The Everything Room

Hi Christine,

I found your blog through Decorology this morning and it couldn't have been a more timely discovery.  I am a live-in nanny for a wonderful family who built me a bedroom in their finished basement, but I have had a tough time getting the arrangement and functionality right and would love any suggestions you have.  The only permanent fixture that can be changed is the overhead light, which the lady of the house hates and would be willing to change out to an appropriate long-term option. (future guestroom, then boys playroom/crash pad)

My challenges:
-poor lighting, partially due to the aforementioned bad overhead fixture and an oddly situated lone window.
-large double doors to a frequently used room that limit arrangement options.
-a desk that never gets used in the current arrangement.
-no sitting area for when I have a guest over.
-I need to keep the bed, at least one of the nightstands (because of budget, even though I hate matching bed/nightstands), 8 x 12 rug, mirror, and chest of drawers.
-I have wondered about moving the bed to the window wall, but don't know whether to place it according to the window, ceiling fixture, or closet (which is in line with the current overhead light) and what to do about the headboard being higher than the windowsill and the scant clearance for open closet doors.
-I would love suggestions for how to finish my pine chest of drawers.
I can't figure out which technique or finish will look best with the room but will transition easily into my next space, which will probably not have any dark wood.


My goal is a comfortable and functional room that feels more like a little home and less like a guest room.

Thank you in advance for your advice!

Kind regards,
Juliet
Atlanta, GA

Hi Juliet,

Let me show you what your room would look like if you added a seating area and moved the bed to be under the window.

Now- I want you to do a little exercise.  Draw a mental line down the floorplan.  Do you see how way too much of the furnishings are on the left?

I re-arranged it - keeping the bed where you have it, but making a few changes.Notice the changes I made. 

1.  I removed one nightstand.  That will create a friendlier desk area. 

2.  I moved the dresser to the wall, and put a settee at the base of the bed. 

3.  I appreciate that you have a pair of French doors, but you really only need to use one door.  This way you can add the chair in front of the other door. (furniture from Overstock)

4.  I moved your light.  Having a light hanging right over your seating area will go a long way toward grounding that space and defining it.  Use an inexpensive paper lantern.  You can get them for less than ten dollars.  You could do a collection of smaller ones, or one larger one.  You can get a piece that fits into your light fixture box, but has outlets on it, to plug in the wires for the paper lights. Then just swag them over to where you want them.   Does that make sense?  It is all very inexpensive, but would really make a statement.

With the blue walls, and patterned settee, I would go with some crisp white bedding.  (West Elm)

Fold the duvet down, so the nice solid white is against the setee, and have a pretty patterned quilt under it.  There is nothing homier than a quilt.

I would paint the dresser white and add some cool hardware from Anthropologie.

I used a rug from Dash and Albert.  Not too expensive and always a great look.  Your e-mail implied that you had a rug, but I could not see one in any of your photos.

Add a great pillow (Z- Gallerie)and some solid blue sheets about the color of your walls. 

There you go- what do you think?

Charles and Ray Eames Rock

This is a follow-up post to yesterday's.

Christine,

Thanks for all of the great advice! I have a few questions of course. Where would you put the area rug? I never quite know how to do that with a bed. I'll address that below. Also are you suggesting 3 window treatments on each window (linen drapes, Roman shades and woven roller shades)? No- I suggested a Roman shade on that one window- panels on the others- the roller shades throughout- so each window would have two treatments. Not sure if I can swing the cost of that!!! Last question (I swear!) is on the seating area. The chair is definitely going and I was looking for a suggestion on something cool to put there, maybe with a pattern, to funk things up a bit. Any and all ideas welcome! Thanks again - you are so generous to do this for all of us! - Mary

For your chair- consider using a cool style rather than a cool pattern. The top two photos on the post are Eames chairs- I would get the lounge chair in cream, not black, and I would get the molded plywood chair in palisander- not red. The white lounge chair is from In House. These are classic chairs that you would keep forever- and their style is absolutely timeless. When I lived down in LA- a local museum had a display of Eames furniture. It was amazing. I just found that I have mentioned the Eames chairs in these posts as well. I guess I really like them.

OK- so- where should you put the rug? I would do it like the bedroom above. Although there are certainly a number of different correct ways to go about it.

Right in front of the bed also works.

I like sticking pretty close to the rule of thirds. Have it under the bed 1/3 or 2/3 of the way. I feel like the rug above is too close to 1/2. However- sometimes the limitations of room sizes and rug sizes keep you from being able to have the ideal.

2/3 is my ideal. You also want it show a decent amount in the front- and not cut your traffic path in half. If you had hard floors- I would suggest you had the rug large enough to step on it when you got out of bed.

I picture a nice large rug in your room.

Thanks,
Christine

Bedroom photos from Country Living.

A Bedroom to Be In

Hi there!

I just found your blog 1 week ago on accident! Actually, it was a gift from God. I will try to send pics later, but for now……

Can you cover the topic of sitting areas in the master bedroom? Room is square, and not over sized. Sitting area in corner with 2 chairs. One on each wall, angled towards each other. A trunk with “do-pretties” in between, angled in the corner. A floor lamp, a shared ottoman. A flat screen TV is in corner mounted high on wall. My ceilings are 9 ft, plus add another 1 ft for tray. Here’s the ??? Not sure how to do the wall hangings. Currently one pic above each chair, but it does not look like enough. Maybe pics not large enough.

We are currently redoing our home we built 11 yrs ago. And, actually, it has NEVER had a “finished” look decorating-wise, in my opinion. Partly because I know the idea I am after (I think), but for some reason, can’t get the looks to come together in the end.

Thank you so much for your blog. It is amazing what I’ve learned in the past week!

Starla

Hi Starla,

Without a photo- it is hard for me to really help with your specifics. But if your gut is telling you the picture is perhaps not large enough- you are probably right. Consider a collage of pictures or wall décor- or simply replacing them with a larger piece.

I did like your idea of addressing sitting areas in the master bedroom. I thought I’d go over some possible locations for a sitting area- as well as different options in furniture types.

The first three photos show the obvious location- in a corner.

When depth is more of an issue- the end of the bed is a great location- especially if you don't have a foot board.

If you lack the depth for a corner location- perhaps simply next to the night stand you can find room for a cozy chair.

A soft chair can help to separate wood case pieces. I like to avoid having two next to one another- like would be the case in the photo below without the chair.

Whenever there is a fireplace- it is asking for a sitting area in front of it.

Don't think you need room for a large fully upholstered piece- in the photo below is a simple small side chair in front of the window- where you can sit and enjoy the view. Don't let a view go under appreciated.

With larger bedrooms- combine the options and have multiple sitting areas.

Whenever you have an architectural break- like the bay area below- it is a clear choice for a sitting area.

The chaise lounge is a common choice in master bedrooms. Personally- I frequently find them a bit awkward to work with.

Anyone out there have a chaise lounge that they love? Anyone find them awkward?

A chair should rarely be all alone. My rule is that it has to be an amazing chair for it to be all by itself. But even a small table next to it- like in the photo below- helps it to be more of an established sitting area- not just a floating chair.

Think outside the box- you can have more than chairs and chaises- check out this charming bench below.

Benches come in many shapes and sizes- and can be the perfect place to put on your shoes- or just enjoy your bedroom sanctuary.

A love seat can also be a great piece for your bedroom.

Don't overcrowd your space- sometimes no sitting area is the best option of all.

Do you have a sitting area that you love? Send me a photo. We'd all love to see it!

Thanks to Country Living and Veranda for the photos.