Master Bedroom Design: Progress Report

It's been a few months now since I first posted about my plans for our master bedroom, but I promise that I didn't forget about it, despite my baby haze. In fact, real progress has been made towards achieving my initial vision and I'm excited to share the changes the room has undergone in recent weeks.I've swapped out our queen size bed with a larger king. I selected a modern, black version of a

Little Boys' Rooms

Amanda NisbetI thought in many ways it would be more difficult to do a roundup of little boys' rooms that I love as opposed to little girls' (see HERE for last week's installment), but once I got going, I found a ton of wonderfully inspiring spaces that tow the line perfectly between a mother's desire to decorate and a boy's desire to be, well, a boy. As with the girls' rooms, trends did tend to

Little Girls' Bedrooms

Natasha BaradaranOf course the past few weeks I've been busy collecting inspiration photos of children's rooms. So I thought I might go ahead and post a round-up of some of my favorite rooms: first girls' and then boys' (which, I'll admit, where a lot harder to find!). [Aside: And no, I still don't know what I'm having, but I should when I go to the doctor next on the 20th!] This first room from

Orange + Aqua = Love

So in my last post I mentioned in passing that I was really loving orange lately. And I am. In fact, I've been itching to design the nursery in orange and...well, and something. I didn't want to do brown because it's too harvesty. I don't want to do just white because it's too monochromatic and modern for my taste. And then I saw the divine Ms. Tobi Fairley's feature in Traditional Home earlier

Natalie Umbert makes me happy.

Last week I was flipping through the latest issue of Town and Country and saw this picture included in their feature on up and coming LA designers -- and I stopped dead in my tracks. Now this is the type of room that just makes me happy: bright colors coupled with lots of crisp whites and a great mix of patterns and styles. So of course I had to google the designer behind such a great room and

Master Bedroom Design: The Beginning

Now that I've completed (or nearly completed) decorating our family room, I'm turning my attention to our master bedroom. Since any great "after" needs a "before", this is what I'm starting with right now. No, it's not bad -- and I am still very fond of the wall color (Farrow & Ball's Parma Gray, which is really more blue than anything), but it feels...imcomplete and just not as "wow" as I'd like

Sweet Dreams are made of these....

Palmer WeissIn the spring of 1987, when I was in first grade, my parents moved from inner Houston to its suburbs. Once we settled in, one of the first rooms my mother decorated (with the help of a designer from Ethan Allen, if I recall correctly) was my bedroom. At the tender age of 7, I was allowed to select the basic design elements for my bedroom -- and I remember feeling so very grown-up

On My Mind...Upholstered Beds

Christina Murphy InteriorsI have a horrible habit of always being one or two projects ahead of myself. Even though I'm currently focusing on pulling together the living room (specifically, window treatments and built-ins -- update to come, I promise!), I can't help but find myself obsessing over my next project: the master bedroom. Once we complete the living room, I'll be tacking our master

Trend Alert: Canopy Beds

Thom FiliciaCanopy beds aren't just for little girls' rooms anymore. Lately, the classic furniture piece has been popping up all over shelter magazines and in interior designer's portfolios -- and I can't seem to get enough. Following the old mantra that "bigger is always better", builders today are making incredibly large master bedrooms. Sure, these may seem like a luxury to prospective buyers,

Guest Bedroom Update

Back in September I blogged about my love for DwellStudio for Target's Hadley Headboard. The modern bold stripes paired with the more traditional curve of the headboard is truly high-end design at a budget price. Well, when after a few weeks I still couldn't get it out of my head, I decided to go ahead and purchase the brown and white striped version for one of my guest rooms. "Before"After a

Guest Rooms in Blue, Pink...and Yellow!

I was surfing the internet yesterday afternoon, trying desperately think of something good to post on (to say I've had blogger's block the past few weeks would be a serious understatement). I was just about to give up when I spied this fun and fabulous guest room on one of my favorite interior designer's websites (go HERE for all sorts of colorful, West Coast design courtesy of Jeffers Design

Guest Post on Guest Room Redesign

Want to read about my plans for transforming this orange and tan study into a fun and modern guest room? Head on over to A 'Lil Welsh Rarebit, to read all about my proposed design plans for Christy's guest bedroom and vote for your favorite plan. This is my first stab at decorating for someone else and it was definitely a lot harder than I expected. But, while incorporating someone else's tastes,

A little post-moving indulgence...

The only thing I've ever purchased from Wiliams-Sonoma Home is a set of black and white chinoiserie dessert plates that I scored at a Pottery Barn outlet outside Austin. As much as I adore WSHome's general aesthetic, its prices tend to make my very price-conscious husband hyperventilate. So generally I just do a little virtual window shopping, admire all the prettiness, and then surf on over to

In the Pink with Jamie Drake

One of the biggest drawbacks of marriage is that a woman is constantly forced to compromise -- not just in the big, important areas like money, but in more superficial areas as well, like home decor. While there are many joys to sharing your home with a man, it does by default restrict a girl's decorating choices. For example, few men (and Dave is no different in this respect) would sign off on a

Ideas for the Master Bedroom

For the master bedroom, I'm thinking about taking the vibrant color palette I chose for the dining room down a notch. A navy blue and Chinese blue color palette, accented with hits of metallic and cream-colored furniture, will work well with the public areas of the house but still be a departure from the more vibrant colors and dark wood furniture I plan on using in those spaces. Plus, these

Inspiring Master Bedrooms

Mary McDonaldSo I found out today that the new house should be completed by late July -- about a month earlier than Dave and I had expected. Yikes! Suddenly, there's a renewed urgency in not only selling the current house, but in figuring out what I want to do with the new place. I find the best way to get in decorating mode is to look at beautiful spaces. Fortunately for me, more and more

The Ultimate Flou Beds

This is my idea of the perfect bed.

The frame of the mattress is on a suspension system that lifts easily -- just hit the release button and it pops up with a light tug-- very ingeniously designed. The frame is separate from the head-board. Also, the enclosed space stays clean, unlike underneath a bed. Made in Italy by Flou

Patricia Gray writes about emerging trends, her inspirations, "What's HOT" in the world of Design, as well as sneak peaks of her work.

Another White Bedroom

I don't know how I missed including this picture in my last posting on White Bedrooms.

Shabby Chic via Cote de Texas
Cote de Texas describes this picture as: Gustavian and Shabby Chic - the new combination.
I would love to sleep in this bedroom!!

Patricia Gray writes about Interior Design inspirations, emerging trends, and the world of Design.
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{ Campaign Beds }

What is the history of campaign furniture? The invention of campaign furniture – meaning furniture made for travel –was designed for military and naval use. It grew in tandem with the growth of the British Empire and its colonies in the second half of the eighteenth century. The Napoleonic era is probably the best know for examples of campaign furniture which were designed to be dismantled for travel and assembled at the end of the journey.

Ever wonder why these beds are so dreamy, maybe it is because they have their origins in travel to foreign and exotic destinations. I am imagining that the canopy held fabrics that helped to keep out all sort of bugs and protect somewhat against the elements.


Happy Weekend.....Happy dreaming

Reference Books:
The first English pattern book references to the subject occur in Ince and Mayhew’s book The Universal System of Household Furniture (1759–1762), with two designs for folding sofa-beds and a field bed. Chippendale’s The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker’s Director (1762) illustrates six designs for field beds with folding hinged slats, and Thomas Sheraton illustrates a design for a ‘sofa bed’ in The Cabinet Dictionary (1803).

Postscript Jan 30/08
An Aesthete's Lament has left a comment that I thought was so good I wanted to include it in the main post: "Some of the beds featured seem to be versions of the iron beds that were used in 18th-century France and moved from house to house by the nobility (obviously they could have been used in campaign or expeditionary situations as well). Such beds were considered less prone to insect infestation, et cetera. Typically, the light iron framework would be covered with curtains and fabric and folderol, rather in the manner of a lit à la polonaise; these could be moved and packed away should the owner decide to relocate from his city house to his country house, et cetera. The first time I ever saw one of these iron beds without its draperies was in the apartment of the French decorator Jacques Grange, where I once visited. In his bedroom, the lit à la polonaise just stood there, utterly stark, its ironwork frame like calligraphy written in the air. The company Oly makes a lovely version of these, called the Walker bed.

Turquoise Bliss

What girl doesn't love this little turquoise box?

Florence Broadhurst wallpaper

Who inspired who? The color for the Tiffany box and the Florence Broadhurst wallpaper look almost identical. I have recently been reading the book: FlorenceBroahurst - Her Secret & Extraordinary Lives. She has quite a few designs in turquoise for her wallpapers that were designed in the 60's & 70's. I like that this color is once again fashionable and is being used in interiors.

Refreshing and Sophisticated: A mix of blue and green, turquoise has a sweet feminine feel while the darker teal shades add lively sophistication. Some shades of turquoise have an old-fashioned 50s and 60s retro feel. Turquoise has the same calming effects as the mixture blue and green it is comprised of .

Culture of Turquoise: This in-between color represents water, thus the names aqua and aquamarine. It's also a valuable and popular mineral often turned into jewelry. Turquoise is closely associated with the Middle East and the American Southwest.

Dominio
David Hicks Carpet

House Beautiful

Burnham Design via Desire to Inspire
I like the effective use of painted stripes flowing from the wall across the ceiling.

John Stefanidis
Francis Elkins Chair via StyleCourt

Timothy Whealon

LaraHutton via Desire to Inspire

Florence Broadhurst wallpaper

Tiffany box via StudioWellSpring

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