THIS POST IS SPONSORED BY IKEA STOUGHTON, BUT ALL IDEAS & OPINIONS ARE ENTIRELY MY OWN.

This bedroom reveal is getting so close I can FEEL it! Are you exciteeeeeeed? I know, I’m probably the only one who’s excited, but just give me this one, ok?

It’s One Room Challenge Week FIVE and I am sharing all my tips for styling a modern vanity using the IKEA ELVARLI shelves.

For you ORC newbs, I’m turning my rental bedroom into a moody blue sanctuary as part of the six-week One Room Challenge design series. You do NOT want to miss the other ORC guest participants, the makeovers are just incredible!

You can check out my whole makeover series right here:

Week One | Week Two | Week Three | Week Four

Moving on, today is an especially exciting day because I’m sharing my first ever video with you. Video has been THE SKILL I’ve been wanting to learn for about two years now, so here’s to finally ripping off the bandaid and getting to work.

Before you watch, I just wanted to share my number one biggest styling tip, which applies to EVERY space you will ever decorate in your home:

MAKE IT FUNCTIONAL

You will never use it—or keep it pretty!—if it doesn’t suit your needs. That’s why you’ll see the very first thing that I bring in to my ELVARLI vanity is storage.

Storage is the unicorn of urban apartment dwellings, and I know you folks with larger homes still struggle with it too. So whenever you are decorating a space, be it a modern Scandinavian-inspired vanity or whatever else, always think of function and storage first.

How will you be using this space? What objects and items do you need while you are using it? How can you store those so they are both close at hand and not cluttering the look and feel of the space?

Once you have storage in place, you can move on to the actual “decorating” part of decorating. Woo!

Ok, it’s video time! It’s short so that might have been too much buildup but oh well. Just be nice, as I said it’s the first one I’ve made so constructive criticism only please!

If you feel so inclined, I would so appreciate any “thumbs up” or shares you might be able to give this video. Do you want to see more video content here on Idle Hands Awake?

We’re almost there guys! Come back next week for the full reveal AND all of the product sources. Plus an IKEA hack, and the tutorial for that little succulent planter! It’s gonna be a busy week…

I’d love to know, do you have a vanity? How have you made it both functional and beautiful?

THIS POST WAS MADE IN COLLABORATION WITH IKEA STOUGHTON, BUT ALL OPINIONS ARE REALLY, TRULY MY OWN! THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE BRANDS THAT ALLOW ME TO KEEP CREATING FRESH AND FREE CONTENT FOR YOU!