How to renovate a small room: ideas, tips, photos

The main disadvantage of small-sized apartments is the lack of space for interior decoration. Decorating a small room is a real challenge. It is important to take into account many nuances. Precious meters should be used wisely. Select wallpaper, decor, arrange furniture sets so that an atmosphere of comfort is created in the living space.

Decorating a small room is not as difficult a task as it might seem at first glance.

Paint the walls and ceiling the same color

To the popular design solution of painting the walls of small rooms in light pastel colors, you should also add painting the ceiling in the same color. This little trick includes the ceiling in the visual perception of the room as a single space without a sharp, as if chopped off division into bottom and top.

Photo: rilane.com/living-room

Options for decorating a small room

Various accessories and decorative elements will help give the appearance of the room a complete look. A good option is mirrors. Their ability to reflect light is indispensable for visually expanding space. Another way to increase space is to properly design the window. It is not recommended to use floor-length curtains, wide curtains, or dark curtains. They will create the effect of isolation and gloominess. Additional accessories will successfully fill the interior if they correspond to the overall style of the room.

The best solutions are:

• Small paintings.
• Roller blinds.
• The carpet is oval or round in the central part.

The color scheme of a small room, regardless of the style, should be light and pastel.
It is better to avoid large elements and bright details, as well as figurines, vases, and frames. Not only will they not decorate the environment, but, on the contrary, they will create a feeling of clutter. Remember, the fewer objects in a room, the larger it appears.

You can add a couple of bright accents to “revive” the interior, not flashy, but restrained, calm shades.

How to renovate a small room so as not to overload it, but, on the contrary, to visually expand its boundaries? In this regard, you should adhere to the “golden rule” - using a minimum number of parts with maximum impact. By adopting this trick, you can turn the tiniest room into a cozy nest. Get rid of the stereotype forever that a small room cannot be cozy. The renovation of the room is shown in the photo below.

The use of bright, rich colors will make the room visually smaller, while pastel, light colors, on the contrary, will add lightness to the room.

Choose a floor color close in tone to the color of the walls and ceiling

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Unlike the ceiling, the floor should not match the color of the walls. It is better to make it bright and expressive, but not contrasting. The floor can be multi-colored, for example from decorative tiles, with one of the shades of the pattern repeating the color of the walls. You can cover the floor with light laminate or parquet, similar in tone to the walls and ceiling.

Photo: vdrhomedesign.com

How to make a small office functional and cozy

Each of us needs a space where we can retire to do important work. To set up a workplace, often only a small area is required, but such a room must be functional and comfortable. Before you renovate a small room, consider how it will be used. Will you work in the office on weekends? Will you read books there and check your email? Study magazines? Then a small table and an easy chair, as well as a small bookcase, will be enough.

A home mini-library can also be located here - equip shelves on the wall from the very bottom to the top. You can store some things on the lower shelves. Will business meetings be held in the office? You will need small cozy armchairs or a mini-sofa, as well as a table for drinks.

Paint the walls in adjacent rooms the same color

Another design trick is to unite all rooms with the same wall color. The main task is not to make sharp transitions, not to divide the small space of the apartment. One color will become the general background for embodying a unified interior design concept.

Photo: homedesign.lakbermagazin.hu

Lighting

When designing lighting, you need to remember that the entire room should receive enough light - direct, indirect and mixed.

• Direct lighting is formed by directing rays directly at the illuminated object. For example: a lamp suspended above a place of work or study.
• Indirect lighting is used in large rooms as decorative. The light beam is directed at a wall that reflects the light. This type of lighting is also suitable for small rooms that do not require intense light.
• Mixed lighting is a combination of the previous types. One light source simultaneously performs two functions: illumination of the entire room and local illumination, for example, a reading corner.

Wall sconces and candles that provide soft warm light create special comfort.

Paint contrasting edgings on the ceiling

To visually increase the space not only in width, but also upward, you need to draw a rectangle of contrasting edging on the ceiling. It is located in the center and follows the contours of the ceiling along a smaller perimeter. This edging solves two problems: it decorates the ceiling and visually increases its height.

Photo: wedo.com.vn

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Recently we were lucky enough to work on one very interesting order - interesting, because in addition to the internal and external lighting of the house, they ordered us a small room into which you could look through the window :))) usually all these things created by hand acquire their own history over the years , but this lamp had it already when the foundation began to be laid. The characters in the story were united by their love for children and charity work, but I will tell it when I ask permission to publish a shortened version, but for now I would like to show how we made the room for this house. It’s not difficult at all, and is quite suitable for warming up.

1. We take thick cardboard, a ruler, a pencil, and draw our room - three walls, a floor and a ceiling.

2. glue them together with paper tape.

3. We glue paper on the ceiling, wallpaper on the walls, and cover the floor with bamboo parquet. on the ceiling I like to use watercolor paper - it is thick and it has a very interesting relief surface - in the case of the ceiling it perfectly imitates plaster :) instead of wallpaper, you can use any other paper, cotton (we glue it on PVA), and in general, anything that whatever.

4. We can stop here, but we’ll complicate the process a little - we smear our floor with PVA, cover it with a napkin and again go over it with a brush with glue. dry.

5. make a door. in this case, the door is two-layer, we cut out two identical rectangles from thick paper, cut out any simple design on one of them and glue it to the second sheet, cover the top with pva and a napkin - the same as in the case of the floor.

6. I made a half-centimeter door handle from plastic; it can be made simpler by gluing together several different-sized paper circles and adding a bead. We need 3 bamboo sticks for door jambs.

7. Now let’s start with the furniture - yes, just like that, leaving our room with the doors to dry. We cut out a sofa from thick cardboard - whatever you want, just to get a book like this. choosing fabric for upholstery, fabric for pillows...

8. glue the upholstery to the sofa, bend the edges and glue them behind the back. My room will be static and will be strictly behind glass, so I won’t hide anything; if you plan to rearrange the furniture, I strongly recommend carefully gluing fabric or thick paper to the back. We roll up the armrests from strips of fabric, where the width of the strip is equal to the width of the sofa, and glue the round pieces to the ends of our bolsters. The legs, again, can be made from anything, but I made them from my favorite modena clay that came to hand - it is smooth and dries quickly. for the sofa I use fleece here - it allows me not to use padding, but to immediately glue the fabric to the base. You can not just glue the pillows together from a piece of fabric like I did, but decorate them with hand embroidery - it will be simply gorgeous!

9. I make a corner table from thick cardboard and four toothpick legs. We cover the table with a napkin with PVA to create the texture of wood, we glue the legs with instant glue, I personally stuck a piece of plastic on the bottom of the table and stuck the legs into it.

10. after which we sculpt the rest of the little things... or we don’t sculpt, but cut them out of paper - for example, books. we put them on the shelf, draw a picture, make a vase with flowers, throw a blanket on the sofa - we have as much fun as we can, but first, of course, we paint everything we’ve done.

11. First we paint everything in primary colors, and treat the corners and protruding surfaces with a dry brush and white paint - many articles have already been written about this “antique effect” on the Internet.

12. glue the walls to the ceiling and floor. We throw a carpet on the floor, which we lovingly decorate with miniature embroidery, or knit it, or, like me, brazenly glue it together from two round pieces of fleece.

13. Next, I thread a wire with a diode through the ceiling and sculpt a chandelier, but this is me - after all, I need this room for our lamp house. And as an independent object, it can be supplemented with a cardboard roof, the door can be made to open initially, or a decoy can be glued not only inside, but also outside. Cover the walls with bricks made of paper or plastic, or maybe with boards made of the same bamboo. You can make 4 walls instead of three and cut out a large window, hang curtains on a toothpick cornice. Recreate your own room in miniature, or create your dream home, or give it to a friend instead of a postcard...

Well, this is what the room looks like through the window of the house.

and, of course, the house itself. height 40cm.

Hide the cabinets in niches and paint the doors the same color as the walls

There is no need to display cabinets unless they are antique. It is better to choose a built-in wardrobe, which will be located in a niche or wall. And the doors can be painted the same color as the walls so that they practically merge. If guests don't notice your cabinets, then everything is done right.

Photo: jak.bono.odessa.ua

Refuse doors where you can do without them

Doors take up a lot of space, so in a small apartment it is better to abandon the kitchen door. As a rule, it is rarely used; it gets in the way, blocks part of the wall, and prevents anything from being placed there. Interior doors can be replaced with curtains if you don’t have big secrets from your household, or you can leave the openings completely open.

Photo: casadistile.it

How to choose furniture for a small bedroom?

The design of a small bedroom requires a more careful selection of furniture. It is recommended to abandon the chest of drawers or cabinets and move them to the living room, then the space will be more spacious and bright. When decorating, it is recommended to use light wood or marble furniture from one set, then the interior will look complete.

In beige tones Source smallflat.ru

Design Tips:

• The main criterion for choosing accessories is small size. It is important to use small-sized furniture without unnecessary decorative elements. The simplicity of the look can be complemented by decoupage designs or plants with long stems. Fresh flowers placed on the surface of a coffee table or chest of drawers will bring freshness to the interior.
• Multifunctional furniture is a solution that will save money and free up space in a small bedroom. Organizers, cabinets with additional shelves, hooks and hangers - thanks to all this you can place things without cluttering the space.
• The location of the furniture must be planned before purchasing it. If, according to calculations, there will be little space left in the room, it is better to opt for a small bed or miniature nightstands.
• If there is no free space in a small bedroom, it is better to use a wardrobe. Then it can be positioned regardless of how much space is left to open the doors.

Brick wall Source topdizz.com

White brick wall Source topdizz.com

Plasterboard structures on walls Source www.gd-home.com

Install glass doors

For those rooms where doors are indispensable, for example in a toilet or bathroom, it is better to choose doors made of smoky or colored glass. They allow light to pass through and thus do not create the feeling of a blank, impenetrable wall or block space. And you don’t have to be afraid that they will see you from the outside - they won’t see you until you lean against the darkened glass.

Photo: klaverweiden.com

Combine a bathroom

Most apartments with a standard layout suffer from one drawback: a very small area allocated for the bathroom - toilet and bathtub. Moreover, for some reason, initially these two rooms are separate. As a result, both the bathroom and the toilet cannot be expanded and there is definitely nothing additional that can be installed (a washing machine and a water heater, for example). They correct the situation by removing the partition and making it joint.

One of the options for combining a bathroom

The specific remodeling plan depends on the similar layout, but the general idea is the same: they destroy the partition and remove one of the doors. In some options, it is possible to slightly increase the area of ​​the bathroom due to the area “stolen” from the corridor (as in the photo above).

As already written above, it is possible to increase the area of ​​wet rooms only at the expense of technical rooms. At the same time, during repairs it is necessary to take a particularly careful approach to waterproofing issues. It is necessary to apply several hydrophobic layers (at least 3).

pros

The advantages of converting a bathroom into a combined one are quite obvious. Its area increases, the number of doors decreases. The room becomes more functional. It is useless to argue about whether it is convenient or not. For some this option suits, for others it does not.

Under renovation

Minuses

They can manifest themselves in “densely populated” apartments, when everyone is going to work or school at the same time. If one of the family members occupies the bathroom for a long time, the rest become nervous.

Use glossy surfaces

When light is reflected from surfaces rather than absorbed by them, the room expands and appears larger. Glossy surfaces reflect light well. Don't worry about them getting dirty - they can be cleaned quickly and add a nice glow to the room.

Photo: homedit.com

We divide the room into zones

The aesthetic side is of great importance in the design of a room. But we should not forget about the functionality of a small room. You need to initially imagine how exactly it will serve you. Maybe you can do without something, but some item is worth adding.

Visually divide the room into functional zones, decide what furniture you will need, and then get rid of everything unnecessary. Perhaps the best solution would be multifunctional modular furniture.

Then you should divide the room into functional zones, and, depending on their location, place furniture, appliances, and lighting elements. For example, the recreation area should be separated from the working area by at least a small space. The design of each functional area may differ from the neighboring one, but the overall color scheme should be uniform.

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Install multiple light sources

Playing with light is an important element in transforming a small apartment. It will look bigger if you spare no electricity and install several lamps in each room: a chandelier, ceiling or table lamps, a floor lamp, a sconce. It is not at all necessary to turn on everything at once, although an abundance of light is desirable for small rooms.

Photo: abecedazahrady.dama.cz

How to decorate a window

Another economical and beneficial way to make a space larger is to place small pieces in it. For example, bamboo curtains on the window. A small decorative element makes the space visually larger. Especially if it is placed symmetrically in the room. A window with a rectangular curtain in the center of the wall focuses attention on the remaining area. These can be light fabric roller shutters or blinds.

You should not decorate a window in a small room with long, wide curtains or floor-length curtains. They will decorate the interior of a large room, but with a small room it will be the other way around.

Heavy curtains or light floor-length curtains will visually absorb all the free space.

Combine different textures and styles in one room

Do you want to make the room emotionally rich and interesting? Then feel free to combine objects from different styles and materials, play with colors and textures. The main rule: in a small space there can be only one large thing, around which medium and small objects “dance”.

Photo: blogkeyla.online

Style selection

To decorate a small room, it is better to choose laconic styles. This is minimalism, modern, Scandinavian, contemporary, high-tech, oriental. The main thing is to limit the use of designer items. Otherwise, the room will become uncomfortable and awkward. In a private house, a rustic style is suitable. It is noteworthy that a single design already has an option for finishing the room in terms of choosing shades.

Make built-in storage systems

If there are not enough cabinets, use the voids under large furniture: a sofa, a bed. And don’t just randomly push boxes of things under them, but equip full-fledged storage systems with a convenient mechanism for lifting the frame and niches for items of different sizes.

Photo: olsh.co

Use window sills

In small apartments, window sills are often turned into a storage area for items to be “at hand.” The window sills are covered with curtains so that guests do not see the chaos reigning there. But the window sill is a very valuable space. There you can arrange a desktop or part of the tabletop, a bar counter, a shelf for toys, a mini-garden or a place to relax if the window sill is low and wide. And under the window sill it would be nice to build in shelves and pull-out cabinets.

Photo: aeropaca.org

Remodeling ideas for renovating a small room

1. Make a studio apartment

Studio apartments, which have virtually no partitions, are becoming increasingly popular. Only the bathroom is separated; a bedroom is available if desired. The remaining walls are dismantled partially or completely, provided that they are not load-bearing.

How to renovate a small room correctly if you want to convert it into a studio?

• Check which walls are load-bearing. This can be done in the operating organization; floor plans are stored there, and they contain the information that interests us. Load-bearing walls must not be completely dismantled, only partially destroyed, while simultaneously strengthening the remaining parts. In this case, the apartment redevelopment project will have to be ordered from a specialized bureau.
• It is allowed to dismantle kitchen walls if you have an electric stove. Is there gas in the apartment? Then the partitions cannot be destroyed. What to do in this case: install a sliding partition that can be easily removed.
• You can expand the area of ​​wet rooms using non-residential spaces: corridors, storage rooms, closets. It is prohibited to use the living space.

One way or another, in Moscow, the redevelopment of an apartment with the dismantling of walls must be approved. First of all, you should order the project, then sign it in the architecture department. Only after this can you begin repair work. This way you will avoid all sorts of difficulties.

So, you've decided to renovate a small room to turn it into a studio. What benefits will you get:

• Your home will be quite large compared to the small rooms before the remodel.
• The usable area will increase. At first glance, it may seem that the walls do not eat up the area. But after carrying out simple calculations, we get: a narrow wall 3.5 meters long and 20 cm wide takes 0.7 m2 from the usable area (3.5 times 0.2). And we looked at an example with the smallest wall.
• Knowing how to renovate a small room, you can create any interior in a spacious studio.

Thus, by turning a small apartment into a studio, you will increase the usable area of ​​your home. This will make your stay more comfortable.

Of course, there are also disadvantages. For example, you will not have a separate room to relax and be alone. It is clear that if you live alone in an apartment, you will not encounter this problem. However, when two people live in a studio, you will have to be together all the time.

Another disadvantage is that during cooking, aromas will spread from the kitchen area throughout the home. Since the partitions have been dismantled, pleasant smells from the kitchen will not always be felt throughout the apartment. The way out of this situation is a well-functioning ventilation system and effective exhaust hood.

2. Combination of bathroom and toilet

Don’t know how to renovate a small room in a Khrushchev-era building? Usually in such apartments the bathroom and toilet are small in size, while the rooms are separate. Therefore, being in the bathroom may not always be comfortable, and placing household appliances and a boiler there can be problematic. Solving this problem is simple: dismantle the partition and combine the bathroom.

How to renovate a small room depends on the layout. Your task is to dismantle the partition and remove one door. Sometimes you can expand the area of ​​the bathroom by using part of the corridor area.

The advantages of a combined bathroom are as follows: the useful area expands, there are fewer doors. The functionality of the room increases. Whether to combine a bathroom or not is up to you.

3. Insulate or attach a balcony (loggia) to the room

Using modern materials for thermal insulation, you can make a balcony or loggia insulated, glazed, dismantling the window block and expanding the living space. To make the balcony warmer, you should install heating. Remember that you cannot place the battery on a balcony or loggia. The way out of the situation is to install a heated floor there. Since the area of ​​the former balcony is small, energy costs will be acceptable, of course, if you have properly insulated the balcony.

In addition, it is prohibited to place plumbing fixtures or a gas stove on the balcony or loggia (if you planned to make a kitchen there). On the former balcony you can place kitchen cabinets, a refrigerator, and a dining table, but a sink and gas stove must be in the room.

Please note: you can make repairs in a small room by combining a balcony (loggia) only by dismantling part of the wall under the window. It is prohibited to destroy the remaining parts of the wall: otherwise the structure of the house may collapse.

The advantages of this solution are the expansion of the living space of a small apartment, which is important in a small-sized home. For example, your miniature six-meter kitchen can become eight meters or even larger.

But there are also disadvantages to such repairs: you will have to spend a lot of money. After all, the balcony must be well insulated. And in order to preserve the usable area, it is worth using high-quality materials with low thickness and high thermal insulation properties. For example, extruded polystyrene foam is suitable.

Recommended articles on this topic:

• Arrangement of a small apartment
• Stages of renovation in an apartment
• Turnkey cosmetic repairs

The same applies to glazing. Most often, plastic (PVC) windows are installed. It is recommended to choose high-quality, three-chamber double-glazed windows, and the profiles must have at least 5 chambers. Such glazing is considered premium, so the price for it will be appropriate. By choosing budget materials, you risk getting a cold room in the winter.

4. Other redevelopment options

How else can you renovate a small room? You can increase the functionality of a small home with the help of other renovation measures. It is possible to describe specific changes only based on the apartment plan, but there are several general points:

• We move the door. Most often, doors in a room are installed in the middle of the wall. This arrangement makes living in the room not entirely comfortable. But the door can be moved to one of the walls. Such changes are not considered redevelopment, which means approval is not necessary.

• Removal of built-in cabinets and storage rooms. Instead, you can make a spacious dressing room or install a new wardrobe.
• Make two rooms out of one. Ideal for corner apartments with two window openings. This way you will get two, albeit small, but separate rooms.
• Separate walk-through rooms. Of course, the living space will become smaller, but in some cases it is more important for owners to get separate rooms.

Usually these are the most working and popular options. Combine them to get what you need. Take the issue of remodeling seriously: you must know the exact dimensions that will be indicated in the plan. Use special design programs. With their help, you can design a three-dimensional space by placing furniture there. As a result, you will clearly see what should happen after the repair.

Reupholster upholstered furniture

Do you like your upholstered furniture, but the upholstery is faded, worn and dirty? Just choose the color and texture of the upholstery fabric and have the sofa and armchairs reupholstered. Questions from friends about your purchase of new furniture will not keep you waiting, and the interior of the room will be noticeably refreshed.

Photo: inhomeplans.com

Decorating a small bathroom

If the family can do without a bath, it is better to install a shower. The result will be not only savings in space, but also in water bills. For a small bath, you can choose a wall-hung sink. It is worth taking care of a convenient cabinet for storing swimwear, bottles, and cosmetics. The more objects remain on open shelves, the greater the feeling of clutter and disorder. On open shelves you need to leave the most necessary little things and decorative accents. Furniture should be chosen that is universal, for example, a cabinet with a mirror. You can also read how to place a washing machine in a small bathroom.

To make the bathroom look stylish, you need to carefully select accessories: containers for liquid soap and napkins, a glass for toothbrushes, soap dishes - everything should be designed in the same series, from the same material.

Don’t forget about indoor flowers and cute trinkets, but there shouldn’t be a lot of them. These little things will give any room a cozy look. Collections of photos, photo frames, a couple of paintings or an interesting wall poster will create a special atmosphere and highlight the character of the owners.

Decorate the walls

Despite the fact that light walls without a flashy pattern are desirable in a small apartment, they should not remain empty. It’s better to decorate the walls, but there’s a lot of choice with what. These can be family photographs in beautiful frames, stylized pictures, posters on various topics, reproductions of masterpieces of world painting, volumetric wall decor, and ethnic elements.

Photo: cheatersutopia.com

Which bed to choose for a small bedroom?

The bed is the visual center of the room, so it is better to choose a large model. All other furniture in a small bedroom should be smaller or narrower so that there is enough space for passage in the room. The following options are considered the most convenient:

• Classic rectangular bed. It can be placed in a niche, with the headboard facing the window, or placed as close to the walls as possible, leaving only 1 part free. This model is recommended to be chosen when decorating rectangular and elongated bedrooms.
• Sofa or ottoman. They can be used both for sleeping and as a sofa. The sliding design will save space in the room. Due to the fact that when folded the bed will not take up much space, it can be placed close to the rest of the furniture. Inside the ottoman there is a recess where bed linen, blankets and pillows are placed, so you can dispense with a chest of drawers or shelves. This option is suitable even for very small bedrooms or rooms combined with a living room or kitchen.

Minimum decor and accents Source www.gd-home.com

Bedroom design in loft style Source topdizz.com

• Bunk bed. This option is suitable for a children's bedroom or a room shared by two people. It won't take up much space. When decorating each tier, you can use pillows and blankets of different designs without worrying about the appearance of the bed as a whole.
• Round. A double bed in the shape of an oval or flattened sphere is suitable for a square small bedroom. It can be placed in the middle of the room, the location of the window does not matter.

A very beautiful room with a round bed Source www.pinterest.com
For a small bedroom, a four-poster bed, a model with a lot of decorations and large carved legs, is not at all suitable. They will take up too much space, and due to their small size, the rooms will look disproportionately large compared to their furnishings.

Interior in white and beige Source dekoriko.ru

Modern style

When decorating a small bedroom in a modern style, it is important to remember simplicity. The combination of plain surfaces with simple patterns creates harmony in the room. The main colors are dark and white, you can add 3-4 details in bright shades. Contrasting tones will add clarity to the room, complemented by furniture with parallel, straight lines on the surfaces. To complement the design of a modern small bedroom with prints, you need to remember about compatibility:

• It is better to avoid floral patterns, with the exception of a discreet pattern on soft-colored pillows;
• a dark blue or emerald check on a white background will perfectly complement the interior: fabric sofas with such a print or decorative elements will do;
• a bedspread with straight or broken lines will decorate the bed, and the shades should contrast with the main color scheme of the room.

Design of a small bedroom in Khrushchev Source dekoriko.ru

Pistachio in a classic interior Source homeli.ru

Design solution for a small space Source dizajngid.ru

Classic style

The basis of the classic style is the use of soft warm shades and floral patterns. An association appears with the houses of nobles of the early 19th century. Graceful lines and miniature objects will create an atmosphere of comfort and privacy, luxury without pretentiousness. Designer tips for arranging a bedroom in a classic style:

• Yellow, beige and pink are the basis of the color scheme. White elements will fit perfectly into the design, but it is better to avoid black and dark shades.
• It is better to choose white or cream furniture for a small bedroom. This color will emphasize the lightness and elegance of the environment.
• Gold and silver decorative elements will add luxury to the room. Chandeliers and miniature statues imitated with precious metals will look especially elegant.

Bedroom design for 18 square meters in a classic style Source dizain.guru

Scandinavian style

The design of a small bedroom in the Scandinavian style is distinguished by a small number of details and colors. The composition consists of light shades; you can also add elements of rich blue and green. It is recommended to choose plain furniture with fabric upholstery. To decorate the room use:

• Paintings with minimalistic patterns or geometric shapes.
• Natural flowers. Succulents, cacti and plants with small buds will fit perfectly into the interior of a small bedroom.
• Dried flowers. Placed in a vase or pressed and framed as a work of art will do.

Scandinavian-style bedroom Source geometrium.com
A small Scandinavian bedroom will look free and bright, regardless of the features of the room. Comfort in the room will appear thanks to a blanket, a light gray or pale brown carpet, pillows and soft toys.