So, in my bedroom, there’s this awkward corner…and every day I ask myself, how do you decorate an empty corner?
We’ve talked a few times before about how our bedroom is a problematic area for us. It’s gone through about twenty-seven thousand different evolutions since we first moved here, and we haven’t settled on anything that feels right yet.
We’ll get there.
UPDATE: Click here to see where we ended up with our bedroom before we moved!
But for now, I’m trying to take some small steps to move towards something that’s better than what we’re currently working with. And this corner? It’s not working.
I can’t quite decide what should go here. We’ve tried a dresser. We’ve tried a chair. We’ve tried nothing. None of it works. It’s a good problem to have, really. This is a space in the room that we don’t need – the rest of the room is full of the more “essential” furniture, so this is like a fun little bonus space.
But my bonus space is stressing me out!
So, in the interest of hopefully landing on an idea that we can actually use in this room (and maybe help you out with an awkward corner in your home), I’m rounding up some inspiration for those weird, confusing spots that you just don’t know what to do about.
Image sources (left to right and top to bottom):
Restless Oasis, Elle Decor, The Merry Thought, Honestly WTF, The Design Chaser, A Beautiful Mess
How to Decorate an Awkward Corner
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1. Use a (well-styled) chair. I’m torn on whether or not I want a chair in this corner. Our dog loves to sleep in the chair – and I love that it keeps her off of our bed at night – but Corey and I never use it. It seems silly to me to have a chair in the room we know we’re not going to use, but if we had a prettier chair that was a better fit for the room, maybe we would use it? I don’t know!
2. Bring in some extra storage. I think sometimes I get stuck on the idea of only having dressers and other “bedroom” furniture in our room, but there are so many other storage options that we could bring in that would look fantastic! I love this antique chest and I think something unique like that could look great! But then, of course, I wonder if that would just be bringing too much “big” furniture into our room. Which brings me to…
3. Embrace the blank space. I don’t have to fill up every space in our bedroom. It’s hard to visualize right now, but once the rest of the room comes together a little more, it could look fantastic for this corner to be a simple space that isn’t actually filled with anything other than a mirror. This is definitely the simplest solution!
4. A gallery wall. How amazing is that corner gallery wall? I have no idea how this would look in our room (we’re still sorely lacking art in there) but I think it’s a genius idea to fill up a weird space.
5. Add a plant. I’m still obsessed with the idea of having a fiddle leaf fig in my home, even though I’ve killed two of them. I just can’t let go of the dream! A large plant like this would fill the corner nicely, and our room could definitely use the color and texture that a plant would bring in!
6. Add some shelving. I love the look of l-shaped shelving in a corner. I don’t think Corey and I have enough pretty things to display on shelves like this in our room, but it could be a good jumping-off point for some inspiration. Maybe some smaller shelves above a chair? Maybe I just make it my mission in life to find enough cute things to fill up the shelves?
7. Rearrange the room! This is constantly in the back of my mind as an option for us, but I think we would just end up with another awkward corner somewhere else if we did this! We have a wall-mounted television in our room, so I know that if we decided to move the rest of the furniture we would have to move it as well because our bed is currently in the only good spot to see the television. But, maybe some rearranging isn’t a bad idea?
Do you have any awkward corners in your home? How do you handle them?
If you’re ready to solve your awkward corner problem right now, here are a few of my favorite options:
Julie Allen says
August 11, 2016 at 3:13 pmMay I add my two cents? Don’t rule out the chair idea- give the chair a fun make-over and put either a floor lamp or small table with a lamp next to it. Add some art (like a gallery wall above the chair) No shelves in that case bc it would have to be too high above the chair for head clearance to look good. I love the idea of having a chair in my bedroom even if we don’t use it all the time.
Another option here- don’t you need the mirror in your room? I mean, is it not super functional? I would move the chair and place the mirror at an angle. It’s tall and would fill that space well. Then put shelves or a gallery wall on the bare wall where the mirror was. It will keep the space and feel of your room open. If you do the chair option and need the mirror there, I would do just the mirror option bc they are competing for space. The mirror is big enough to be considered “furniture”. So, a tall plant would look nice next to the mirror. I’m all about adding greenery to a room.
Amanda says
August 11, 2016 at 5:52 pmThose are all great tips, Julie. Thanks! I think we’re leaning towards chairs + keeping the mirror, but we’ll see!
Melissa says
July 21, 2016 at 12:35 pmI have an awkward corner that I filled with a cute bookshelf. It was the perfect size and had some height. Just above the shelf I hung a paining that I made. I get tired of things easily so I sometimes swap the painting for a cute mirror or framed print.
Amanda says
July 21, 2016 at 3:25 pmThat’s great! I love any decorating option that can be swapped out easily! 🙂