Well I have to admit that finding the inspiration for this project took me longer than it usually does. It is at times a bit more tricky to find my design inspiration for a project that has existing furniture and accessories that will stay in the room, even if I love the pieces. I suppose it blurs the vision a bit as I peruse the internet for the much needed spark of creativity.
But alas, the design plan began to take shape when I decided to search for Poster Beds in white to use as representation for her existing bed, in my Mood board. The bed was the one item I was fairly certain about. From the beginning I felt as thought the honey tones of her oversized bed gave the room a feeling of heaviness, and I was thinking that would be well remedied by painting it a bright and fresh white.
When I found the image of the bed (shown in the Mood Board below), my direction for this room became clear and I knew how it should come together.
Do you love? I know, right…LOVE!
Before we get started on the details, let’s take a peak at what we are dealing with here in her existing room…let me preface this by saying, I think her furniture is fabulous and my suggestion is likely not going to be replacing it.
Here we go…
Some of you may remember my mentioning that, her furniture was weighing her down. This was not her description of her dilemma, but mine. Her stated problem was simply in trying to pull together her room, in a style that she enjoyed, without having to replace each and every item.
I felt that the mix of furniture styles, the heaviness of some of the objects (bed) and the relative sparseness of others was sucking the life out of the room. And when there is no life in the Master Bedroom…well, you know what that can lead to!
So let’s talk deets from the Mood Board:
First of all, the colors she mentioned she would like to see here were brown, green, and possibly a bit of gray. No problem here…that is quickly becoming one of my specialties! She mentioned her bed was a bit high which explained her use of a singular tall dresser for her television and that should would like to find a solution for that and would like to keep her vanity, the fabulous white table on the side of her bed that you can’t see in this image, her curtains the gourd lamps she has, a silver mirror and a few other odds and ends. Again, no problem since those are the items that are working well in this room. She mentioned she would like to keep the lamps she currently has on either side of her bed since they were actually tall enough to work with the great height of her bed.
First on the list of solutions here is painting her bed. It will lift some of the visual weight if you give it a light white and bright color. It won’t fix the height of the bed, but it will certainly lighten the mood. I would also love for her to switch out the placement of her gourd lamps and simply reverse them. I am wondering if it is possible to remove the mirror from her vanity. I think if it can be done without completely destroying the piece that it would be wonderful to relocate her silver circular mirror to above her vanity.
Various Artwork from: Art.com and ZGallerie
I mentioned above that she had a problem finding lighting tall enough to suit her bed and therefore wanted to keep her bedside lamps. The thing I see as being an issue here is that the lamps themselves, while tall enough are not substantial enough. I think there are a few options that will work much better. One is to use pendant lights over each bedside table, another is to use floor lamps instead of table lamps to give added height, and the third option is to raise the height of the bedside tables so that it is better suited to the height of the bed.
Since she wanted to keep one of her nightstands, that suggests for that side, either a pendant lamp or a floor lamp is a good solution. I have included a pair, one floor and one table lamp here that will work well given the base, which can be slid under the edge of a piece of furniture and not interfere.
Hanging a chandelier over the bed in the Master is fabulous and romantic, definitely adds a bit of needed drama. If this is not logistically possible (not sure what she has up there now) then this style of lamp would be fabulous as one of the above mentioned bedside pendants and can be found in smaller sizes.
If installing a light isn’t an option hanging something dangly such as those in the links below is also an option, it will have a similar affect and the colors available are fabulous!
I love the paint color used in this picture and feel it is the perfect color for her new room. Now, I just have to find an actual color that closely resembles it. Stay tuned for that.
I think a print like this one above the headboard would be amazing with the greens and browns it has. It would be even more fabulous in a black frame.
So she mentioned that building furniture was probably not the thing for her (more power to her if she can buy!) so as part of the bed height issue I chose to move her favorite white side table to the other side so that it is more visible from the entrance (and maybe paint it black? not sure what she will say about that…) and in it’s place add a very tall bedside set of drawers. There is no reason it needs to be this one in particular if it isnt’ her taste, it just needs to be substantial enough to pull it’s own weight on the other side of the bed, and tall enough to use proper lighting.
She mentioned gray, and of course…I’m all over it! I think this gray bedding would be a fantastic choice here since it isn’t too dark and still has a light and airy quality.
I would really love to see an eclectic mix of throw pillows and sheets and shams that contrast with the bedding. I would love a white sheet and shams with just a hint of black pattern on them would be perfect. Throw pillows in shade of brown, green, and white mixed and matched would be perfect. Here are a few options:
On the wall she currently has a small dresser, I would love to see a larger and open console table that might double as a desk and I would love to see it in black or a very dark color.
Other options here:
This rug ties the bedding and the bed together and grounds the room with the new addition of gray to the color scheme. And seriously this 4×6 rug is 19.99 at Ikea…I almost did a double take on that and figured at first it must be a door mat sized rug…nope!
Various accessories for the room are really meant to be representative of the color and type of accessories that might work well. Those I have shown can be found at the links below, but other items that are similar will work well also. The green gourd lamp shown is from ZGallerie but is meant to represent the one she already owns.
Doily Placemat for laying on the console table, not necessary but interesting. Would be great as actual placemats as well!
I love the natural sensibility about this mirror and think it would be perfect above the console. She currently has a mirror on that wall, but I would love to see her remove the mirror from her vanity (if possible and done carefully) and have her replace it with her circular silver mirror that she already owns.
I would love to see a bold graphic white chair at the console along these lines.
The solution to her bed being to high for her tv to sit on a regular dresser, is in fact to use a taller dresser, the only difference is I have chosen one that is also more substantial so that it fills the wall a bit better and doesn’t look misplaced.
The white opalescent glass vases here represent the fact that a collection of glass pieces in white would be a give a nice visual impact without having heavy visual weight. any collection of white vases or glasses will do and the discount stores are the perfect place to search for that.
