furniture and decor blog

A dream bed is yours for life. Buy it to fit your dramatic, romantic fantasies, not to suit a modest bedroom. After all, you may move—but the bed is yours forever.

Indeed, the only reason not to invest in a splendid bed is because you can’t afford it yet. In that case, don’t settle for second best. Consider a more moderate splurge on linens, mosquito netting, or a flea-market headboard you can transform with paint. The upgrade will instantly show, the bed will look richer, and the room will beckon like a private sanctuary.

Many people are understandably anxious about planting an oversize bed (like a huge four-poster, or an opium bed with its red lacquer “roof”) in a small bedroom. But there’s a trick to making these marriages flourish: just avoid bed hangings or canopies that obstruct your view, if you crave a canopy, be restrained—drape sheer fabric across the top of the frame. It won’t block your view, and the magnificent bed could make the room around it look larger.

Finally, remember that quality is something you can feel, not just see. Spend money on a good mattress. Buy a down-filled duvet (watch the catalogs for sales). Replace your pillows if the goosedown inside them has flattened, and encase them in pillow protectors. These things are as important as pretty sheets, and they can make your bed the most restorative place in your home.

Always trust your eye to detect subtle differences in measurement, because there is a range of ideal proportion depending on location, composition, material, and other circumstances. For example, I wanted the longest and deepest counter possible for our small master bathroom. I lined the ledge up with the tub and made it as deep is the space allowed, ensuring enough space to sit on the toilet on the opposite wall and have access to the bathtub. The dimensions of the counter, 23 1/2 X 66 1/4 inches, are not ideal, but with mirrors placed along the entire back wall, the proportions changed character and became harmonious.
If you are going to tile a bathroom counter, the dimensions of the counter and tiles should be taken into consideration in determining how the tiles will look laid out with grouting. Ideally, you don’t want to cut tiles to fit. Even if your counter has ideal proportions, if you haven’t worked out the execution of the material, the harmony you are seeking will be diminished. When using tiles or when painting a checkerboard pattern on a wooden surface, plan your layout on grid paper, taking into account the dimensions of the area to be tiled and the measurement of the tiles themselves. Whenever possible, try not to use half tiles on the floor or other surfaces. If your tiles don’t lay out ideally, you can probably get a border tile that will work out mathematically for a finished look. If you need to use half square tiles, use them on all four sides as a border.

I found our bedroom hallway extremely cramped. The walls are only 39 1/2 inches apart. To make matters worse, the floorboards are laid parallel to the walls, running with the narrowness of the space and making it appear even narrower than it is. We hung botanical watercolors on the walls as well as antique porcelain plates to give the walls vitality and energy. The glass over the watercolors and the surface of the porcelain glow with light.

What else can you do to visually widen a narrow hall without reverting to mirrors? One solution is to install wall-to-wall carpeting over the floorboards, in effect covering up the directional lines that further narrow the space. But in the case of our bedroom hall, because I love wood, I chose to solve the problem by staining and bleaching the floor in a folk art manner—a chevron pattern from east to west—disrupting the north-south direction of the floorboards. The eye is relieved by the feeling of expanded space.
Another option is to place area rugs of different shapes and sizes to break up the linear appearance. A hall runner will do the opposite; it will further narrow the space. But a rug that contrasts with the floor looks like an island in the ocean. The eye is drawn to the pattern and color of the rug, making the space around it appear smaller, more broken up. Select rugs with a background color similar to that of the floor.
Square tiles laid on the diagonal widen a space. This principle also applies to squares of sisal carpeting or, ceramic tiles.

When curtaining a dormer window, you’re often dealing with an undersize window in a narrow niche. Let your drapery, at least, create a sense of generosity. Buy sheer fabric in a light, neutral color (or use tulle from a store that sells bridal fabrics ). Install the rod above the window at the highest possible point of the dormer wall. Make the curtain three times as wide as the dormer niche, and let it float all the way to the floor. The cascade of fabric creates architectural stature and still admits light.

School 4-12
Now the second rod can be removed from the wardrobe to leave full-length hanging space. You can dispense with window bars. The play top is going to do double duty as part-time work top so, to ease the transition, add an angled light for homework. A couple of upright chairs can come in at this stage. The pinboard can stay, and the trolley will now become useful for holding models, games, perhaps a tv set or a small home computer to amuse a child and to help with learning.

Teens 12-17
The bunk beds can now be dismantled and turned into two single beds. If space permits, place the beds at right angles to one another and put a small low table between them, to serve both. By day turn the beds into sofas by adding tailored covers, some bolsters and cushions.

The floor may need some attention too:  it could be carpeted or covered with matting or painted and stencilled. Or you could simply add one or two rugs. Window blinds can be changed for a new fabric roller or curtains and walls re-painted, papered or otherwise decorated to the teenager’s wishes.

Teenagers have very much more sophisticated needs than younger children. They will more than likely feel the need to make their room into a bed-sitting room of some kind. Extra seating, in the form of bean bags or covered foam slabs, is reasonably cheap and always seems popular since it is less formal. Or a spare comfortable armchair, if you have the space, makes a comfortable place to sit and read. Cover the bed with  a  fitted  cover  and  scatter cushions to turn it into a sofa by day. If space is short, provide a large kneehole dressing-table which can double as a desk. Otherwise, television sets, cassette players, computers and school books can be placed on the laminated work surface. A more extensive wardrobe, musical and electronic equipment (guitars, synthesisers and so on) will maximise the need for good storage.

With any teenager, it is a good idea to install a washbasin in the room, to discourage them from monopolizing the bathroom! Dressing-room style light fittings around a mirror will be particularly appreciated by girls for make-up practice.
The great thing is that, although the room looks quite different and fulfils changing needs at each stage, the modern furniture remain substantially the same over a good number of years. No change of stage costs very much money, except perhaps for the final transformation.
As well as being very budget-conscious, such a plan is highly flexible. It allows first the parents and then the child himself enormous scope for adding, changing and indulging individual tastes and interests. As long as the original basic plan is simple and includes plenty of storage a room can go on developing along with the child it caters for.