Tag Archives: Interior Design

Bedroom Design: 4 Brilliant Bed Walls

Post by Tracy Kaler.

What components make up a typical bed well? A stylish headboard. A pair of bedside tables. Art above the bed. Window treatments. Accoutrements. But what about those bed walls that push the envelope, those that lack the obvious choices for a headboard but boast a custom backdrop instead? Some bed walls come adorned with built-in nightstands rather than the usual freestanding tables. Some designers think outside the box when they create a space for sIeep. I searched high and low for the most innovative bed walls I could find. Enjoy!

Industrial in design and feel, this Santa Barbara loft bedroom is like no other I’ve ever seen. A driftwood backdrop and platform feel primitive yet sophisticated. Matching nightstands blend in, and the art above the bed keeps the color palette neutral. A skateboard and guitar add a smidge of playfulness to the space.

Busy to some and inventive to others, this colorful, patterned bedside corner sets the tone for this unusual guest bedroom in Newport Beach. Notice the simplicity of the other elements in the room –– although the shag rug and ornamental dresser introduce texture and make up for the bedroom’s lack of accessories. A pouf acts as a bedside table.

No headboard is visible in this photo, so we have to assume that there isn’t one. The decorator of this Florida bedroom uses a crisp, Moroccan pattern on the pillow shams. Decorative molding creates architectural interest on the bed wall while the artwork resembles branches or coral and provides just the right amount of interest above the bed. This room is fantastic in many ways.

The feature wall in this charming East London bedroom dons black, and the headboard sports a zig-zag pattern. The silly sign as artwork somehow fits the mood, as do the light fixtures suspended by red cords.

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Bedroom Design: Decorating With Monograms

Does your bedroom feel personalized? You might not have given it much thought up until now, but adding personal touches to sleep spaces can be done in a variety of ways. Selecting a less-than-popular but personal favorite color, creating a gallery of family photos, filling the space with accoutrements from your travels, and adding your initials, better known as a monogram, are common ways to introduce a bit of yourself into a bedroom. Today we’ll focus on monograms –– motifs made from initials and often used to place stamps on personal items such as pillows, duvet covers, window treatments, and more.

Continue reading for some lovely monogram inspiration in bedrooms.

These twin headboards in a children’s room boast subtle monograms. The lettering style works well with the bedroom’s simple, nautical theme.

Crisp and clean, this Houston bedroom decked out in navy and white makes a statement with a monogram in the center of the bed covering.

An elegant traditional space to sleep, this room keeps the color palette neutral but adds personal touches with monogrammed pillows and family photos on the nightstand.

Whimsical and feminine, the monogrammed cornice and pillow create a second focal point –– the daybed being the first. The lilac walls and toile mixed with zebra are adventurous and prove successful. Any lady would be lucky to stay in this room.

The designer used varying shades of gray with white accents in this calm, serene Texas bedroom. The monograms are less traditional than most –– using a single letter –– but the boldness grab’s your attention.

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Bedroom Design: Sleeping Lofts

Post by Tracy Kaler.

Designers often create loft bedrooms as space-savers in tiny apartments or homes. Ceiling heights tend to be high –– think 12 or 15 feet, and sometimes higher –– allowing enough room for a lofted bed space above the primary living quarters. The downfall of these spaces is that they often require a ladder to enter and exit. Some, however, have enough floor space to create stairs, making them more practical for everyday living arrangements.

Let’s take a peek at five sleeping lofts ––whether they use a ladder or stairs –– that appear to be comfortable and work well within each interior.

Complete with a house cat, this open floor plan of a converted garage comes with a tiny kitchenette and a loft for sleeping. This space boasts an industrial feel, and was featured in the New York Times. The beautiful photo was taken by Ira Lippke.

This colorful, contemporary family room in Phoenix was carefully planned. The sleeping loft sits above the bath, so as to not take any space away from the main room. Orange barn doors and an over-scaled pattern on the area rug warm up the cool, concrete floors.

This home demonstrates the beauty, simplicity, and elegance of white. Stairs lead to lofty twin bedrooms, each with privacy curtains. Located in Tybee Island, just outside Savannah, this cottage is a dream beach house, in my opinion.

Climb a few wooden stairs and you can escape to this bedroom hideaway. Uncluttered with a modern aesthetic, the space is more than sufficient for guests.

A rustic treehouse with a log cabin feel, the San Francisco guesthouse boasts mismatched textiles, actual tree trunks, and a knotty wood finish on the loft, all of which add to its charm.

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5 Fantastic Apartment Bedrooms

Post by Tracy Kaler.

Apartment bedrooms can be just as inviting as their suburban peers. Even in the coziest city flats with limited square footage and significant layout challenges, chic sleep spaces are likely. Take a look at these five stylish apartment bedrooms in San Francisco, Paris, Manhattan, Atlanta, and Sydney.

Simple is the story in this mostly white San Francisco bedroom. Designed with a full-size mattress and no headboard, the compact space boasts an uncluttered look. Handmade from 6.5 gauge linen and antique hand-loomed hemp, the bedding marries nicely with flea market finds.

In this Paris bedroom decorated in the Scandinavian style, the niche acts as a headboard. Clever lighting and nightstands complete the bed wall. Notice the tiny sconces for reading in bed.

A suitcase and stool as a bedside table –– who knew? This DIY Harlem apartment bedroom exudes creativity. Not only is the nightstand outside the box, but the headboard can be made at home too. You can find instructions on Killy Scheer’s blog: Studiolo.

You have to appreciate the chance the designer took in this Atlanta apartment. A black accent wall is not easy to pull off, particularly in a bedroom. Mixing various geometrics is no easy task, either. But somehow all of the elements, including the purple accent color, work beautifully.

As a lover of color, I am a fan of this bedroom design in Sydney, Australia. The patterns and hues become the focal point of the bed wall. I don’t miss a headboard in this room one bit. The brights pop against the white walls.

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Bedroom Design: Keeping It Natural in a Bedroom

Post by Tracy Kaler.

Natural materials and earth tones create a calming effect in most any space. In bedrooms, we welcome serene elements and colors to encourage relaxation, preparing us for a good night’s sleep or a lazy afternoon nap.

These four bedrooms inspire us to go back to basics with neutral colors, rough-hewn woods, and linens and cottons, while also focusing on what lies beyond the windows as much as what’s in the bedroom itself.

A Big Fork Montana bedroom boasts a lofty tree house feel. Nature surrounds, and the space resembles a screened porch with its wide windows and scenic view. Yellow on the bed seems to be the near-perfect color to contrast the amount of green outside. This room takes on a modern yet rustic aesthetic.

Driftwood attached to the wall, suspended oyster shells, and linen on the bed complete this shabby-chic bedroom. The earthy combination of materials takes us back to nature in the best way possible in this beachy yet primitive room. What an innovative design!

Natural materials are the basis for this eclectic Montreal bedroom. From the pine bed to the metal tableside lamp to the Africa headdress as artwork, this room is not only earthy but also interesting. With so much to look at, this space proves that neutral colors never need be boring.

Zen-like with a mid-century, Japanese design, this bedroom sports an unusually low bed with an asymmetrical bed wall. Somehow, all of the components work well together, including the garden stool as an accent piece. This home is located in Orange County, CA, which is no surprise to me. I feel relaxed just looking at the photo.

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