Hi friend!
It’s Friday and one “to-do” on my homemaking list for the weekend is getting more creative in our bedrooms. When we have guests, (namely, my cousin Susie when she’s in town on business), we love setting out the guest bathroom basket full of those special items for a more spa-like experience. But to know the room is prepared with calm colors and textures and those ‘simple things’ that make their welcome even more refreshing…well that’s the inspiration behind it all.
So, I thought I’d share with you some photos of bedrooms that got my own creative juices flowing and that inspire me to think of what a welcoming and calming bedroom could be.
This first bedroom brings the cool colors of a dusty blue mixed with plenty of neutrals to really soften the space. I love how the one pop of green above the headboard using the framed botanicals really draw your eye. Taking the drapes to the crown always helps make the room feel more grand, but if you’re not really wanting heavy drapes, the French doors would look beautiful with a linen solar shade. Solar shades keep the UV rays out and you can purchase them in 1%, 2%, up to 7% visibility – meaning, you will be able to see out, but those outside will have limited visibility to see in. Shades can even come in room darkening fabrics. Give The Blind Lady a call. Sara Jones is excellent at her gift of window treatments and if you want room darkening options without the drapes, she can help.
What colors do you like? For me, it’s these blues, neutrals, soft greens with wood accents. But give some thought to what you like…the look will come together when you balance the room with color and with textures and contrasts.
Here’s a great example of how to work with “contrasts.” The room is so well balanced in the whites and soft blues, but then they really created an inviting space with the contrast of dark green drapes hung on a clean black rod and then added a dark green tall plant in the corner.
Here’s another contrast but in softer tones. The room is primarily all neutral, but they contrasted (or weighted the space) using the wood beam, the woven basket at the foot of the bed and the wooden bedside table. The contrast they chose was to add the soft tones of brown in a space that is primarily different shades of white. Beautiful!
Looking for a country farmhouse style to your bedroom? This works! The walls are painted a pale pale pink or peach, and then the pops of soft blue against the white bed frame and linens is just adorable! I love how even the art above the bed keeps that soft dusty pink that’s on the walls, in the throw on the bed and even the floors are a deeper tone of that same color. Not to overlook that cute little sea shell on the bedside table just waiting for someone to listen to the ocean! In this bedroom, it is the flooring that creates the contrast and it determined the wall color and the rest of the accessories. If the wall was painted a creamy soft white, that would be beautiful too. The color White Tail by Sherwin Williams would be absolutely gorgeous in a room with these warm and cool colors.
Now, I wanted to share this photo because of what I saw in it that made me go ….’hmmmm, something is a little off.’ It’s a pretty room but here’s what is something I would change to make the space a little more calming and inviting (for my personal taste).
- Take down the drapes. The window is a single window and all I would do is put a nice shade on it in a soft linen fabric with black out liner.
- Move the bed away from the window if it’s possible.
- Remove the two pillows and replace them with one soft blue pillow or two soft neutral pillows.
- The bed needs a wider bedside table; preferably one that has legs because the bed is solid to the floor.
- Either have a painted bedside table that is a soft neutral (Jolie chalk paint colors like Palace White or Swedish Grey – not pure white as it is now.
- Find a much larger bedside table lamp. Let the lamp be the ‘weighted’ piece on the table and not the bouquet of flowers.
- If possible, have another bedside table that either matches or is an antique writers desk with matching lamp.
Enjoy making your bedrooms the calming spaces you long for them to be!
lisa
