TIPS Modern Vintage Cottage Room Design

And so it was that two tiny 2 lb bundles of joy grew up and graduated from college.

Now life has truly started.

A new chapter.

We moved Whitney straight from Waco into the cutest house in Fort Worth where she will be living and working.

But Westleigh? Westleigh has a job in our hometown, and she’ll be living at home for the summer to save her pennies before she moves out in the fall.

For the first time ever the twins are going to be separated and when the reality of that set in, they seemed a little lost and overwhelmed. I think it’s hardest on Westleigh because she’s the sister still living at home.

So in an effort to cheer her up and ease the transition from college student to hardworking young adult…

…I wanted to redo her room for the next chapter of her adventure.

I asked her to dream.

And give me an idea of what she wanted for her new space.

And then?

Just like every design client I’ve ever worked with?

I asked her to do this.

I asked her to create a pin board on Pinterest.

You can click on the image above if you want to see all of the inspiration she found, there are tons more rooms than this.

Before the pin board? She didn’t really have a direction. She didn’t know what she liked. She just knew what she didn’t like. I’d show her a rug and she’d say she kind of liked it. I’d show her a pillow and she’d say she kind of liked it. She just couldn’t see the room altogether.

So I asked her to go and find rooms that she liked and pin them to a board. I wanted her to pin every room that she liked and then after she sent the board to me, we went and analyzed all the patterns in the different rooms.

And here’s what we discovered.

1. She liked creamy, ivory walls.
2. She liked accent colors like sand, oat, flax, and a dusty blush.
3. She liked natural wood flooring with a rug that truly grounds the space. It looks like from so many of her inspiration photos have most of the pattern and color on the floor and then the rest of the room with the walls and bedding to be lighter with tons of texture.
4. Most of the beds in the inspirational images were either linen or more of a nod to vintage with a metal bed frame.
5. The inspirational photos had vintage, antique furniture and wood frames with brass accents with lamps and accessories.

Isn’t that amazing?

She didn’t know her design direction.

Then? Enter a Pinterest board and it’s so CLEAR. So I took all of her inspiration into consideration (and the budget) and here’s the plan for her room. It’s a little different design direction than I usually go with, but this is all about Westleigh and her dream for the space.

Here’s the room and where we are right now.

I actually redecorated this room four years ago when she left for college.

I love, love, love this space, but we are here for a NEW CHAPTER.

A new chapter that looks like this.

// shop all the sources here //

Modern Vintage Cottage Room Design

1. We are going to start by painting the walls SW Alabaster.

The ship lap is staying because it’s the original ship lap with the house and we’d have to put the drywall back up to cover up the ship lap on the walls and that’s a little too budget intensive right now.

Westleigh is actually going to be doing most of the painting herself (with a little help).

// vintage inspired rug //

2. The entire design plan is centered around this rug.

It looks almost exactly like the rug in the inspiration photos with hints of blue gray and brown and khaki and cream. It looks vintage and it has enough color and pattern to truly ground the space.

I think it’s going to be perfect.

You can see the rug here.

// vintage inspired bed //

3. Most of the furniture in the room we are going to repurpose and reuse from her college apartment and other rooms in the house, but we are going to splurge on one new thing for the room, this vintage-inspired bed.

You can see the bed here.

Quick note: so many of you ask what happens to the old furniture in the space?

Most of the time I sell it on Facebook Marketplace and usually make enough to get a new piece like this.

We are also going to go shopping at one of my favorite thrift stores, ReStore in McKinney, to see if we can find any antique or thrift store pieces to add to the room.

// shop the linens here //

4. These are some of the linens and bedding we are using in the room.

Of all the spaces and areas in the room, this was the place where Westleigh had the biggest opinion.

She chose most of the pieces for the bedding.

Here are the options we are ordering:

• these linen euro shams
• this ruffled gingham bedding
• this waffle throw
• this long lumbar pillow

// cottage organization //

We also have a big challenge for the space, too. We are trying to fit so many things into Westleigh’s room, so space is at a premium.

I found several solutions for storage and she loved them.

I’ve shared several of these before, but if you are looking for storage, you can shop them all here.

I can’t wait to see these cuties spread their wings and fly.

And our first new chapter is a new room (for both of them—I’ll be sharing Whitney’s new room, too).

We are starting on Wester Bess’s room this week. Let me know what you think of the design plan.

Fingers crossed it turns out like I imagine (maybe even better).

Stay tuned.

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