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Apartment Therapy editor-in-chief Charli Penn has shared a makeover of her primary bedroom, changing its layout and adding warm neutral paint, black-and-gold wallpaper panels and new furnishings. The article presents the project as a personal design account; it does not provide a total cost, full project timeline or independent assessment of the results.
Apartment Therapy editor-in-chief Charli Penn has described how she remade her beige primary bedroom into a space styled after a boutique hotel suite, changing the bed’s position, repainting the walls and adding a framed black-and-gold wallpaper feature. The account matters to readers facing similar layout constraints because Penn says moving the bed in front of a window made the narrow room feel more balanced and opened floor space.
Penn wrote that she and her husband kept their dated bedroom furniture after buying their first home in late 2019, choosing to spend time and money on other parts of the house. The bedroom stayed largely unchanged for nearly seven years, she said. The report does not give an overall project budget, and its listing fields for cost, home type and skill level are marked as unavailable.
The main design change was the bed’s placement. Penn said a door or window interrupted every wall in the relatively narrow room. She had avoided putting the bed in front of a window, but that choice left it dividing the space and positioned the bedroom door almost directly opposite it. She ultimately moved the bed in front of the window, saying the arrangement improved circulation and made the room feel more balanced.
For the palette, Penn selected Benjamin Moore’s Pashmina after testing oversized peel-and-stick samples on the walls for a week. She paired the warm neutral with ivory, beige, brass and black. A black-and-gold Art Deco-inspired wallpaper from Mitchell Black’s Deco Fan collection, by Bohemian Bungalow, became a focal point. Rather than covering an entire wall, Penn framed the paper in peel-and-stick architectural molding. Other named choices include an ivory upholstered Arhaus Wyller bed and two black-oak, 32-inch Saatva Arden nightstands.
A Layout Change Opens the Room
Penn’s account puts the room’s layout problem ahead of its dated decor. Her experience suggests that a bedroom can feel awkward because of furniture placement, not just because of its color or furnishings. Moving the bed in front of a window challenged a rule she had followed for years; in her description, the result was more usable floor space and a clearer arrangement.
The project also shows how the hotel-suite look was assembled through a few coordinated choices rather than a wholesale architectural renovation. A distinctive wallpaper panel, an upholstered bed, large nightstands with storage, a rug and full-length curtains helped create the tailored effect Penn wanted. These are her own descriptions of the design, not a measured evaluation of comfort, resale value or cost savings.
For readers considering a similar refresh, the account offers a concrete planning approach: Penn used room measurements, a vision board and renderings to test the layout before committing. She also left paint samples in place for a week to see how the color changed under different lighting. The report does not establish that the same choices will work in other rooms, but it explains how she evaluated options in her own home.
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From Beige Bedroom to Hotel Style
The makeover followed years of postponed plans. Penn wrote that after she and her husband bought their first home in late 2019, they kept their existing bedroom furniture to save money and focused instead on curb appeal and rooms used for entertaining. By the time she started the redesign, the bedroom had remained largely the same for nearly seven years.
In the Apartment Therapy report, Penn connects the change in layout to the rest of the design. Once she decided to place the bed by the window, she used renderings to picture how the room would work. She then chose Pashmina paint and the black-and-gold wallpaper as key elements of a neutral scheme. She says the wallpaper’s pattern shaped other choices, including the ivory bed and contrasting black nightstands.
The source is a first-person home makeover account by the publication’s editor-in-chief, not an independent review or a reported comparison of renovation costs. Apartment Therapy also states that it independently selects products and may earn a commission if readers buy through its links; prices were accurate at publication, according to the article.
““What if I just ignored the window?””
— Charli Penn, Apartment Therapy editor-in-chief
Project Costs and Results Are Unreported
The article does not state the total project cost, how long the work took, or whether the room required professional installation. It names several products but does not provide enough information to calculate a complete budget, including costs for paint, molding, wallpaper installation, curtains and other materials.
The makeover’s effects are described by Penn, who owns the home; the report does not include an independent design assessment or measurements of how much floor space was gained. It also does not specify whether every finish and furnishing has been installed or whether the room is fully complete. The source material supplied here ends partway through its description of the curtains, so further finishing details are not confirmed.
No Further Project Update Listed
The source article documents the finished design decisions and does not announce a follow-up, additional renovation phase or new milestone. Readers seeking a complete product list, current prices or any later updates will need to consult the original Apartment Therapy report and verify details with the retailers, as the publication says prices were accurate when its story appeared.
For now, the confirmed development is the publication of Penn’s before-and-after account. No broader trend data or evidence that the design has been adopted elsewhere is included in the report.
Key Questions
What was the main change to the bedroom layout?
Penn moved the bed in front of a window. She said the narrow room’s doors and windows made other arrangements awkward, and the new placement opened floor space and improved the room’s balance.
Which paint color did Charli Penn use?
Penn chose Benjamin Moore’s Pashmina. She tested oversized peel-and-stick samples on the walls for a week before settling on the color.
What created the room’s main decorative feature?
Penn used black-and-gold Deco Fan wallpaper from Mitchell Black, by Bohemian Bungalow, and framed it with peel-and-stick architectural molding instead of covering a full accent wall.
How much did the bedroom makeover cost?
The report does not give a total cost. It names some furnishings and materials, but its project-cost field is listed as unavailable, and a complete expense breakdown is not provided.
Source: apartmenttherapy.com
