A Plan For Our Long-Neglected Bedroom
I don’t know about you, but our main bedroom is probably the room I’ve neglected the most in our home. Few people see it and it’s easy to make it an after thought. Honestly, if we didn’t need a new mattress (Denis and I both frequently wake up from back pain because our bed is too soft) and bed frame (we have a queen and want to upgrade to a king), I’m not sure I would be giving it as much time as I have been lately.
Right now, it’s pretty uninspiring.
It would be SO. MUCH. EASIER. to do this room if we bought a bedroom set. But obviously I can’t let anything be that easy. Instead, I want a layered look with pieces that go together but don’t actually match.
Over and over, I’ve found myself referencing Emily Henderson’s guides on nightstand/dresser power couples and her rules on how to mix and match them. Here’s a quick summary of what she recommends:
Your nightstand and dresser should be from the same design era, e.g. mid-century modern, art deco, etc.
Avoid matching hardware (if your dresser has gold handles, your nightstand shouldn’t have gold hardware)
Try not to match the color
(And while we’re on the topic, your nightstand should be no more than five inches taller or shorter than the height of your mattress.)
Oof, as I typed that I felt like my shoulders were getting closer and closer to my ears. Quick, let’s move on before my stress gets passed on to you!
The first time I wrote this post (this is actually my third attempt), I spent half of it talking about when we acquired the different pieces in our room and why and how much my plan for the room shifted over the last four years (fascinating, right?).
But I realized that mentality was actually what was keeping me from designing something I really loved. I just kept focusing on the pieces we already had and trying to find new pieces that would go with them. I’ve learned (and am clearly still learning) that’s just not a path to success for me when it comes to design.
Instead, I need to take the time to think about how I want the room to feel.
Which brings me to the part of our room that is actually inspiring.
Oh that view. Let’s just zoom in on that to fully appreciate it…
I love that view. It’s incredible and kind of magical. When I see it at night, I just sigh and everything else falls away. I realized that’s what I wanted the room to feel like.
Usually, I start with some inspiration pictures of rooms that evoke the feeling or look I want my room to have, but I hadn’t found anything that felt right for us. So instead, I looked through the screenshots and pins I’d saved for our bedroom and found a few things that reminded me of that feeling I get when I walk into our bedroom at night.
Usually, I avoid designing with vintage because it’s SO much easier to just shop what’s in stores.
But when I found these vintage nightstands below, it felt like everything just fell into place. Unfortunately, it turned out the nightstands were already sold (another reason why it’s easier to just shop what’s in stores). But at least now I have a vision and a plan, so when I find the right nightstands, I’ll be ready to snap them up!
And now, without further ado: Here are two slightly different versions of our main bedroom mood board. What do you think and which do you like best?
(NOTE: Denis wants a bench instead of two stools, but I haven’t been able to find a bench version of this lovely campaign stool, so we’ll just have to use our imagination for that part.)
You might notice that the pillow that was part of my original inspiration isn’t on the final two boards. And that’s okay! Just because something inspired you in the beginning doesn’t mean it has to make it all the way to the end product.
UPDATE: I found the right nightstands! They were part of Lulu & Georgia’s new fall collection. When I spotted them, there were only five left and I had to act fast. Since I had been hunting for a month or so, I was pretty sure they were the right ones, so I pulled the trigger. They won’t ship until October, but I’m so excited.
I still have to finalize several other pieces, but after four years it’s exciting to finally be upgrading from our Target/Ikea nightstands.
