Bedrooms are the most revealing of our personalities.  Here we lie down and shut our eyes, lower our defenses, and open ourselves to dreams, fantasies, and love.  The intimacy of this room makes it a space that is highly charged emotionally.  When we love, we go to bed.  When we sleep, we are in bed.  When we are sick, whether in mind, body, or spirit, we take to the bed.  We are restored by bed rest.  Our Bedroom is where we experience ecstasy or great sadness.  It is the room where we very often receive fateful telephone calls, bearing the bad as well as the good news.  It is where the joys of life and its sorrows are deeply lived and felt.  Think about the reality of your own life and what this room has meant to you.

I have loved bedrooms all my life, beginning when I was five and my dad brought home and set up an antique four poster bed and my mom dressed it with white eyelet pillows and a quilt.  I felt like a New England -style princess.  Dreams can come true and bedrooms are the place to make them real.

Clients inquire, “Where do I begin,” and always want to know, “Where is the best place to put the bed?” The bed, of course, is the largest piece of furniture in the room and should be placed where you feel the most comfortable. Usually, there is a tension between wanting to utilize a view as fully as possible and desiring privacy from neighbors. Decorators will tell you to place the bed where it looks best when you enter the room—usually in the middle of your longest wall. But if I had followed that rule in my house in Virginia, I would have missed the spectacular sunrise every morning.  It’s important to understand the room, the views, the angles, and place the bed where it makes the most sense for you.

As you focus on your own bedroom scheme, remember that the key walls are the one behind your bed and the one you stare at while in bed.  If you like mirrors, the latter is the perfect wall to hang one on, as the mirror will take this wall and push it back visually.  If your bedroom windows are close together, consider putting a mirror between them to add softness and to create the impression of a larger window area. Your Bedroom Walls are also a good place to display a refreshing piece of art. In any case, I do feel that the plainer the bedroom walls are the better.  You want the room to have the flexibility to accommodate pictures, mirrors, and fancy bedding.

If you have wood floors, scatter a few small rugs.  Carpeting in bedrooms, however, is practical, especially in colder climates, as it warms up the room, feels good against your bare feet, and is an excellent sound absorber.  A small room also appears larger when carpeted. If you choose patterned throw rugs or carpet, take care that it doesn’t upstage the bed.  Make sure it complements your bedding.

The colors of our bedroom are important, and while I’ve worked with just about every imaginable color scheme, blue is still the most popular, perhaps because it so soothing and contemplative. Remember to choose a variety of blues, which keeps the room from looking dull and monochromatic.  If you need help, I do offer virtual paint consultations.

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