Hi friends! I’ve been MIA for a few days because I’ve been tackling what’s probably been the biggest challenge in my rental apartment: decorating my office, aka our second bedroom that has no windows. It’s super common in DC (and other big cities where the rent is way too high) for apartments to have “dens,” or bedrooms without windows, in order to make a one bedroom apartment a two bedroom for a more affordable price. They’re a great option for roommates or couples looking for more space, but the problem is, a room without windows is hard to make look good.
We lovingly call our den the “hangover chamber,” because it gets absolutely zero light and if you’re too hungover to see the sun, it’s a great place to hide out until you’re feeling better. It acts as our guest room, a place to store Rob’s records, and my office. Above all, it’s a functional space. However, with me working from home for the indefinite future, I started to get really tired of spending my days in this drab, windowless room and wanted to find a way to make it over so it was bright, cozy and welcoming.
Read on to see how I decorated my rental apartment room with no windows to make it lighter, brighter, and beautiful!
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Here’s how the room was when we started. Please don’t judge, I know it is insanely ugly and also messy. We live in a rental apartment, and with that comes the default “apartment beige” walls. While the walls look fine in the rooms that get natural light, in the den without windows, they make the room look so much darker, yellower, and dull. We’re fortunately allowed to paint and hang things in our rental, but since we never spent much time in the room, we just didn’t prioritize decorating (or uh.. cleaning) this space as much as the others in our apartment. Now that I’m working from home though, we needed to give this dark room an upgrade.
The first thing I do when making over any room is draw a diagram. I measured all the weird walls in our space and drew out a plan to scale in procreate on my ipad. I added movable blocks for all of our furniture so I could plan exactly how I wanted things to look.
I knew the room had to still be functional as a guest room, as my office, and as a place to keep Rob’s records, but other than that, I was open to ideas. Most of the furniture in the room was exclusively functional; leftover pieces from past apartments that didn’t fit or look good but served a purpose. I wanted to replace some of these pieces, but I really didn’t want to spend a fortune doing so.
With a plan in mind, I started looking online for some storage inspiration. I wanted some items that could hide documents, camera gear, and other odds and ends out of sight but would still be beautiful. I scanned Ikea and Target for inspiration, but wanted to wait until I saw some things in person before committing to anything.
Using Paint to Brighten a Dark Room
Before ever actually doing anything to the room, I knew the apartment beige had to go. It seems like a super subtle change, but I knew painting this windowless room from beige to white would have a huge impact. My only concern was getting the “right” white. I didn’t want it to pull too yellow and not be as significant a change, but I didn’t want it to pull too blue either and make the room feel cold.
After staring at about a million different paint chips at Home Depot, I went with Behr Palais White. It was bright enough to make an impact without feeling super cold, and I felt like it was the perfect white paint to transform this dark room.
With my supplies in tow, I gathered all the furniture in the middle of the room, draped everything in plastic drop cloths, and embarked on my journey of painting this room. How hard could it be?
Hard. It’s hard to paint a room by yourself. I am very small and the room is very hot and my hands are apparently very weak. I got the first wall done the first night, and after working until 3am, I finished the rest of the room the next night. Only took three trips to home depot for paint, rollers, edgers, and more paint!
By the time the room was painted, I’ll admit I was getting a little nervous. While the paint color was definitely transformative, I was worried the room was still too cold and I had just made it worse. It was starting to remind me of my actual office, which used to be a storage closet and is decidedly not cute.
Despite my misgivings, I vowed to trust the process and move forward. I pushed the furniture into place based on my plan, settled down on the bed, and reflected on the room.
It wasn’t cute yet. Where did I go wrong? What can I do? I freaked myself out thinking that I didn’t achieve anything that could’ve been done just by moving my furniture. The room still felt dark, cold and depressing. Maybe there’s no way to save a windowless room after all!
After looking around the room, I started focusing on a small alcove in the back by my closet. I always thought it needed some color (we’re an accent wall family), but after painting the entire room, I really didn’t want to paint it again.
I took to Pinterest in search of alternative accent wall ideas. I found a few people doing hand-painted “wallpaper” types of accent walls and I fell in love. I figured it would be super easy to replicate, affordable to do, and most of all — quick. I was rapidly losing my patience with this room. I taped up some potential patterns to think about for a bit.
I decided on a pretty hand painted chevron accent wall using inspiration from R&R At Home and followed her blog post on how to achieve it. Considering our entire home is the color scheme of this blog — black, white, terra cotta, and dark teal, I figured I’d take the chance and go with the teal for this accent wall (we also already have a black one and a terra cotta one, so it was only fair).
In one of my many trips to home depot, I looked over some green colors and decided on Dark Everglade from Behr. I bought a two dollar sample, gathered my supplies, made my template, and after much stress, started painting.
And guess what?
I hated it!
I measured and leveled meticulously, but somehow my lines still weren’t even. And like…they were REALLY uneven. I noticed it as it was happening but thought it might just add to the whimsy of the pattern, but as it turned out, it just made it look bad. Very bad.
I tried to sleep on it, telling myself that with furniture in front of it and art on the wall, the errors might not be so noticeable. When I awoke the next morning though, I still couldn’t stand it. It was simultaneously too much and not enough. I knew I had to go all in and just paint the whole thing solid green. I went back to Home Depot for a full quart of Dark Everglade and went for it.
It was an entire 180! The green provided the perfect punch of color to make this room feel less cookie-cutter. I’m obsessed with the depth it added without making the room feel even darker. I think it was a great choice!
Lighting a Room Without Windows
Probably the most important factor in decorating a room without windows is light. I looked up so many different lighting solutions, from DIY faux windows, to lightboxes, to SAD therapy lamps, to Philips Hue bulbs that simulated sunlight. Ultimately? I decided that the best and most affordable way to light a room with no windows is to just lean into it. Accept the fact that the room is never going to have natural light, and do what you can to make the light that exists not terrible. Shift your focus from creating an airy space to creating a cozy one. Fighting the lack of windows just unfortunately won’t get you anywhere.
The number one universally agreed upon cozy vibe creator is string lights. I grabbed two strands of these white string lights from Target and strung them across the back wall through to the green wall. I think these were a huge game changer, and in the room alone with no other lights on they provide enough illumination while still being cozy.
Since we live in a rental apartment, we obviously have one of those ever so charming boob lights. I looked up a thousand different ways to alter it, dress it up, or remove it, but again — guess what — I decided to just lean into it. The light is horrible and it sucks, yes, but when balanced with other light sources, it’s not the most terrible thing in the world. I usually don’t even have it on, and that’s fine with me!
When I need the room to be super bright though, like when I’m taking photos and need all the light I can get, I turn on the string lights, the overhead light, and the two other lights we already had in the room — this Ikea floor lamp I placed by the mirror, and this small table lamp I grabbed from Amazon ages ago and looooove.
Strategic Furniture Finds
Once completing that accent wall, I set off to Ikea, Target and Home Depot to grab some final lighting, decor and storage items to really make this windowless room look good.
For storage, I grabbed this Ikea Lixhult cabinet. I absolutely hated the blue though, so I decided to grab some copper spray paint and give it a little makeover as well. While I’m terrible at spray painting apparently, I think the final look is amazing against the green wall and fits in so well with the rest of our home.
I also grabbed this Bissa shoe cabinet from Ikea. It was not only super affordable, but it fit perfectly in this weird section of the wall we have. I used it to replace an old plastic chest of drawers that was storing paperwork and journals, and even though it’s for shoes it works perfectly for that! I love how compact it is while still being functional.
Finally, I wanted to tackle the mirror thing. I knew when decorating a dark room without windows, mirrors can do a lot to brighten the space. I wanted a massive mirror to set up for optimal selfie taking (obviously), but mirrors are expensive!!!
I looked into multiple ways to get a huge mirror for cheap and this is what I settled on: a builder-grade vanity mirror from the hardware store. This one is 3 feet by 5 feet, readily available, and best of all, only around $50. When I first saw it, I was nervous it might even be too big for the space. But considering there was no alternative that could even come close in price and size, I decided to go for it. And I love it!
It’s still a very thin mirror and not exactly designed for leaning, but for the time being, it’s been great. I bought it with the plan of building some kind of backing and ornate frame on it to get an Anthropologie-style mirror for less than like $75, but in the chaos of trying to get this makeover going I decided to put that off. However, a friend of mine who’s an incredibly skilled woodworker offered to help me out with it when I’m ready so I’m super excited to link up with him in the near future and see what awesome work he can do in framing it!
The Final Touches
After everything was painted and all the furniture was acquired and in place, it was time for final touches! Between Rob and I, we have way too many posters, so I decided to collect my favorites of the bunch and place them above the records and by my desk. I wanted to keep the wall behind the bed clear just because it’s so large and we didn’t have anything, or any group of things, that would fit it perfectly.
I wanted to do a floating shelf, but after the gold one I wanted from Ikea was sold out everywhere I went, I decided to go with this picture ledge. I hung it above my desk and draped a cheap faux plant (similar), my diploma, and some other memorable knick knacks on it.
In the green alcove, I added this cute black clock from Target — the two things no room is complete without for me is a clock and a mirror! I love how this one blends with the wall but the numbers add contrast. On the copper cabinet I placed another faux plant, an hourglass, an old goodwill mug I’ve had forever and use to hold my jewelry (classy), and a carving my good friend and work husband Britton made for me. I repainted the carving the same color as the wall so the wording would pop from across the room.
By the mirror, I added what is probably my favorite piece of decor in our whole apartment. While on the hunt for spray paint at Michaels, I came across this beautiful deep red pampas grass (or oats or wheat or whatever) and knew I had to grab it. I’ve always wanted a floor vase with pampas grass in it, but they’re always so expensive, and I simply couldn’t bear to bring myself to spend $100+ on a nice pottery barn, west elm or CB2 vase.
I always see people being able to find nice vases at goodwill, so, spray paint in hand, I decided to swing through my local store thinking that if I found something, I could spray it to match.
The selection wasn’t ideal, and I almost left the store with a small bottle that was cute and would’ve worked, but didn’t have a ton of impact. Then, in the checkout line, I spotted a gorgeous vase for only $8! A coat of spray paint later and I’m obsessed. I feel like it’s such a perfect piece of decor that totally ties together our whole home, and looks amazing against the white walls and rug.
I also wanted to update the bedding, since truth time, I’ve had that comforter since high school and it’s just been following me around for the last decade. As much as I loved it I knew I needed to pump up the brightness, so I wanted to find a nice white comforter to replace it.
In our master bedroom we have a white Ikea comforter and duvet that I love, so I figured I’d just grab another for the guest room. Both Ikeas near me were sold out though, so I had to think of plan B.
Plan B was a $25 comforter set from Target. I searched half a dozen Targets near me that said they had it in stock, but still couldn’t find it! At the end of a long, exhausting day, I decided to go for plan C. No one ever really sleeps in this room anyway, so I just went with a soft, white queen size blanket instead of a comforter. Yes, it’s not quite as fluffy and luxurious as a comforter would be, but I think it works just fine and it brightens the room up so much! I completed it with a green velvet pillow from Ikea and a little pillow of my main man G that I had as well.
The final reveal of our windowless room makeover!
All told, I like to think this is about the best a room without windows can look. It fits perfectly with our aesthetic and the look and feel of the rest of our home. It’s bright but still cozy. It’s clean and multifunctional. Most of all, it’s actually a room I want to spend time in now! I can’t express how much nicer it is to work in this space now. It’s much easier to stay focused, and I don’t spend the whole time in there just waiting to get out. I’m so proud of all the work I put in to transform this room without windows into a beautiful, bright and warm space that I love to be in!
Do you have any rooms without windows in your home? How have you decorated them? Leave a comment below to let me know any tips you have!
