How I remodeled my primary bedroom using a Modsy design plan and budget-friendly furniture finds to turn our large and long room into a relaxing zen zone.
Finally! I am finally typing the words bedroom reveal. It seemed like this project took way longer than it should have, but man, oh, man, was it worth it. About a month ago, I bought a design plan from Modsy to get some help with my bedroom. Because honestly, I have been shopping for things for our new house for a year and I’m totally burnt out on coming up with design plans. I just wanted someone to come up with everything, tell me what to put, tell me where to put them, and let me just follow the instructions.
Don’t get me wrong, I still love to design and redecorate spaces. But remodeling a pretty large house that was built in the ’70s, then badly flipped by some novices is a lot of work. We are basically undoing everything they did to try to add some character and ’70s vibe back into the house. And while the future holds some big architectural changes for the bedroom, I needed a nice zen space to chill during all the renovations. Enter the Modsy adventure.

Let’s start with the before-before. This was the room when we moved in. Prior to this project, all I did was paint the walls, trim, and doors. If you’ve ever been here before, you know I Hate with a capital H Hate gray paint. Why we bought a house that had almost 3000 square feet of gray walls, I’ll never know. But paint is paint and can be changed.

And here’s the finalized Modsy design. You can see the original plans from the designer here, but after some wiggling around, I decided on the plans above.

The Bed Zone
Ta-da! Here we are today, with a finally done bedroom that I may never leave again. I’m actually sitting on that bed writing this post right now. Speaking of the bed, I have wanted a canopy bed for pretty much my whole life. I planned on buying the one in the design plan from CB2 but the reviews were not good at all, so I went with this one from Zinus and it’s amazing. I’m SO in love with this bed!


It’s not squeaky at all, like a lot of metal beds are, because it came with “no-noise” tape that pads the braces. The bed is a little tall compared to our last two low-profile platforms, but I like the height. We were worried our senior kitty wouldn’t be able to get up on it but she seems to be doing ok for now.


And can we all just celebrate collectively because I finally styled a bed that doesn’t look ridiculous? I am not great at bed styling, and my pillow choices are always off-scale. I watched my friend Jordan’s IGTV videos over and over again to get this bed situated, and I couldn’t have done it without her.



Just look at all that texture! Between the velvet pillows, the quilted euro shams, the cozy quilt, the silky smooth duvet, the metal canopy, the rich bench, and the plush rug. Dang. I really got this right. Marty thinks so, too.


Storage Space
The bookshelf is perfect for holding books, extra blankets, and my bigger crystals. It’s also where I moved my crystal grid.


I built the grid inside a glass jewelry box because our cats think crystal grids are fun things they’re supposed to mess up in record time.


And while we’re on the subject of crystals, here’s my favorite part of the room. The crystals on floating acrylic shelves. I had been keeping them in a divided craft box, which was working out fine, but I kept adding to my collection and ran out of room.


Now that they’re on the wall, I can see them all on display versus having to open the box to swoon over my sparkly rock friends. And how perfectly does that print pair with them? Give me all the heart eyes!

Seating Area
And last but not least, the seating area. Recognize those chairs from our old house, and the house before that? These denim chairs from Ashley Furniture have held up so well, and are still as comfy as they were when we bought them seven years ago.

And instead of a side table in between the chairs, we put a little drum table in front of them. This keeps the chairs close together for deep conversations about what our next remodel will be. (Well, deep thinking out loud from me paired with lots of eye rolls from the hubby.)

We use this space for lounging, reading, and most importantly our daily Tech Free Afternoon Tea. We open the windows, sip on some herbal tea, and every type of technology is completely turned off throughout the whole house. We do this every day at 4:30. It’s our way of staying grounded and reminding ourselves to be still and just relax.


It’s safe to say I’m glad this project is complete, but I won’t lie to you…I’ve already started two more. [Face Palm central over here] But having this zen getaway inside my house is the perfect place to rest after whatever nonsense I’ve gotten myself into. And after all the electrical work we did in here, I may be able to start a new side hustle. Lighting work anyone?

Looking For Sources?
I made you a super easy grid below of all the items I purchased for the room. Some of the pieces (like the wood vases and various decor items) are things that I’ve had for a long time and wasn’t able to find a comp for you. But the majority of everything I used is below. Just click the picture and a new tab will open with the product’s shopping page.
As far as paint colors, the walls are Sherwin Williams Alabaster and the trim is Sherwin Williams Accessible Beige at 75%. Ceiling is Sherwin Williams Extra White.
Did You Miss Something?
You rulebreaker! Don’t worry, you’ll fit in perfectly around here. Read the other two posts in this series to follow our journey from start to finish.
And since I wasn’t ready to stop playing with 3D floorplan software, I designed my living room with Havenly, another e-design service. I put them head-to-head in true blogger fashion for my office remodel downstairs.
UPDATE JULY 6, 2022: Modsy is no longer in business according to this article. After checking out Modsy’s website, it is still online but all packages, pricing, and signup options have been removed. It appears Modsy is closed. You can check out my Havenly review here. I do have a Havenly discount code LELA25 that gets you 25% off a design package. My Modsy discount code is no longer active.
Get 25% off your own Havenly design package here with code LELA25
Anonymous says
I have seen your bedroom redo, your modsy/ havenly, and your yardzen. Do you know if there is a company that does similar space planning but for remodeling? That is, moving walls and bigger construction things so that the spaces planned well? Something more than decorating – more like yardzen for inside the house.
Brad Gandy says
Hi there! Modsy has a beta program for remodeling, but you’ll need to email them privately first. They don’t offer it on their website.
Phoebe says
The bedroom turned out so great! I really appreciated the comparison between Havenly and Modsy, too…super detailed and helpful. Question about the bedroom rug: Is it the exact one linked? The RugsUSA rug looks a little less blue than the ones in your photos, but I love how blue it looks in your bedroom.
Brad Gandy says
Hi Phoebe! Yes, that is the correct rug, we promise. We played with the blinds to adjust the natural light in the room to let you see more of the blue. 🙂 The rug is still light blue up close. Happy to help inspire you!
Lela Burris says
Hi Phoebe, rugs tend to look different on the Rugs.com site. Honestly, I’ve bought over 10 rugs from the site and the colors were always different. Always read the reviews on rugs because people share photos and info about the true colors.
Shonna London says
Can you review havenly? Its like modsy
Brad Gandy says
Hi, Shonna! Thanks for the suggestion. We love to compare similar services and Havenly is on our radar if we ever need another virtual design service.
Brad Gandy says
Shonna, we’ve officially tried Havenly and updated the post to reflect this, so here’s our full honest review. We also pitted Havenly head-to-head against Modsy to help with our downstairs workspace, so check out the comparison post, too.
–Havenly Review
–Modsy vs. Havenly Comparison
Sandra gandy says
Wow! The bedroom is beautiful!
Brad Gandy says
Thank you! It took a while to come together, but it was so worth it in the end.