The Front Bedroom, Where Decorating Inspiration Goes to Die
When I finished “Phase 1,” every room except the back bedroom (which I finished to rent) needed a little something done to it, but the front bedroom needed the most. So now that the shutters are progressing at a glacial pace, it seems like a good time to go over it. So, from the beginnning: I inherited a set of very Victorian bedroom furniture and an antique pan light. While these were good pieces that I thought I was lucky to have, they were also dragging the room in a more formal direction than I wanted. So I balanced them out with a rug with a formal, traditional floral pattern and a bedspread in an oddly matching shade of cranberry, considering that they were hand-me-downs from 2 different people. I wanted this to be the one room in the house where I took interior design risks, which definitely explains why I decided to paint the walls a shade of taupe that complemented the marble.
Something was off with this room, but it wasn’t bad considering that the only things in the room I paid for were the lamps next to the bed, the box of tissues, and the sheet of plywood. I figured eventually I’d decide what I actually wanted to finish decorating the room and then I’d do that and until then it was fine, polyester comforter and all.
Then Tito was moving in and bringing with him a white leather-looking tufted bed and he was worried it wouldn’t look right with mostly my stuff. I said, pfft. We need a bigger dresser, and then we’ll just need to move a few things around. Ironically, after years of wondering just how to decorate around that Victorian furniture, I’m very happy with how it looks in the back bedroom by accident. The cheery green and braided rug balance it out nicely.
And Tito was pleasantly surprised with how the front bedroom looks now. (The other accessories in the room were free and we can consider their use here a failed experiment. Ditto for the present but ever-changing stack of building materials in the corner.)
Tito forgot that I owned this little cedar chest disguised as a commode, but was very pleased with how it looks with the dresser. The mirror doesn’t match, but I feel like every room in this house should have something Victorian in it.
So now that we’ve covered making the husband happy with furniture that sorta matches, there’s that small matter of decorating the room. Here are the big things to change now:
- Now that the new windows are in, we need interior woodwork. Tito is not fond of the exposed spray foam look.
- Window treatments. The white plastic blinds help us avoid going to jail for indecent exposure, but they don’t do anything else. There is a street lamp right outside, which is a bigger problem than it used to be now that the awnings are down. I usually sleep with a pillow over my head.
- Bookcases: There is a chimney inside the wall behind the bed, so I framed it out to add niches on either side for built-in shelving. The bookcases will be just inches from the bed, so I think they should be the same color as the wall to keep everything from looking too scrunched in. You can see the niches here; once the window trim is up we can cut these open.
- Rugs and accessories: Although having a room size (8×10) rug made the room feel cozy, we like seeing the floors. Especially Tito. But I think something small near the foot of the bed could help pull the room together.
So that’s basically the plan for what needs to be done to the room. I have some ideas about HOW to decorate it, but I welcome your ideas before we get to that.
9 Responses
I think the Victorian furniture looks great in the guest room! Do you have nightmares in the white bed that you and Tito are inside a giant s’more being smothered by square marshmallows? If not, keep the bed and decorate around it. Seriously, I love, love the idea of the recessed bookcases on either side of the bed. Here’s a building/decorating suggestion, though, based on Bruce and I designing built-ins for our tiny master bedroom inspired by the efficiency of the built-ins in our old camp trailer. From the level of the bed up to the ceiling, or as high as you plan to make them, make the recessed shelves flush with the wall. Then, just at the level of the bed, make two nightstands that are integral with the bookcase but that extend from the back of the bookcase out about nine inches to a foot. (They will be about the height of the nightstand that is beside the bed in the picture, but partially recessed.) Put two deep drawers in the nightstands to keep things like flashlights, pajamas, night blindfolds, decorative pillows or whatever. While the wall is open, don’t forget to put in two outlets, one on each side, for plugging in small reading lamps AND include in the outlets a USB port for charging your cell phones. Move the artwork that is over the bed and replace it with a large abstract print or an interesting wall hanging or a large decorative round mirror. This would be all modern transitional and cool and go along with the bed. Here’s a couple of ideas along the lines of what I’m thinking:
wayfair.com/decor-pillows/pdp/wrought-studio-skyline-abstract-print-vrkg8034.html?piid=26548964
wayfair.com/decor-pillows/pdp/latitude-run-starburst-silhouette-metal-fisheye-wall-mirror-latr1644.html
wayfair.com/decor-pillows/pdp/wrought-studio-waldron-round-metal-wall-mirror-w000433957.html
Haha, we aren’t having any problems with the bed except that Ninja likes the (p)leather a little too much. One concern about building the night-stands into the bookshelves is that the radiator and closet doors are right there. I was just gonna leave those little Pennsylvania House chests in front of the shelving. And yes, the prints over the bed were a halfassed effort and it shows.
Nah-It needs masculine,it’s pleasant but (forgive me) too ordinary. It needs dark and moody, a slip cover over the white would be easy-find a Victorian fabric,even velvet in a jewel tone emerald or navy -get one of those indian spreads that pick up your main colors. A little ralph lauren,rich and interesting. You guys are too sharp to settle for easy.
I wanted to let you know two things:
1. I got this post! 🙂
2. I love how you work hard to compromise with Tito.
All of your furniture feels “heavy.” I would pare that room down to one additional heavy piece aside from the bed, and keep everything very simple. Like Judith, I vote for a more interesting bedspread.
The big dresser is not as heavy looking as you think – it’s on long, skinny legs. But that doesn’t really show since I’ve filled both sides of it with temporary stuff. If we pare things down further, it means yet another round of getting rid of clothes and whatnot – I’ve already thinned things out enough to let Tito have 2/3 of the front bedroom and the whole back bedroom, and he got rid of a few things, too.
I also like the Victorian dresser in the other room. The bed side of your room looks good, except for the artwork. The piece between the windows looks good, or would with window trim and artwork. I think the problem is the other side where I think it would look better if you got rid of everything besides the dresser and hung some artwork. Basically artwork would make a huge difference, as would paring down the pieces on that one wall.
Everything else is temporary. I’m building bookcases into the wall and having the door installed. The artwork over te bed is a big fail
A classic — and so appropriate!