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Apartment Therapy Editor-in-Chief Charli Penn has shared a makeover of the primary bedroom in her family’s home, replacing a dated beige look with a neutral, hotel-inspired design. The changes include moving the bed in front of a window, painting the walls Benjamin Moore Pashmina and framing patterned wallpaper with peel-and-stick molding.
Apartment Therapy Editor-in-Chief Charli Penn has shared a renovation of her home’s primary bedroom, turning a dated beige room into a modern, boutique-hotel-inspired suite. The redesign centers on moving the bed in front of a window, adding Benjamin Moore Pashmina paint and framing black-and-gold wallpaper with peel-and-stick molding.
Penn writes that she and her husband bought their first home in late 2019 and kept the bedroom furniture they already owned to save money. Other home projects and furnishing spaces used for entertaining took priority, she says, leaving the couple with the same bedroom setup for years. The report describes the makeover as a personal project; it does not provide a total budget, project duration or full inventory of costs.
The room’s narrow dimensions made the layout difficult: Penn says a door or window interrupted every wall. She had avoided placing the bed in front of a window, but that choice left it dividing the room and positioned close to the bedroom doorway. After testing the idea in renderings based on room measurements and furniture selections, she moved the bed in front of the window. Penn says the change opened up floor space and made the arrangement feel more balanced.
For the finishes, Penn kept a neutral palette but introduced stronger contrast. She tested Benjamin Moore Pashmina with oversized peel-and-stick samples for a week, then selected black-and-gold Deco Fan wallpaper by Bohemian Bungalow for framed panels made with peel-and-stick architectural molding. The other named pieces include an ivory upholstered Arhaus Wyller bed in Tania Cashmere fabric, black oak Saatva Arden nightstands, an ivory hand-knotted rug, linen pinch-pleat curtains and brass curtain rods. These are the products Penn says she chose; the article does not independently assess their quality or performance.
A Layout Change Reshapes the Room
The makeover’s most consequential change is not a paint color or a new furnishing, but a decision about where the bed sits. Penn’s account illustrates how working with a room’s constraints can change its usable floor space without altering its walls. In her case, moving the bed in front of a window addressed a layout problem that new furniture alone had not solved.
The project also offers a concrete example of how a homeowner can create a more tailored look through several coordinated choices: warm neutral paint, black-and-gold pattern, ivory upholstery and brass details. The report may be useful to readers planning a bedroom refresh, particularly those weighing a layout change against replacing furniture. It does not establish what the renovation cost or whether the same arrangement would work in other rooms.
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Years of Delayed Bedroom Updates
Penn says the couple’s bedroom remained lower on the home-improvement list after they bought their first house in late 2019. They kept their older furniture to save money while focusing on curb appeal and rooms used for entertaining. By the time she began the redesign, she says, the room still felt like a beige box.
The main constraint was the room’s configuration, not simply its dated furnishings. With an opening on each wall, Penn found that her preferred bed placement left the bed interrupting the room. She had treated placing a bed in front of a window as a design rule to avoid, but used measurements and digital renderings to test the alternative before committing. The resulting plan became the basis for the wallpaper, bed and nightstand choices.
“What if I just ignored the window?”
— Charli Penn, Apartment Therapy Editor-in-Chief
Costs and Project Scope Not Listed
The source report does not state the makeover’s total cost, completion date or project duration. Its project-information fields list cost, home type and other details as unavailable. It also does not give measurements for the room or window, so readers cannot determine from the report alone how closely the layout could translate to another space.
Penn’s description of the room feeling more balanced and hotel-like is her account of the finished design, not an independent evaluation. The report does not specify whether all elements were installed by Penn and her husband, whether any work required professional help, or whether the peel-and-stick materials were later removed or replaced.
No Further Work Announced
The source presents the bedroom as a completed before-and-after project and does not identify a next renovation milestone. It also does not say whether Penn plans additional changes, publish a full project budget or provide measurements and installation details. Any further information about costs or the durability of the finishes would need to come from Penn or a follow-up report.
Key Questions
What changed in Charli Penn’s bedroom?
Penn moved the bed in front of a window, repainted the walls Benjamin Moore Pashmina and added framed black-and-gold wallpaper panels. She also selected an upholstered bed, oversized nightstands, a rug and linen curtains.
Why did she move the bed in front of the window?
Penn says the room has a door or window on every wall. Keeping the bed away from the window left it awkwardly dividing the room and close to the doorway. She says the new placement opened up more floor space.
What wallpaper did she use?
Penn chose Deco Fan wallpaper by Bohemian Bungalow, from Mitchell Black, and framed it inside peel-and-stick architectural molding rather than covering an entire accent wall.
How much did the bedroom makeover cost?
The source report does not give a total project cost. Its project details list the cost as unavailable, so the overall expense cannot be confirmed from the published information.
When was the makeover published?
The supplied Apartment Therapy report says it was published about eight hours before the source material was provided, but does not specify an exact publication date.
Source: apartmenttherapy.com
