This month my fellow design bloggers and I decided to tackle styling a bed. I took this project to my sister's house, since I'm poised to launch into a remodel on my own house in the New Year (yes, it was supposed to happen this Fall, but these things move agonizingly slowly) so I'm not decorating much around here at the moment.
Remember my One Room Challenge "Parisian Chic" living and dining room? This bedroom is in that same apartment. The overall look for this home is traditional, pretty, and very feminine.
The design for this space immediately came into focus when I stumbled upon an old 4-poster bed deep in the dark and dusty recesses of my carpenter's shop/overflow storage. This place is crazy, piled to the rafters with stuff that hasn't seen the light of day for at least 50 years, and could sit there 50 more since it's not open to the public and has been pretty much forgotten about.
So when I came climbing out of there with an iphone shot of this bed that they hadn't laid eyes on in years, they were perfectly willing to get rid of it. I think I paid $125.
Crazy, especially considering that a nearly identical 4-poster bed with cane headboard is sold at Peter Dunham's high-end design store Hollywood at Home for over $10k. Score!
This what the bedroom looked like when we began ...
And here it is as it started to shape up, with the addition of a vintage crystal chandelier, white linen drapes, and the 4-poster bed ...
With the bed installed, we began imagining what the rest of the room could look like. We knew we wanted lots of crisp white bedding to play off the black bed frame and enhance all the natural light in our space. Something similar to these inspiration images ...
(all images via our Pinterest project board)
One of the challenges we had to work around was that the wall that made the most sense for the bed to sit against had a big, off-center window. So once again, just like I did with the Larchmont Bungalow bedroom, I hung white linen curtains that extended beyond the window on one side, to give the illusion of a centered window behind the bed. Works like a charm!
Lately when designing feminine bedrooms (and this entire apartment is nothing if not feminine!) I've been drawn to white hotel-style embroidered bed linens with bright, bold florals on the pillows. Here's some of my inspiration for white bedding combined with painterly floral prints ...
(all images via our Pinterest project board except
the last one from my Larchmont Bungalow project.)
If you know me at all by now you'll have guessed that both nightstands and the cane bench at the foot of the bed were all thrift store finds that I re-finished (the nightstands got professionally lacquered and the bench I did myself.)
You can't really style a bed without styling the nightstands too, and I especially love this beautiful black lacquer chest with all the brass hardware and a slim writing desk that slides out at the top.
All the vintage stuff when I first found it ...
And the end result!
Be sure to have a look at the bed styling skills of my fellow "Year of Change" designers. Excited to see what everyone came up with this month!
*Tricia and Erin the Suburban Bitches
*Amy at Commona My House
*Sarah at Life On Virginia Street
And this month we're also joined by the three lovely sisters over at 11 Magnolia Lane
Care to catch up on past "Year of Change" challenges?
March: Stenciled Entry Wall
April: DIY Furniture Round-Up
June: Colorful Kids Art Nook
August: Bookshelf Styling Tutorial
September: DIY Wall Art
October: Using fabrics from Tonic Living
BEDROOM SOURCES:
Greek key duvet set: Overstock.com
Floral pillow fabric: Tonic Living
Leopard bench fabric: Tonic Living
All furniture: vintage (I promise to post about my fave LA vintage shopping spots soon!)
Crystal chandelier: vintage
Faux malachite lamps: vintage (DIY tutorial coming soon)
Large magnolia art print: re-purposed from my dining room (I explain how to source and enlarge wall art here)
