Embracing the Unexpected

Growing up, my dad was the one who called the shots when it came to decorating our family home. I always admired his eye for art, antiques, and rugs, but his style didn’t necessarily align with my own preferences for pastels and modern touches. As I’ve gotten older, though, I’ve come to realize that my parents really do know best.

Case in point: When I first moved into my current apartment in 2020, I went all in on the then-trendy Danish pastel aesthetic. But over time, that decor style started to feel a bit tired, so I decided to prioritize a more timeless look. That’s when I turned to my dad’s design playbook for inspiration, including a favorite color of his that I had always shied away from: red.

I’ll admit, my dad was definitely onto something before this semi-controversial shade became cool. But now that red has started dominating runways and homes, I’m officially hooked. I even discovered the viral “unexpected red theory” on TikTok, which the original creator, Taylor Simon (@intayriors), described as “adding anything that’s red, big or small, to a room where it doesn’t match at all, and it automatically looks better.”

The TikTok video shows a handful of unexpected red theory examples, but one specific Pinterest find doubled as my new mood board: an airy, modern dining room space punctuated with a few red woven chairs. I had to hunt down this exact same seating style and try out the red concept for myself. After some Facebook Marketplace digging and a road trip to Connecticut, my boyfriend helped me bring home a dupe for just a few hundred dollars.

Bringing the Unexpected into My Living Room

Originally, I planned to style the chair in a small alcove in my bedroom, but its modest sizing felt disproportionate next to my dresser. So I did some rearranging in my living room, situating it in between two windows next to my couch, and the bold hue instantly made the space feel more elevated and dimensional. It also concealed the basket storing my internet router – a win-win!

My whole apartment admittedly is in dire need of more color, but the living room especially lacks natural light, which is why I’ve gravitated toward predominantly white and ivory tones to help brighten things up. I’d been looking for some sort of statement item, though, and I’m so glad that TikTok steered me toward a red palette. The chair nicely disrupts my light-hued sofa, rug, and curtains, while doubling as a fresh (and dare I say, unexpected) focal point that stands out without dominating the room.

It’s also given me new decorating momentum in an otherwise unused spot. I still need to fill out the blank wall space directly above the chair, especially to add height and draw the eye upward, but I now have the perfect jumping-off piece that can play up a range of different decor hues – although I’m envisioning a trio of decorative blue-toned ceramic plates.

Simon even adds in the TikTok above that she’s petitioning for red to be a neutral color because it just looks good with everything. If you also have a majority neutral home or just want to experiment with a color outside your comfort zone, the unexpected red theory can be pulled off with any accent, from a table lamp to a picture frame.

I’m happy I committed to a more large-scale furniture style, though, that maximizes more seating in a small room. Consider pieces like red nightstands or storage cabinets – IKEA has some cute options, FYI, to double down on aesthetics and functionality. You can also find different red tones to complement your space, like a more subdued burgundy or brick red.

The concept does hinge on unexpected iterations that may seemingly conflict with your existing design setup, so don’t be afraid to get creative. Either way, as my parents’ tasteful red dining room of 20 years proves, this color is timeless – even if trend cycles might eventually say otherwise.

Experimenting with the Unexpected

As the Sofa Spectacular team knows, the home you love starts with surprising accents that showcase your unique style. While the interior design business is often an excellent way to show off your creativity, a lot of times, people play it safe. I don’t blame them – it’s a lot of money to decorate a room, and it’s scary to make bold choices.

So most of the time, we play things on the more subdued side. But the fun part of having a platform like this is being able to experiment with the unexpected. I saw some cool mirrors that double as art, and it got me thinking about a bedroom steeped in tradition with fun, modern accents in the unexpected pairing of French blue and golden yellow.

I picture this client being a confident British woman in her 30s, perhaps living in a city condo with great historic bones and tall windows framed with ivory silk dupioni drapes. Anyways, it’s a fun exercise for me – and perhaps gets you thinking about making bolder choices in your own home.

This color palette reminds me to tell you, I’ll be shooting and sharing Emma’s nursery soon. I’m just waiting on one last piece of art, and as soon as that’s here, I’ll get it done. A nice switch if the golden yellow is a bit too yellow for some – I think camel is super yummy with porcelain blue. Also, camel beige is striking with pale pink in a more feminine design scheme.

The key is playing around to get just the right coolness or warmth from the camel and blue tones. And don’t forget to incorporate crisp, creamy moldings and silk draperies – voila, you’ve got an unexpected yet striking color combination.

Embracing the Unexpected, Room by Room

While the interior design business is most often an excellent way to show off your creativity and unique concepts for a space, a lot of times, people play it safe. And I don’t blame them – it’s a lot of money to decorate a room, and it’s scary to make choices that seem really bold and unique.

So most of the time, we play things on the more subdued side. But the fun part of having a platform like this is being able to have fun making up pretend clients who want to do the bold, fun stuff. I saw these cool mirrors that double as art, and it got me thinking about a bedroom steeped in tradition with fun modern accents in the unexpected pairing of French blue and golden yellow.

I picture this client being a confident British woman in her 30s, perhaps living in a city condo with great historic bones and tall windows framed with ivory silk dupioni drapes. Anyways, it’s a fun exercise for me – and perhaps gets you thinking about making bolder choices in your own home.

This color palette reminds me to tell you I’ll be shooting and sharing Emma’s nursery soon. I’m just waiting on one last piece of art, and as soon as that’s here, I’ll get it done. A nice switch if the golden yellow is a bit too yellow for some – I think camel is super yummy with porcelain blue. Also, camel beige is striking with pale pink in a more feminine design scheme.

The key is playing around to get just the right coolness or warmth from the camel and blue tones. And don’t forget to incorporate crisp, creamy moldings and silk draperies – voila, you’ve got an unexpected yet striking color combination.

I’m just going to go ahead and rip off the bandage here early. This is not your traditional room reveal. If the story of my primary bedroom design were an HBO series, it would be “White Lotus,” and this is the first and last episode where I show you the ending and then build my way back to how it all happened.

While there is no murder (phew), there is a bit of heartbreak, but thankfully also plenty of joy. Buckle in, this is a long one. For anyone here to pin photos of peach walls and yellow velvet beds, go ahead and skip down here.

You see, this space was three years in the making – three of the most pivotal, life-altering moments of my life. A life-altering injury that I’ve considerably improved from. A life-altering pregnancy. And a life-altering new baby. All of that – and four days, yes DAYS, to enjoy the finished space before, drumroll please, we had to move.

I never designed this space with the intention of leaving it behind, but in the tricky world of Los Angeles real estate and landlord drama, we didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. During the pandemic, the ownership of our 1920s Mediterranean quadplex changed hands from the world’s greatest landlord to…well, the family who bought our building.

There’s a lot I could say here, but probably can’t legally, darn. But the short of it all is, we were offered a lump sum of money to vacate our apartment to avoid the process of a no-fault eviction. Our new landlords wanted in on our unit after buying the building – who could blame them? It’s so dreamy.

The first time they came to us with this, there was a city-wide eviction moratorium, so we had the upper hand. We fought tooth and nail for a cash-for-keys offer that felt far more fair than what they were bringing to the table, but they wouldn’t budge. I was six months pregnant at the time, and the idea of moving late in my pregnancy or with a newborn baby was nothing myself or Charles wanted to deal with without a considerable buyout sum to make it seem worth it, which we were not getting.

We shut down the conversation of owner occupancy once and for all, or so we thought, and carried on with our lives. We welcomed our glorious little Evelyn last February, settled into newborn and new parent life, and slept very little. We cried a lot, nearly as much as Evelyn, but we also oohed and awwed and admired the perfect little face and hands and feet of this human we created.

After six or so months, the fog of postpartum started to lift, and I finally started to feel like a real human again. I was ready to get back to the bedroom I had embarked on designing in 2020 – it was now 2022. A week before giving birth, I put up half the gallery wall around the TV as my mother stood by nervously, making sure I didn’t fall from the step ladder. I left some blank spaces for photos of the baby, because duh.

Most of the furniture, except for the armoire that I chronicled here, was in place, the walls were painted, the window coverings were up, and the sconces were plugged in. I kept reporting back to Jess that the room was almost done while I took inventory of what remained to be done, including moving an infant out of our quarters and into her own. Our bedroom was part adult space, part nursery, which I was actually originally going to reveal.

But then, like I said, I found the armoire, and that changed the plan. And then life happened and altered the plan again. This brings us to the here and now – 2023. Our landlords’ lawyer circled back in January, dropping the bomb of an email just as the city of Los Angeles was about to lift the moratorium.

After several conversations, more tears, and a lot of frantic apartment hunting, Charles and I decided to accept a buyout offer we weren’t 100% happy with, just to gift ourselves peace of mind and some control. Sitting and waiting for an eviction notice to be taped to your door is no way to live, considering we’ve never missed a rent payment and were only losing our home because the owner wanted it. Their right, yes, but so much suckage for us.

What does all of this have to do with a design blog and some pretty pictures of a bedroom, exactly? Nothing really, besides transparency and a life update of sorts for anyone who recognizes my byline. And also maybe a little lesson in the fact that pristine photos on the internet aren’t always what they seem – this is usually the case.

I love how my bedroom room turned out. It’s what my soul wanted before my head could get to the idea and put it down on paper. That heartbreak I mentioned in the first paragraph? That’s what I felt the day we turned over the keys. It’s also what I feel now, knowing this was just a little blip in time. C’est la vie, friends. C’est la vie.

I’ll always hold a large spot in my heart for our Mid-City apartment, but we’re about a month in now at our new place, further east on a tree-lined street so picturesque, I literally squeal every day on our walks with Evelyn. I can’t believe we get to live here. It’s not all tragic “first-episode-of-White-Lotus” drama. It does have a happy ending – even if, another spoiler alert, my beloved armoire is back in the garage.

Designing a Bedroom That Speaks to Your Soul

So now, 900 words into a room reveal post, I can finally get to the reveal part, as well as all the juicy design details. For anyone who jumped to this portion, welcome! Let’s get into it.

My vision for the space changed and evolved over the course of the three years I was putting it together, and I’m so glad it did. For anyone who knows my style, I’m drawn to the dramatic, the colorful, the personality-filled. That’s not what I actually ended up doing here.

If you missed my plans shared early on or want a refresher, you can see my post with my original mood board here, as well as the post where I explored changing courses and pulling back some of the color. You can also see everything I wrote about this room as it came together over on my own blog here.

Originally, I was going for a rust and peach color palette, but then I saw this Lulu & Georgia bed, and it was game over. We wanted to scale up to a king bed from a queen, but knew a king would feel very large in our room visually. The fact that their Zien bed was low-profile – the headboard is only 43 inches off the floor – really balanced the bulk and drama of the piece. It’s such a beautiful, well-built bed. I’ve only ever had less expensive, build-it-yourself-type beds or DIY headboards, so a fully finished, to-the-floor headboard and sturdy rails really feels like a luxury.

Every time I tell people who haven’t seen it IRL that my bed is mustard velvet, I can see the fear pulsing in their eyes. But friends, we don’t have to be afraid of color if it tempts you. It’s all about finding balance. It’s funny because I look at these images, and I don’t see color. It reads quite neutral to me.

To the point that a few months before we had to rush to photograph the room, I had the idea of adding a ribbon-like, one-inch border in a deep mulberry along the crown molding, baseboards, and in the corners. It would have brought to life the Greenwich Village boutique hotel vibe I was hoping to land. Ultimately, though, I ran out of time and energy as I juggled packing up the home we lived in for five wonderful years, an energetic toddler, and deciding to leave my full-time job as a marketing director to have more time with my daughter and try my hand at launching my own agency. I’m nothing if not a magnet for major life events happening all at once.

Now that I see it, I actually prefer it the way it is without the border. It feels a bit cage-like here, though in some world, it could work. Alas, I’ll never know. You’ll notice in this photo that the lumbar pillow is different. It’s not actually – I sewed it myself because I couldn’t seem to find a pillow that was as long as I wanted it to be for our king-size bed. Everything I found was better suited to a queen, so out came my sewing machine.

In the process of finding the right fabric, I stumbled upon a more traditional block print from Spoonflower, and right before checkout, they showed me this painterly, abstract graphic fabric that I also fell in love with. So what does one do when you can’t pick between two things? Well, you pick them both, of course! Now, depending on my mood, I can flip the pillow around and get two different vibes entirely.

I touch on this later, but to me, this setup is unfinished because I really wanted a vintage quilt or tapestry to hang above the bed, but something like that is not to be rushed. Living in California, aka earthquake territory, leaves your options for above-the-headboard decor very limited. It had to be something soft that wouldn’t bludgeon us or bust. It’s a good thing I didn’t find just the thing, because in our new place, our bed is up against a window. I couldn