Master Bedroom Redesign

When we are caught up in lengthy interior design projects, we love to get the immediate gratification of a redesign or staging job. With interior design, we wait months, sometimes years, to see the final outcome of our efforts, but a redesign or staging can take just days to see the light. Here's a redesign project we just finished. Our client asked that it be a surprise for her husband's birthday and after several months of planning, we installed everything in the last 2 days while they were out of town.

The room has wonderful south/western exposure. It's a large room with all day light, a feature the client wanted to maintain through soft, light-filtering window treatments.

Two of the client's requests were that a writing desk be included in the new layout and that the balloon roman shade over the window-seat be replaced with something less formal.

Working with the mint green of the walls and the camel color of the window-seat cushion proved more difficult than I expected. Neither color is well-represented in most home decor stores at the moment. Aqua is everywhere. Mint, not so much. So, we looked for complimentary colors. I came across the bedspread first. It became our inspiration for the space. It combined mints, camels, celadon green and a purple silver. I leaned heavily on those colors for accent items: pillows, desk lamp, dresser decor.

Finding a King headboard in stock or getting one made and delivered within a few week turnaround was another challenge.

 Here is the desk we found for her at an auction. It's Italian made and amazingly fit in our budget. I love using antiques when I can. They add an air of formality and history to a room.

   

The dresser and side table have been with our client since college. Since they had cedar-box drawers and could eliminate buying costly new pieces, I decided to explore their growth potential with paint and an updated look.

 

Before

After

The side tables got 4" furniture feet to give them some elegance. They got painted silver with purple undertones to coordinate with the bedspread and I changed out the hardware on all 3 pieces from the wood knobs to antique bronze pull rings that coordinate with the drapery hardware. 

When we talked about drapery options, keeping the windows light and airy was of top priority. I suggested a sheer drape which would be whimsical and light, but with a natural fiber roman shade to give the smaller sized windows weight and the illusion of greater width.

 

Before

 

After

The chest the client had at the foot of the bed is beautifully made. It has bird's eye maple panels and is cedar lined. I could not, in good conscience, have painted it and since I also felt it was disproportionately sized for a king bed, we changed it out for an open-legged bench.

For an unexpected pop of color against the mint walls and the blue/green of the headboard, I put celadon sheets on the bed and added a grouping of 3 green glass vases to the dresser.