New Year’s Aesthetic Room Makeover Guide

As the popular saying goes, with a new year comes a new me! And given that 2022 coming to a close, we look forward to good changes and new beginnings that the year 2023 has in store for us. However, aside from a new self, why don’t you welcome the year with a new room? A fresh sight of your abode that vividly expresses your “new me” may just be something to kickstart the vibes you want to manifest for the next year. If you’re not sure how to achieve this yet, our step-by-step aesthetic room makeover guide will assist you in this creative transformation!

Read on to discover the realm of aesthetics, the quintessential elements of a bedroom, and some imitable inspiration for your aesthetic room makeover!

1. Choose an Aesthetic

Fundamentally, you need the perfect aesthetic or theme that encapsulates your visual preferences or identity. This will guide you in deciding the overall mood of your desired room, the pieces and features you will keep or discard to achieve the theme, and whether or not you even want to change the existing vibe of your place. Our aesthetic bedroom ideas can provide you with a clearer definition of an aesthetic bedroom.

Some aesthetics are based on traits, such as academia for the intellectual, indie and grunge for the unapologetically unique, witchcore for the mysterious, and coquette and baddie for the feminine. Others also pay homage to the previous generations like Y2K, vintage, and vaporware. There’s also art hoe for the artistic, goblincore and cottagecore for the nature lover, spacecore for space enthusiasts, and tropical and nautical for aquaphiles. Feel free to go beyond these options and find (or make) the best aesthetic for your bedroom!

2. Declutter Your Room

Once you’ve decided on a theme, it’s time to declutter and reorganize your bedroom. Aside from removing trash and dusting surfaces, this means discarding and keeping furniture pieces, decorations, and miscellaneous items according to your preference. Rid the floor of scattered items such as clothes, paper, and trash, and make use of storage boxes or drawers for the items that you intend to keep. This will give you a better and more organized view of your room and a clean base to actually start your makeover.

You can also rely on the KonMari method of Marie Kondo (who epitomizes the Japanese minimalist aesthetic) to help you organize your space. Decide which items should go by weighing their practical or sentimental value and asking yourself if they still “spark joy.” This is a fun and meaningful method to declutter your room!

3. Know the Dimensions of Your Room

Knowing the size and dimensions of your room will allow you to plan and imagine your room transformation more effectively. This can also serve as a guide on how you will smartly make use of elements such as natural light, mirrors, and wall colors. Don’t forget the vertical space as this may allow you to maximize storage and design.

If you think that your room is relatively small, then it means that it is not ideal for large furniture pieces like a four-poster bed, an armchair, and a separate vanity and study table. Light colors, natural light, and reflective or transparent items like a ghost chair and a mirror are suitable here. On the other hand, if your room is big, you will enjoy greater creative freedom but it can also be a hassle to make it look complete and furnished because of the abundant space.

4. Plan a Color Palette

According to your chosen aesthetic, plan the fundamental hues that will define your new bedroom. For a cute and feminine vibe, you can anchor your room’s palette on the pastel aesthetic and make use of muted candy shades like baby pink and mint green. For the bold and adventurous ones, resort to vivid hues like orange and violet à la trippy aesthetic. If you prefer a more subtle, elegant, and neutral sight like ethereal and light academia, shades of white, cream, and brown may be your go-to.

Essentially, there is no uniform guide to play with colors in terms of room makeovers as it all boils down to your preferred aesthetic. If you like playing on the safe side, though, it’s always a smart choice to go for white, black, or gray if you are already overwhelmed by non-neutral hues. You can choose two to three colors to start with and let your decorations naturally diversify the room’s palette.

5. Pick the Best Lighting

To excellently exhibit your chosen color palette, it is important to carefully consider the best lighting for your aesthetic room makeover. Illumination can be warm and yellowish for an old-fashioned and elegant vibe, or cool and bluish for a futuristic and cleaner sight. They can also be classified as either natural and artificial. Of course, natural light means the raw skies, sunlight, and moonlight that are ideal for equally natural aesthetics like cottagecore, goblincore, and witchcore.

On one side, artificial light can be as vintage as wax candles in a candelabra. They can also be as modern as neon LED lights, strip lights, glow-in-the-dark stickers, night lamps, chandeliers, and even a plain bulb. These pieces usually transcend the warm-cool lighting standard by emanating bolder hues like neon green, pink, and red. You can view and purchase decorative artificial light sources like these in our shop’s lighting category.

6. Design Your Walls

In terms of the borders of your place, you can choose either a solid wall paint or wallpaper to spice up your walls to fit the aesthetic. Luckily, you hold great discretion in how simple or unique your base wall will look regardless of your preferred theme. You can either paint it in a neutral or aesthetic-tailored hue or further reinforce the theme with printed designs. You can even amplify the latter if you chose a vintage theme with features like a chair rail, moldings, and floral patterns.

Once done with the base, spruce up the walls with stickers, photographs, stock images, quotes, and artworks related to your aesthetic, just like how indie does it. Paintings, picture frames, and hanging wall shelves can also add texture to your walls. Moreover, tapestries can be ideal for a room with a trippy vibe. You can find more tips to decorate the enclosure of your space in our post on aesthetic wall ideas.

7. Decide on Furniture

Now’s the time to decide on which furniture pieces stay or become added to your new room. Aside from the generic nonnegotiables like, of course, your bed, and storage pieces like cabinets and dressers, keep furniture with personal function. If you tend to doll up, a vanity table and mirror might be essential. An armchair on a corner next to a bookshelf may also be nonnegotiable for an avid reader. Personalize the space not just with visually stimulating decorations but also with pieces tailored to your lifestyle.

Design-wise, gilded wooden furniture pieces with intricate carvings are suitable for old-fashioned aesthetics. On the other hand, rattan and bamboo are recommended materials for tropical-inspired furniture. Combine wood with metal for a rustic touch. You can also keep the furniture sleek and simple in plain wood painted in white. Again, this is another aspect of your room that is not only dependent on the owner but also its followed aesthetic.

8. Select Beddings

As the bed is the defining quality of a bedroom, it makes sense that its beddings are also considered a priority in decorating. These fabrics that make sleeping a breeze should also feel comfortable not just by feel but also by sight. This means tailoring (pun intended) your sheets according to the color palette or overall aesthetic you picked. Designs like tie-dye, mandala, stripes, plaid, polka dots, and florals are typical options for signature bedding. However, solid-colored sheets in linen, fleece, or bamboo are safe choices.

In our room makeover guide, beddings also include blankets, pillowcases, bed runners, and plushies. For fans of anime and pastels, it’s an excellent idea to display your favorite cartoon characters in decorative and colorful plush pillows. For those who prefer a vintage touch, laces and ribbons are some desirable bedding details.

9. Spruce Up with Decorations

As the final touch, fill the empty spaces and nooks in your newly revamped room with decorations in varying sizes. This aspect heavily lies in your chosen aesthetic and how you want to personalize it. However, generic decors include mirrors, books, lamps, frames, organizing trays, and clocks. Statues, paintings, tapestries, and other novelty items exclusive to your aesthetic are also welcomed.

Another versatile type of decor that you would also find in almost any aesthetic is greenery. For example, plants like monstera, string of hearts, and cacti are seamless additions to any bedroom. Dried and/or pressed flowers, roses, tulips, lavender, and sunflowers also contribute to a feminine theme Nonetheless, a celebrity in the plant field is likely the artificial green vines or strips to accentuate any plain wall.

Nonetheless, if you truly want to get hold of signature decor pieces tailored to your aesthetic, you can check out various aesthetic categories in our aesthetic room decor shop. These iconic decorations can reinforce the vibe your room is going for!

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Have you thought of how to start your aesthetic room makeover already? We hope you’ve gained sufficient tips and inspiration from this guide on how to transform your room for the new year! If you want more specific aesthetic guides, make sure to visit our aesthetic room ideas page for a deep dive! Our post on aesthetic bedroom ideas will also give you a list of the most versatile decorations fit for the most popular aesthetics!

If you’re still preparing for the holidays, you can check out our pastel Christmas room guide. On the other hand, if you’re not over with the Halloween mystery, take a look at our Stranger Things-inspired decorating guide!

Thanks for reading and happy shopping!