Picture Rail Molding Made Their 140-Square-Foot Bedroom Feel Taller
Sometimes inspiration strikes in odd places — or, in Meghan Beierle-O’Brien’s case, on a client shoot. Meghan is an interior and lifestyle photographer who works closely with designers to capture the spaces they create.
Meghan was shooting for Breeze Giannasio, an interior designer who transformed a tiny bungalow’s bedroom by adding picture rail molding and painting the walls matte black. “Instead of making the space look smaller, it felt cozy, and the white ceiling made the space feel taller,” Meghan describes.
They Were Inspired by Dark Green IKEA Curtains for Their Bedroom Color Palette
Meghan and her husband John’s primary bedroom was tiny and “very boring,” with no exciting features and plain off-white walls. “I never wanted to be in the space,” Meghan notes. But after being inspired by Breeze’s project, Meghan and John decided to create something similar in their own home.
When the couple first moved into the 1950s home in 2019, they purchased dark green IKEA curtains, which became the only thing they loved in the space. So when it came time for the bedroom redo, they ran with the green color palette.
The Tiny Room Felt Taller Than It Actually Was Because the Couple Added Picture Rail Molding
Because they couldn’t expand the room’s 10×14-foot floor space, the couple wanted to accentuate the ceiling height. To do that, she painted the ceiling and top 12 inches of the walls with Farrow & Ball’s “Wimborne White.” Eventually, she dreamed of installing a picture railing, so when applying Farrow & Ball’s “Studio Green” to the walls, she was careful about where the paint colors met.
Meghan used the same Farrow & Ball color on the trim, but used a paint with a slight sheen finish so that it was a slightly elevated look from the extra-matte finish on the walls. Once that was finished, John attached the pre-cut trim to create the picture railing, which took “a lot of measuring and a lot of level use,” Meghan says.
But painting wasn’t finished, because Meghan then had to go back and touch up any spots that were missed once the trim was in place. Even though it wasn’t a difficult task, it was tedious and took Meghan way longer to paint everything than she expected. But as soon as painting was complete, “it changed the room entirely.”
Painting 2 Interior Doors Green Made the Bedroom Feel a World Away
During the “tedious” painting session, Meghan also decided to paint the main bedroom door and the en-suite bathroom door the same “Studio Green.” Now, the room feels complete. “When you lie in bed with the doors closed, it’s like they almost disappear,” Meghan shares.
The couple loves the moody bedroom, but Meghan wishes that, prior to painting the room, she had re-stained the French doors that lead out to the back patio. “Once [the room] was painted, I was spent, and I didn’t have the energy to do them,” Meghan explains.
But after Meghan and John recovered, they got straight to decorating and upgrading their space. Meghan’s friend, Lauren, who owns DACHA, a curated interior design store, helped the couple style the new space.
She Added Decor That Continued the Cozy Feeling and Let the Color Do the Talking
“We wanted [one] sole painting above the bed, so we hung it and let the color do the talking,” Meghan comments.
Meghan added other paintings also from Sasha Kinen, a close friend, “that matched the color scheme perfectly.” Plus, the curtains match and add to the color-drenched and immersive feeling that she loves.
Before, Meghan and John wanted to create a space that they would want to spend time in — snuggling with their kids and dog, reading and relaxing in. Now, they have a “cozy, dark, and interesting primary bedroom” where they can do just that.
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