Master Bedroom touches that anyone can do!
Lately, we have had a run on designing master bedrooms at Terra Firma Home! Sometimes, after so much effort goes into decorating the common areas, the master gets swept aside for a bit until the homeowner re-groups and is ready to tackle this task of tranquility.
For many of us, we don’t have fireplaces in our bedrooms, or a majestic view of the ocean as seen in beautiful magazines, so lets start with where we can make a difference:
Treat your bedroom like the sanctuary it is; eliminate the television, unplug from your phone, make time and space to focus on getting a good sleep and with the self-discipline of a media disconnect - you can focus on your restorative time. Getting a good sleep is everything to me and I have learned to let go of looking at emails at the end of the day, or first thing in the morning in bed. It really changes my ability to jump into my day when I am at the office.
Paint the walls. If you have been in your home for some time, and the kids are either older or out the door, then do a re-set with a fresh paint color. Top colors for bedrooms are typically soft colors..warm whites, pale grays, pretty “greige” tones. But don’t be afraid to add a deep color as well to set the mood, you can always paint one wall a deep, moody blue for an intimate and dramatic change…
Surround yourself with soft. A standard in my home as well as my adult children now is to have a sheepskin at the side of the bed. There is nothing more delicious than waking up and feeling this soft fur underfoot. It is a very affordable and simple luxury!
Use wallpaper as an accent. This is our favorite way to make a dramatic transformation! Designer Chris-T Hodgen has been introducing her clients to the idea of wallpaper and the results are beautiful ! Even the husbands, who seemed a bit skeptical at first, have concluded it’s the best design choice they could make. It adds so much drama and intimacy.
Skirt a table. Lack of clutter is the key to a calm bedroom. If you have a stack of things you must keep around, conceal them with a table skirt.
Have sufficient reading light. If you have beautiful, adjustable reading lights, this can be a game-changer too for a lovely bedroom. You can now buy dimmers that your lamps can plug into, which is a great mood-enhancer for the bedroom.And if buying a new bed isn’t in the budget, a beautiful pair of lamps can really change the feeling in your room.
Switch up your bedding by adding a throw pillow or two. Even just one patterned pillow can change the entire look of your bed. You can even have your regular pillows function more as shams; find some cases you’d like to keep out on display (a plain color will work well) and stack them flat and neatly in pairs. One of my all-time favorite things to do is design pillows using antique textiles. Just one on the bed is all you need for a unique and more curated, personal bedroom space. We found these blue silk embroidered birds at a flea market in Portugal so I had them made into a special pillow for our bed, and it is a wonderful memory to see when I wake up!
Keep the bed simple. White sheets, simple coverlet, and duvet, keeps the morning tasks easy and unfettered. Invest in the best quality sheets you can and it will make a difference in your sleep.
Create a new headboard. Use wallpaper, that serape you picked up on spring break, a kilim, a lovely suzani textile, or an old door… there are countless ways to add interest to your room if you don’t have a bed with a headboard.
Bring in a comfortable chair. It’s great for reading, pulling on your shoes and laying out your clothes the night before, and it can pull in the right amount of a color or a print.
Keep geometry in mind. If your room is clean, modern, keep the lines going in a soft, geometric way. If you love botanicals, then embrace those curves, by adding to them with plants, wallpaper, and artwork that brings the elements together.
I think the bedroom is the most important room in the home because it is our ultimate sanctuary from this busy, crazy world in which we now live. Having a quiet, beautiful space to read, rest, rejuvenate our bodies, and disconnect is very healing indeed.
And now as we head into the fall season, and we do begin to nest and settle in toward winter, it’s a perfect time to practice a little bedroom magic!
