Step 2: Form and Function

Our first priority was to give the room an everyday use, and a flea-market secretary serving as a mini home office is a perfect fit. It's also packed with guest room function to stow toiletries, towels, and other essentials. To make space for it and to mask an unattractive view, we rearranged furnishings, moving the bed to the window wall. Finally, the dated iron bed got a much-needed face-lift with a board cut to fit the headboard curve and upholstered in $5-a-yard linen. The solid form makes its window location more comfortable. New bedding picks up the wall color and gives the room a tidy, coordinated look.

• Color: Soft gray-blue on the walls is a soothing choice for a bedroom.
• Window Treatments: We traded the existing basic roller shade and filmy sheers for a more substantial bamboo Roman shade.
• Floor Plan: Moving the bed to the window wall made space for other furniture.
• New Furniture: A small secretary is a multitasker -- a mini home office most days, a bedside table and dresser when guests arrive.
• Flooring: An inexpensive jute rug softens the scuffed wood floor.
• DIY Projects: A linen-upholstered board was made to cover the iron headboard for a dramatic new look. Have an upholsterer do this, or cover a board and bolt it to the iron frame.

Get instructions to make this headboard