A teen bedroom inspired by a little orange box

This June let me show a Do-It-Yourself

 teen bedroom makeover!

using an orange painted Hermes box
as inspiration, coupled with sepia tone

equestrian photography together they

set the tone for

this bold teen bedroom

We stopped into Home Depot for inexpensive paint, and picked up Behr paint for $24.99 a gallon. We handed the salesclerk our Hermes tie box, she hooked it up to her machine and within five minutes we were leaving with three gallons of semi-gloss custom Behr paint. Four coats later, we have a lovely sheen on the walls.
We coupled Clarence House fabric with Ralph Lauren white ruffled paisley bedding, and vintage lace pillows to create a calming balance for the vivid walls

Equestrian lover's art:
Gabby and friend Bailey's photography provide beautiful sepia tone 

images for the orange walls

I hope this helps to inspire you to take on something in your home that needs spiffing up.  This was a challenge for many reasons and namely no budget, a very decisive client (having your daughter as a client is a daunting experience), plus there were many items in the room we needed to salvage. For the most part, teens are good at following their instincts. I admire the Hermes orange color because it is a great combination of vibrant orange with a touch of calming brown. The history of their company as saddlemaker fascinates Gabby and she loves their saddles and tack. Since she was a very little girl she has been utterly fascinated with horses, and as she gets older this interest grows. The pretty orange and brown combination is what she settled upon when changing up her room to reflect her lifestyle. I have to be honest, I have never used orange this much, coral maybe, but not orange as a room color before. Although I often go for bold, quite frankly, this color scared me a bit. Although I enjoy the vibrancy and happiness of orange, I have used it subtly and more or less as an accent before this project. However, the boldness made the room feel larger, and by painting the ceiling as well it opened up the room. The entire space basks in a glow. 

 We used what we had in the house, swapping out a dresser from the guest room to bring in the dark burled wood. I knew that if we were going bold on the walls, I needed to bring in white, brown and tan to add earthly elements. The floors are dark already, the scalloped valance was made from Clarence House fabric and the bed hanging linens from a trip to Paris a few years back. We kept the two painted ivory iron beds from years past. My husband fixed an old mahogany mirror that we had purchased at a flea market in Boston ten years ago.

The second driving force to the design was to showcase my daughter's fascination and budding talent with photography. She takes hundreds of equestrian photographs weekly at the many events we attend. Within hours we had a dozen sepia tone images printed from her computer. 

I brought in a pair of antique painted white pineapple lamps from another room. (they were originally gold and I painted them white). I find an orange ceramic lamp in the basement, and rifle through my linen closet to discover Ralph Lauren sheets and linens I had stashed away. I wash and iron the linens and somehow their brown paisley design seems new and fresh set against the brightness of the walls. We add white matchstick rolldown shades under the brown valance. I keep the kind of ugly IKEA desk that needs to eventually be replaced, but since it is white and non-descript it fits in fairly easily.