This "Dark Hole" Bedroom Feels Dreamy After Built-In Bookshelves

"In addition to the dark gray paint, Shalonne also added IKEA velvet blackout curtains to enhance the space and started (but never completed) a gallery wall above the bed's high-backed headboard - or at least, in the space that wasn't taken up by a mostly blocked window. "The original fir floors with a Swedish finish were the only redeeming feature of the room," Shalonne says. "I was uninspired by every piece of furniture, and the covered windows were depressing.""

"The rest of Shalonne's home is full of color, but for this space she "wanted the room to read sophisticated, luxurious, classic, and calm," and this meant using "a restrained palette of creams and browns," she says. The built-in bookshelves were a first-time DIY. In addition to sophisticated and calm luxury, Shalonne says she "had this vision of antique leather-bound books sitting behind a low headboard" for her bedroom. The headboard is still in progress, but the leather-bound books are all in place."

Shalonne initially painted the bedroom a deep gray, which created a dark, uninspired space despite original fir floors with a Swedish finish. She added IKEA velvet blackout curtains and began, but did not finish, a gallery wall above a high-backed headboard. She chose a restrained palette of creams and browns to make the room feel sophisticated, luxurious, classic, and calm. She undertook a first-time DIY project to build wall-to-wall bookshelves and curated antique-style leather-bound books to sit behind the bed. The headboard remains in progress while the built-in shelves and books are complete.

Read at Apartment Therapy