Throughout the summer, Seri hosts her friends and family at her house on Long Island as the perfect retreat to spend quality time together. She recently redecorated the guest bedroom with her friend Lisa of Abaca Interiors and man, is it beautiful! When Seri’s mom, Vici, came out to visit last week, she couldn’t wait to enjoy this room. We soon realized she was going to have a hard time getting in and out of the bed because it is so high off the ground and Vici is so petite!

Seri had the idea ages ago to paint a step stool to match that bedroom for any guest looking for a boost into bed. Vici coming to town was the push we needed- because otherwise she never would have made it up there!

Seri found the perfect little stool from Ikea, and we just realized they’re now selling it on Amazon! From there, all I did was brainstorm a design that would pair well with the room. I chose florals, not only because that’s my usual style of painting but because it would provide a perfect contrast to the sleek shapes the rest of the room showcases.

Here’s my advice to you when picking a design: Evaluate what already exists in the room. Are your walls blank? Patterned? Dark or light? Now evaluate the furniture the same way. Decide whether or not you want to make a design that’s fluid, abstract, with soft edges, or if you want to use painters tape to create geometric shapes or stripes.

One of the easiest mistakes here would have been to try to mimic the stripes on Seri’s walls. It just would have looked like an attempt to copy the design that fell short and instead clashed. I chose to create a fluid floral design that completely contrasted with the rest of the space, but brought the elements together by matching the colors perfectly to the striped walls, artwork, and pillows. If you’re still having trouble deciding what to do, there are SO many inspiration examples on Pinterest to give you a head start.

I used a basic set of acrylic paints from my local craft store- you do NOT need to get fancy here. To mix your colors, use a plastic plate as your palette. I recommend white so you can see your colors mix clearly! Once it’s dried overnight, use a clear gloss coat to protect the paint below.

And voila. Happy crafting!

xo

Maggie