Scott’s Bedroom Makeover with Leesa + Get The Look

One of my best friends, world-famous prop stylist, Scott Horne is not boring, nay, the opposite, both in style and personality. But he had a boring guest bedroom as most of us do (including me). It drove me crazy. It’s like when a hilarious comedian gives a mediocre knock knock joke. You think “You, YOU, of all people, YOU could do better”. To his credit, he has one of the most beautiful homes I’ve ever been in, with intimidatingly good taste (not fancy, mind you, just really GOOD). But his guest bedroom was lacking with a capital L. He needed a new bed, mattress, rug, some accessories, art and a lot of styling. Now that it’s done it looks so good that he is never, ever going to change it.

Let’s revisit this boring room before:

Not a bad space and nothing in here is offensive, but it’s not pulled together, intentional or finished. The one pillow is particularly jarring. You can tell where he wanted to go, but he got busy and didn’t get in that car.

So Leesa reached out to sponsor a makeover and I said, “Scott, it’s time. Let’s use this opportunity to give your guests the room of their dreams”.

Leesa is the mattress in a box company that is affordable, high quality, and extremely comfortable. Trust me… I have one in my guest bedroom so I can actually tell you these things with confidence. The thing that makes Leesa so different from other companies of its kind is the multiple layers of different foams which help to keep you cool at night as well as well as the fact that for every 10 mattress they sell they donate one to a homeless shelter. If you still aren’t ready to take the jump try it out, you can’t really go wrong since they have a 100 night risk free sleep trial and free shipping. We ordered it online and within a few days this cute little white box arrived his front door.

Then you unroll it on your bed – like so:

It’s pretty magical, not to mention attractive even before we put on the sheets. Try to figure out what I’m doing on that bed. Go ahead. That GIF is absolutely mesmerizing.

First we added the major pieces – that beautiful bed, rug and benches. Scott already had a beautiful wall color (Pavilion Gray by Farrow and Ball) and beautiful linen roman shades, but the rest of the room needed addressing.

As a stylist Scott obviously appreciates vintage so we scoured some of our favorite local stores and flea markets to fill the room out. Here is what she looks like now, all transformed and beautiful:

The whole story here shows how to add excitement without color. Scott is petrified of saturated colors in his own home. But his house still looks and feels exciting, fresh, happy and lived in. The reason? A perfect combination of textures, subtle patterns and contrasting warm finishes.

For the textiles we combined the striped rug, a larger graphic pillow, a subtle small patterned sheet and multiple solid textured linens. Setting them against that warm woven rattan bed that has a simple pattern really created a happy, pulled together bed.

While the nightstands are different, they carry the same amount of visual weight and work perfectly in that small space. We freed up some surface space by hanging a plug-in sconce instead of a table lamp and balanced it with another metal lamp on the opposite side. Both lights are sculptural and fairly masculine.  

All of these textures, colors and patterns are echoed through the space, making the whole room look cohesive. Scott and I argued over whether or not to show the ties on the pillow – I voted no, he voted yes. He won because it’s his room, but I still think it looks messy. Please tell me in the comments that I’m right. 

The black in the lighting echoes the black in the benches and the leather chair in the corner. This my friends is how you pepper color throughout the room properly for it to work.

GAH. I love that shot so much. The rug from Dash and Albert is so simple, pretty and warm. We chose to get a larger 9×12 and run it the long way in the room which I think made the room look so much bigger and obviously more inviting. That mid-century sculptural wall piece is insane and couldn’t be more perfect here. The vintage leather chair has the perfect amount of patina (we bought at MidCentury LA), and the plant livened up that corner and brought in some color. Don’t worry, Scott, it’s just green. It won’t kill you … just a little bit of color …

That lamp is ‘Classic Scott’ – it is unique and yet so simple, with odd proportions that cause tension and yet it goes away. So quiet and pretty.

The room turned out so beautiful and I have instructed Scott to NOT TOUCH A THING. As stylists it’s really easy to try new things out in different rooms or worse, borrow from your house for a shoot and then not put it back. But he is not allowed to move one thing and if he does he will be arrested. I have sensors on each thing that will notify me and I will call the cops if disturbed.

So what do you think about this neutral, soft guest bedroom? Would you want to stay here? In the meantime head on over and check out Leesa who sponsored this makeover. The first 50 readers to redeem promo code EMILYHENDERSON at checkout will get $75 off their order as well as a $25 Target gift card with purchase through 4/25 (which will help you buy a few of the items from the get the look below). 

Sources: Carson Bed | Nightstands: Vintage, Similar: Curiosity Nesting Tables | Dash and Albert Lenox Rug | Patterned Sheet Set | Embroidered Duvet | Linen Euro Shams | Wall Sconce: Vintage, Similar: Princeton Junior Sconce | Plant Stand: Vintage, Similar: Wooden Planter Stand with Pot | Leesa Mattress | Art: Vintage, Similar: Hovering Union Art | Side Table: Vintage, Similar: Round Metal and Glass Accent Table | Global Oversized Pillow | Raw Edge Quilted Sham | Table Lamp: Vintage | Slab Wood Table: Vintage

***Photography by Tessa Neustadt

For more of Scott’s Sophisticated Home Makeover: Bathroom Makeover | Home Tour | Bedroom Refresh