It’s funny how the first rooms I always design are the girls bedrooms but the last one, always as an after thought is our bedroom. Case in point when I look at the first draft of the design I had planned for the Hünenberg House. The only saving grace is the gorgeous Cole and Son wallpaper, whereas pretty much everything else is our from our old bedroom.

MAIN BEDROOM DESIGN FIRST DRAFT

 

Fortunately, as I have had so much time to plan the new rooms in the house and there is literally no stone unturned when it comes to girls bedrooms, I have started to take a bit more interest in our space. The furniture: bed and night stands will remain as is – and to be honest the room is really small so there is not much space for anything else besides a bench/trunk in front of the bed. I bought the Charles Nelson bench initially for our entrance hall but as the stair banisters are being replaced with a wooden “wall” we no longer have the space underneath the stairs. It might still work well in the space but I 99% sure it will just not fit as much as I want it to and so I think it may very well find it’s new home at the foot of our bed.

The only other small space in our room for furniture is as you walk in there is a narrow wall (maybe a metre wide) just before all the windows start. So we have a vintage wooden tallboy of drawers (it is all one colour with a variety of different drawer sizes) and also needs a home and I am hoping will create a bit of interest to the otherwise simple space. We will have to wait and see…

Having looked again at the draft design I realised that in my pursuit of having a neutral space I also created one totally void of colour. I still definitely want something restful but I realised the more and more I look at spaces online the more I am drawn to the “california cool” characteristics of Amber Interiors.

MAIN BEDROOM DESIGN SECOND DRAFT

Initally her spaces seem to be mostly neutrals but under closer inspection, I noticed that there is always some muted coloured cushions or ottomans or carpets. And so I started thinking where I could bring in colour to our bedroom but making sure it was so subtle, that Liam wouldn’t get a shock when I presented him with our new space. Here are a few things I am thinking of including:

ART: When we were in China this year, I bought a caligraphy scroll featuring bamboo stalks and two little birds, it is in soft muted tones and so I thought if I frame it in a simple frame it could work well above the chest of drawers.

LIGHTING: We already have two gubi pendant lights, one on other side of the pedestals inside of side table lamps, but I am thinking of hanging a larger pendant (the japanese HK living one) in the centre of the room. I did something similar in Andermatt so I am keen to see if it will work. I am worried though that too many hanging lights will look silly. The ones in Andermatt works well but that is because the side table lamps are mounted from the wall and not the ceiling…

RUG: This is a definite as I think this is the sceret to all of Amber’s spaces. So when we just now in Turkey I made it a priority that Liam and I visit a local craftsman and we purchase one specifically for the end of our bed. They showed us tons and tons but ultimately we were both drawn to something more rustic than ornate, and we surprisingly went for the reds with blues.

CUSHIONS: I actually haven’t bought any specifically for the room yet, as I am hoping to first see if the art, lightfitting and rug work well together. I then will get some cushions for the bed and maybe a throw – as the bed linen will definitely just be all white. I have my eye so far on these Japanese inspired ones from HK Living.

PLANTS: Last but not least, one thing for sure will be the inclusion of a plant or two in the space. The best thing I did last year in our bedroom was include a leafy tree in a giant terrazzo pot plant. So this may go in the space but I think will be too big and so I was thinking I could tie it all in nicely with one of these bonsai trees from IKEA. Either way greenery is going in!

It is quite amusing actually for me to compare to the two designs as the first one now looks so boring!