writer's office is complete without some tittiezzz?
I'm already well into writing my next book here, and I'm loving the new space! I hope you'll love all the stories that get created here.
-Katia
