Cottage Style Bedroom Makeover

I have wanted to renovate our attic for a couple of years now. But with everything we have been doing around the farm the attic always gets pushed to the bottom of the list. The attic space contains two rooms, one which I use as my office and the other side which, until now, has been used as storage. With a houseful of guests arriving for Easter, it seemed the perfect time to give the storage side of the attic a mini makeover. Because this room does not flow into any of the other spaces, it was the perfect opportunity to add some cottage vibes and play with colours. And as we intend on renovating the room properly in the near future, I didn’t want to spend a lot on this cottage style bedroom makeover.

The first step: Inspiration

I’ve been heavily influenced by the colour, pattern, and the simplicity of the cottagecore bedroom look over the past year. The use of functional decorating pieces such as peg rails for clothes storage and chairs or stools as side tables is something that I have always been drawn to. I love the old world look of the cottage style like Anne of Green Gables’ house (below). So wanted to recreate something similar using sage green and pattern in our attic room.

Elements of my Cottage Style Bedroom Makeover

I began my makeover with green and white floral fabric I’d bought in bulk to make curtains for the dairy. I never made the curtains as it just didn’t get round to it. The fabric is a vintage cottage print that was popular in the 80s. In fact, we used this pattern to wallpaper the bedroom in our first little home. The colour was salmon and white.

After painting the room in Wattyl Paint’s Peat Moss to coordinate with the curtain fabric, I made a simple panel curtain for the window with matching pillow covers for each of the beds. I had curtain clips left from another project, so I painted a piece of dowel to match and screwed cup hooks into the window surround to make the rod. The fabric blends perfectly with the leaf tones in the Laura Ashley sheets I purchased. An absolute fluke I did not plan!

My next task was to enhance the original floorboards by painting the floor. I used paint left from our loungeroom renovation. It’s my go-to paint for the floors in the farmhouse. I love the colour. It always looks clean and fresh but not too white.

Decorating the Attic Room

The next step in my cottage style bedroom was to make the beds. I like to do this to see where other areas of colour or pattern need to be layered in. We assembled our daughter’s iron bed and I moved the antique sleigh bed in from my office. Each of the guests now had their own bed. I love how the ruffled pillow covers I made look on the bed. They are a perfect contrast with the pink and white check blankets. White quilt covers and patterned sheets create such an old-world vibe.

To complete the look I made some wall art in green tones. Art on plywood was easy to create with vintage bunny prints from Etsy (it was easter, after all). I added a jute rug and a peg rail with a hanging basket of dried flowers. A vase of flowers sits on the desk and a home sweet home cross stitch I made as a newlywed was hung. I finished the look with a lamp on a stool. I think it suits my cottage style bedroom.