Style Your Bed Like a Pro With These Tips and Tricks

Style your bed just as you would style an entire room. That’s the key to creating a comfortable, attractive and cozy place for good sleep and relaxation.

Fashion blogger Lauren Lefevre, of Edit by Lauren, shares her tips and tricks for achieving a perfectly styled bed.

How to Style Your Bed

The bed is the focal point of every bedroom, and sets the tone and feel of the entire room. An intentionally styled bed is well worth the effort! With just a few well-selected accents, a “ho-hum,” ordinary bed can be transformed into a stylish statement that impacts the entire room.

Here are my tips for styling your bed for maximum effect.

Start with a bed you love

Since a bed is the most dominate piece of furniture in a bedroom, it’s important to pick one that defines your personal style.

I personally am drawn to beds with a tall headboard and footboard like this one, the Gordon Sleigh Bed. A tall headboard makes a statement, and a footboard keeps the end of the bed looking neat and tidy, without needing a bed skirt!

A neutral colored bed allows you add punches of color through pillows and accessories, and mixes with any kind of furniture scheme.

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Select a neutral quilt or duvet

I am always drawn to white linens because the look is clean and crisp. They can mix and match with any other colors and never go out of style. This white Monaco duvet is super soft and gives a perfect blank canvas to dress your bed!

A styling tip for making a duvet look extra full and plush:  Fill the cover with two duvet inserts!

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Layer the Bed

When you style your bed, think about layers.

Start with shams for the first layer. I prefer using shams that match the duvet, like these Monoco shams, to keep consistency for the back row of pillows. Down or synthetic-down pillow inserts look the best in large shams.

Then, layer with decorative pillows that will help anchor the décor for the entire room. I love the look of mixing textures, patterns, colors and metallics.

I especially love the look of these Safavieh Elle and Cole metallic pillows mixed with beaded textures and pops of color. These Safavieh Ricci Embellished Hand-Beaded Pillows are a fabulous way to add texture and shine to a bed.

Pillows are also great way to tie in the bed to the rest of the room by adding coordinating pillows to a chair and/or bench.

For a quick seasonal change, try changing out one center pillow (i.e., a seashell for summer, plaid for winter, etc.). Since decorative pillows can easily and affordably be swapped out over time, this is a place to experiment and have fun!

And finally, layer with a cozy throw

Don’t underestimate the power of a throw layered at the bottom of the bed. I love throws with tassels and pom-poms, like this throw by Artistic Weavers, since they add extra texture and visual interest to the entire bed.

A pretty little blanket helps finish the look of the bed. It also provides an easy layering piece to cuddle up under while reading or resting.

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A Well-Styled Bed and Bedroom

A well-dressed bed should look styled yet comfortable and inviting. Incorporate these simple tips to style your bedroom like a pro, and help transform your bedroom into a welcoming and relaxing retreat.

You can find all the items you see here in The Home Depot’s Home Decor section.

See more bedroom ideas here on The Home Depot Blog.

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DIY Painted Stencil Bathroom Floor

This painted stencil bathroom floor project totally changed the look of the room. It was a lot cheaper than re-tiling the floor, too.

It’s the work of Mallory and Savannah of Classy Clutter. They used chalked paint in black and white for a bold contrast to match the large, eye-catching flower pattern of the stenciled design.

Follow along to see how they created this cool painted stencil bathroom floor.

Painted Stencil Tile Floor

Our bathroom was just plain and had no real character to it. It was not bad, but it was not good either. For a quick, easy and cheap face-lift I decided to paint the already existing cream tile with a fun stencil and some chalk paint.

Materials and Tools

• Mineral spirits
• Rag or sponge
• Rust-Oleum Charcoal chalked paint
• Rust-Oleum White Linen chalked paint
• Tape for delicate surfaces
• Paint roller
• Paint brush
• Small artist paint brush
• Stencil
• Small foam roller or stencil roller
• Polycrylic

Step 1: Clean the Floor

Clean the floor and the grout using mineral spirits and a rag or sponge. I cleaned and scrubbed the grout and the tile both twice to make sure that it was really clean. This will help with cleaning and prepping the tile for the paint. The better you clean, the better the chalked paint will stick to the tile.

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Step 2: Paint the Base Color

Using a paint roller and a paintbrush, do the first coat of chalked paint.

For the base color of the floor I used the Rust-Oleum Chalked Paint in Charcoal. I did two coats of the base color allowing them to dry thoroughly in between coats.

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Step 3: Lay the Stencil and Paint the Design

Use painter’s tape made for delicate surfaces to hold the stencil down where you want it to be. I used the old tile as a guide, lining up my edges to make sure I stayed perfectly straight.

Starting in the back left corner of the bathroom, I worked my way to the door, square-by-square, painting the stencil design.

Using a small stencil foam roller, I applied a very small amount of Rust-Oleum White Linen Chalk Paint onto the roller. Too much paint on the roller could cause the paint to leak under the stencil, ruining the clean edges.

Start with a thin coat of paint and then do two coats if necessary. Don’t pull up the stencil until you like the coverage of the chalk paint. Otherwise, it’s going to be hard to line it up if you need to apply a second coat.

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Step 4: Touch Up the Painted Design

After the floor was completely stenciled and dry I did need to go in with the small paintbrush and do a few touch ups on the edges.

Some of the stencil parts needed to have a bit more coverage, too. I used a small brush to touch up those areas as well.

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Step 5: Seal the Painted Floor

After I was completely satisfied how the paint looked I applied two coats of polycrylic to seal the painted floor.

I paid particular attention to the areas around toilet, the sink area and the shower. Those are places for likely water splashes, so I wanted them well sealed. I used a satin finish because I didn’t want the floor look really shiny or glossy. But you can use any finish you want.

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The Completed Painted Stencil Bathroom Floor

I am beyond thrilled on how the painted stencil bathroom floor turned out. For less than $50 I was able to take a boring old bathroom and turn it into something fun with a ton of character.

I love that Rust-Oleum Chalked Paint can be used in so many different ways. The super matte finish looks great on the old tile.

Check out this full bathroom reveal plus you can see the original chain pulling toilet and green wood trim that was in the bathroom when we moved in and all the other details about this bathroom on our Blog Classy Clutter HERE.

You can find all the materials you need for the painted stencil bathroom floor project in The Home Depot’s Paint Department.

Follow our All About Paint board on Pinterest for more painting ideas and inspiration, and check our more DIY projects here on The Home Depot Blog.

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The Easy Way to Paint a House

The easy way to paint a house is by using a paint sprayer. But painting a house also involves some prep work to make the job go smoothly and to get the best results.

Steph and Vicki Kubiak of Mother Daughter Projects used a paint sprayer to paint Steph’s house. Here they walk you through all the steps involved.

The Easy Way to Paint a House

Deciding to paint a house can be a matter of need, to add curb appeal, or a matter of color preference. For Steph, it was color. Ever since she moved into her home, she has wanted to paint the outside of the house a new color. We just finished cleaning the vinyl siding parts of her house, so the painted stucco part was really looking drab by comparison.

We were given the opportunity to paint the house using the Wagner Flexio 970 Sprayer and BEHR exterior paint.

We’ll talk about it more later, but using the paint sprayer was the only way we could have managed this job. We learned that stucco is hard to paint with traditional methods. The paint sprayer made it a doable DIY project that many homeowners could undertake themselves.

Materials

• Cleaning brushes
• Leaf blower
• Ladder
• Garden hose with sprayer tip
• Home Armor E-Z House Wash
• DAP caulk
• Exterior Painter’s Tape
• Pre-Taped Painter’s Plastic Drop Cloth with Dispenser
• Scrap paper for masking
• BEHR Exterior Paint
• Wagner Flexio 970 Sprayer
• Long handled paint roller
• Paint brush
• (2) Five-gallon buckets for cleaning
• Dish washing detergent

Before You Paint

Anyone who has ever painted anything will tell you that the prep work takes the most amount of time. Our painting project was no exception.

Here’s what we did to get ready to actually paint.

Choose a color

We picked Behr Premium Plus Ultra Exterior Satin Paint in Grey Flannel. If your home is part of an homeowners’ association be sure to have your color choice approved.

Buy paint and materials

Start with a minimum of 5 gallons of paint.

Remove hardware from the house

This includes house numbers, light fixtures, flag pole bracket, etc.

Repair cracks and holes

We filled in cracks in the stucco and used DAP caulk to seal around the garage door and under one window.

Brush or blow loose dirt

Go over the walls, soffits, and gutters. If needed, trim any bushes close to the painting area and rake organic material away from the foundation.

Wash the exterior

We spent a lot of time determining how we were going to clean the stucco—pressure wash or house wash? Washing the house, much like we had just done to clean the siding, seemed the way to go.

We attached the Home Armor house wash to the hose and sprayed everything down. After letting it set for 10 minutes, scrubbed some of the dirtier areas and then sprayed it down with clean water. We worked in small sections so it didn’t have a chance to dry.

Note: Wear old clothing as the Home Armor can bleach your clothing.

Mask anything you don’t want painted

While the siding was drying, we started masking the door, windows, soffits, gutters, and outlets.

The pre-taped painter’s plastic drop cloth was really handy for taping off the doors and windows. A Home Depot store associate advised us to use the exterior 3M tape. We needed something to flex around the large curved window and he suggested this product—it was perfect!

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Painting the House with a Paint Sprayer

Read and follow instructions on the paint sprayer. We found the instructions to be very straight forward, well illustrated, and easy to understand. The large quick-start fold out was especially convenient.

We didn’t have any particular difficulties getting it set up and ready to go. The cool thing about this sprayer is the pump goes right into the paint bucket—no extra container needed!

Spray the large sections of walls

We sprayed almost to the point where the soffits meet the wall.

Follow the spraying with a paint roller

If the paint sags at any point or doesn’t fully cover, smooth this out with a roller or brush.

Roll or brush hard to reach areas

We chose to hand paint areas that we could not safely mask off (like the area above the large curved window).

Clean the sprayer

Clean up can be a chore with sprayers, but this one took only 20 minutes and wasn’t complicated. The two five gallon buckets held clean soapy water in which to run through the spray gun and tubing. Follow the instructions included with the sprayer.

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When You’re Done Painting

First, remove all masking material.

Touch up where needed. At this step, we hand rolled a fresh coat of white paint on the garage.

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What We Learned

Check the extended weather forecast before starting

We had a deadline in which to paint the house. We ended up having a window of only 2½ days of sunny weather in which to start and finish the house. If you’re planning on painting be sure to check the weather and plan accordingly.

Choose the painting tool that matches the surface you are painting

A paint sprayer was the perfect tool for this project. We have used two different paint sprayers in the past with very poor results so we were a little hesitant about using this one. It was a pleasant surprise to see how well the sprayer worked. After experiencing how difficult it was to paint stucco with a brush and roller, we realized that using a sprayer was the only way to go. It made very short work of the actual painting process.

The gray we chose for the house is absolute perfection and fits in very well with the surrounding homes in the neighborhood.

You can find all the materials you need for using a paint sprayer in The Home Depot’s Paint Department. You can also rent a paint sprayer from The Home Depot.

Follow our All About Paint board on Pinterest for more painting ideas and inspiration, and check our more DIY projects here on The Home Depot Blog.

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Repainting Furniture Using a Paint Sprayer

Using a paint sprayer to repaint furniture makes the job easy, and you’ll get excellent results.

Katrina Sullivan of Chic Little House gave new life to a couple of furniture pieces in her dining room using a paint sprayer. Follow along as she shows us how she did it.

Using a Paint Sprayer to Repaint Furniture

Materials

• Plastic Wood Filler
• Orbital Sander
• Paint Sprayer (You can rent a paint sprayer from The Home Depot.)
• Medium Grit Sanding Sponge 

Preparing Your Furniture Piece

Clean the furniture piece with a lint-free cloth. Use mild soap and water, and it allow to dry.

Apply wood filler with a plastic putty knife filling holes. For deep holes and gouges, slowly build the damaged back up.

My favorite wood filler is the DAP Plastic Wood Filler. I prefer using it in a tub because that makes it easier to use a putty knife. This wood filler is super easy to spread, and most areas dry within two to three hours.

After the wood filler is dry, sand the body of the chair using a medium grit sanding block. Pay extra attention to smoothing out the areas where wood filler was applied.

I used an orbital sander with medium grit sandpaper to sand the seat. Seats on chairs take a lot of wear and tear, and I wanted to pay extra attention to this area. Wipe away dust from the sanding with a lint-free cloth.

Once I completed all the prep work on my four chairs and the banquette legs, I was ready to paint.

Prepare a Work Space

I created an outdoor work area on my lawn, laying down a drop cloth to project my grass from spills. I also placed a large piece of lumber on the drop cloth for a stable spot for the chairs to sit on.

Prepare the Paint Sprayer

When using a paint sprayer, you’ll need to thin the paint with water. With some sprayers I’ve used, this can involve a bit of guess work. The Wagner Home Decor Paint Sprayer makes it easy. I poured the paint directly into the canister and then used the yellow gauge to help determine how much water to add.

Painting the Furniture

Do a test run on a piece of cardboard before spraying your furniture, so you feel comfortable.

Once you’re ready to spray-paint your furniture, use broad sweeping movements start and end off your chair. Spray thin-to-medium coats of paint, allowing the paint to build-up overtime.

I waited 10 to 15 minutes before spraying the each coat. Before spraying the banquette, I covered the fabric with plastic and then sprayed the legs of the banquette. Keep a brush on hand to touch up any paint drips.

The Newly Repainted Furniture

I’m thrilled with how my dining rooms chairs turned out! The finish on the chairs is ultra smooth and the look brand new!

I’m very impressed with how easy it was to use the Wagner Home Decor Paint Sprayer; I also liked how light weight and compact it is when spraying. It was easy to get into the tight places under the legs.

I’m also thrilled with how the legs on the banquette turned out. There were several spots on the legs and bottom bar with deep chew marks on them. After prepping and painting the legs, my banquette looks brand new. I also like the rich black color paint on the legs better than the old medium stain tone.

I’m excited to start my next paint furniture makeover with my new paint sprayer.

You can find all the materials you need for using a paint sprayer in The Home Depot’s Paint Department.

Follow our All About Paint board on Pinterest for more painting ideas and inspiration, and check our more DIY projects here on The Home Depot Blog.

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