As I showed you this week I’m getting very close to finishing our bedroom. There are still a few finishing touches that I want: a lamp with any one of these lampshades (a birthday gift, I hope!) to go on the chest of drawers as this lamp really lives on the landing, a full length mirror to go on the left hand wall as you walk into the room, maybe some extra storage on that wall and I’d like to frame some family photographs for this room. Ultimately we want built-in wardrobes in the alcoves but that is way down on our list of priorities as we are now focusing our time and money on the outside of the house. Also, if we extend into the loft any time soon we would make that our bedroom and therefore wouldn’t necessarily need built in wardrobes in here. We shall see.
My ottoman bed from Button & Sprung provides invaluable storage in this room. The beautiful linen colour works perfectly with this Natural Stone Washed linen from LinenMe. I also love the very subtle pink cotton bedlinen set from Bedfolk.
Anyhoo, I thought it would be nice to show you the room in its almost finished state as I know a few of you have been following along on Instagram with the change of wall colour drama so I’m pleased to say I feel really happy with how it looks and feels now. You can see how it used to look here and just a few words as to why I changed the wall colour as I get asked about it A LOT! I originally had this room painted Light Blue by Farrow & Ball, which is the colour I have used on all the woodwork in the other rooms (except the bathroom and hallway). I absolutely adore the colour in the others rooms but in our bedroom, which is small and north west facing, as winter approached it just made the room feel darker and more drab by the day and the furniture I had in here didn’t look right with the colour either. When the sun hit the room in the late afternoon the colour looked quite green, which was lovely, but didn’t make up for the rest of the day. Therefore, I made the decision to change the wall colour to School House White by Farrow & Ball, which is a great neutral; neither too cold nor too warm. It works perfectly with my linen bed (you can see more about my ottoman storage bed from Button & Sprung in this post), the old pine drawers and the new chair as well as allowing the fireplace to stand out.
I have actually changed the pendants in here to these bone china ones from Original BTC. I have these lights throughout the house because they emit such a beautiful soft and even light and I love the natural flex that works so well in here.
I hope to have a new lamp that will be a bit more of a statement on these drawers. I think something larger with a bit more colour and pattern will work well. I also want to reframe this portrait using a black frame to add a bit more contrast.
I spoke a lot on my Instagram about finding it difficult to choose bedside tables and I’m pretty happy with these oak ones from La Redoute (although quite wobbly legs and the price has gone up!). They are very practical with a drawers and the cane shelf and I like how simple they are.
As soon as I’d changed the wall colour everything just fell into place. I was able to commit to other decisions that I’d been struggling with such as curtains, bedside tables, bedlinen, a rug and art work. I have chosen to blend lots of neutrals with natural materials to create a very calm and soft vibe with lots of texture. There are a few dashes of muted pink and cinnamon in the cushions and art work and a bit of contrast with black accents like the curtain pole, fireplace and I’m going to reframe one of my pictures with a black frame as black really helps to ground the whole scheme.
I love the addition of my New Lark Tub chair that I wrote about yesterday. The framed piece of vintage wallpaper ties in perfectly with the colours in the room.
The frame above the bed is from an old painting that used to hang in my parents’ bedroom. It works perfectly in here to add a bit of ‘old’.
The different textures of the linen on the bed and the curtains combined with the jute rug, the plants, the cane on the bedside tables, the ceramic pendants and all the wood around the room add interest even though the colours are so muted. They stop the room feeling ‘flat’.
I can not tell you how much I love these cushions that I bought from By Molle. They are very expensive but worth every penny in this case as they totally brought the colour scheme in this room together. I chose the cinnamon and pink salt cushions.
I’m still debating as to whether I will paint the woodwork and door in Shadow White to replace the brilliant white.
This jute rug has been a great addition (even if it does look like a placemat!) as I love the texture and softness it brings to the room. I did find this much cheaper version but went for this one as it is so much thicker and so soft under foot so I hope it will last longer.
It sounds really silly but this room has been weighing heavy on my mind as I had this weird block of just not being able to ‘get it right’ and I’ve never really experienced that with a room before as I always have quite a clear vision of what I want. My advice if you’re experiencing the same issue is to not rush into buying anything until you are sure it’s right. I held off for a long time before committing to anything for this room and I’m so glad about it as otherwise I could have wasted so much money. I hope you like the way it looks now and I’ll be sure to keep you updated on any additions (Jules, if you’re reading this you’re going to buy me that lamp, yes?!).
Katy x
Source list:
Fireplace – eBay
Round mirror 50cm – Royal Design
Ottoman storage bed – Button & Sprung (gifted)
Cushions – By Molle
Natural stone washed bed linen – LinenMe (gifted)
Rose cotton bed linen – Bedfolk (gifted)
Jute rug – Modern Rugs
Chair – DFS (as part of a paid collaboration)
Bedside tables – Laredoute
Chest of drawers – eBay
Hector pendant lights – Original BTC (gifted)
Paint – School House White Farrow & Ball