Whatever style of house you live in – be it a country house or a tiny flat – the House & Garden archive is your one-stop-shop for bedroom ideas from the world’s best interior designers.
How to decorate a bedroom
The scheme for a bedroom should be something that you find relaxing and cosy, although a quick look through our gallery of ideas suggests that there are plenty of ways to interpret that. Pale paint colours and understated patterns certainly have their moment, but spare rooms are often a great place to run riot with colour and pattern, perhaps in the form of a bedroom wallpaper, since they’re unlikely to be occupied every day. Make sure the bones of the room work for how you use the room. If space and budget allow, some built-in joinery can make all the difference for storage, and give the room a more seamless feel than if it’s stuffed with furniture.
Window treatments are hugely important in a bedroom; some people prefer that not a chink of light can get in, while others like to wake up with the daylight. Long, luxurious curtains are beautiful in a bedroom, in a thick material that will feel cosy in winter, perhaps with sheer blinds behind to let the light in during the daytime. There are plenty of readymade curtains out there if you’re on a budget, and blinds alone can also be a cost-effective way to dress your windows. Having a blackout blind made in a fabric of your choice does not have to cost the earth.
Beyond the bed, you’ll obviously want to think about bedside tables, preferably something big enough for a lamp, a book, and a glass of water. In a very small bedroom, we’ve seen interior designers build nooks into the wall or into built-in wardrobes either side of the bed, a neat solution we adore. And speaking of wardrobes, clothes storage is an essential. Hanging rails can be a great alternative to bulky wardrobes if you’re short on space. If you have some space to play with, it’s always rather civilised to have a dressing table where you can get ready in the morning and prepare for bed in the evening. And last but not least, a smart little armchair in the corner of the room is always lovely when you need somewhere to sit and put your shoes on – although it inevitably gets covered in yesterday’s clothes.
Rita Konig knows how to make a beautiful bed, and emphasises the importance of what’s on it. “Beds – and bed linen – really make bedrooms. It is not unusual for people to skimp on the linens – if not financially, then mentally, when coming up with the design for the room. All-white sheets and a duvet create a colossus of white in the centre of the room that can detract from the rest of the space. The bed linen, quilts, blankets and eiderdowns you choose make a huge difference to the room, how it looks and how inviting it is to you and/or your guests.” If you do love crisp white bedding, consider adding a patterned blanket at the bottom of the bed to brighten things up. We’re also big fans of relaxed coloured linen, pretty pillowcases (or even silk pillowcases) and some patterned bedding from time to time.
As Design Director at de Gournay, creativity is something India Holmes has in spades and the transformation of her London house proves it better than anything. The theme for India’s bedroom was drawn from her grandparents’ collection of Asian art, which mostly lives in her bedroom now. The yellow and red colour scheme was the starting point, with a custom yellow dupion wallpaper by de Gournay above the dado and a custom hand-painted wallpaper design called ‘Mapi’ below.
After trading in Brooklyn’s busy sidewalks for tree-lined pathways in suburban Philadelphia, a young family sought to put down roots in their ‘forever’ home during a difficult time – and called upon the interior designer Chauncey Boothby for an elegant, fast-paced refresh. The master bedroom is one of Chauncey’s favourite rooms in the house. The floral-patterned fabric from Muriel Brandolini, which makes up the canopy. was her inspiration for the entire room’s colour scheme. The sofa is custom upholstered in a fabric from Holland & Sherry and the coffee table before it is from The Lacquer Company.
Behind the ordinary façade of Katie Glaister’s 1930s house in south-west London lies an interior full of unexpected colour and personality, enriched by the work of talented artists and craftspeople. The main bedroom has walls in ‘New Pink’ by Papers & Paints. A cushion by Kirsten Hecktermann, which reuses a small piece of old embroidery on a plain linen background, sits on the bed. Shades in Christopher Farr Cloth’s ‘Tangle’ fabric sit atop lamp bases by Birdie Fortescue.
The artist owners of this London house called on interior designer Beata Heuman to create a family home full of fun, distinctive design. A highly original space, unapologetically theatrical and oozing energy. ‘The owners are both artists. They have quite wild tastes and they love strong colours,’ says Beata. The main bedroom has a bespoke sofa upholstered in Beata’s signature marbleised fabric and lion claw feet. Other notable features include a pair of breglass dance-hall mirrors from French Loft and the ceiling painted in ‘Lulworth Blue’ by Farrow & Ball. ‘I have this thing about painting ceilings blue. It seems over the top, but it adds a feeling of height and once it is in, you don’t really think about it’.
Interior designer Anahita Rigby brought a Regency house in London out of the darkness and into the light with her soft, airy and detail-oriented design. The master bedroom is undeniably comfortable. The quilted bedspread is from Day Home, the terry arm chairs from Zara Home and the trunk was found at the Sunbury antiques market in Kempton. The curtains were made in Aureli Opaline fabric and are from Black Edition.
In the main bedroom of artist Phoebe Dickinson’s south London home, walls painted with a drag effect are the backdrop for a bed tester in ‘South’ from Claremont, edged in Soane’s ‘Old Flax’ in azure and lined with ‘Chancy’ in chaya by Nicole Fabre Designs. The pale pink quilt adds to the layered effect. The stool at the end of the bed is in Le Manach’s ‘Plumettes’ cotton in celeste. A painting by Daisy Perkins hangs above the bedside table sourced in Tetbury.
Having lighted on his ideal house in the wild Devon countryside, Tom Cox of HÁM Interiors set about making it into a warm and welcoming place to get away, filled with the distinctive art and antiques he has grown up with. The main bedroom has a headboard in ‘Delgado’ by Colefax & Fowler. A custom ‘Cabin’ sign artwork hangs above the bed, and a ‘Harrison’ side table (both by Studio HÁM) stands alongside.
In the bedroom of a once-drab Victorian brookside house revivified by a former House & Garden editor, Thibaut’s woven paper wallcovering contrasts with the headboard and chair seat in Manuel Canovas’ ‘Bordeaux’ in ciel, from Colefax and Fowler.
Decorator Chloe Willis’ own London house is not just a showcase of her skills, but a marvel in creating a comfortable country feel in the heart of the city. In the main bedroom, the antique Sumbanese Ikat weave, bought from John Gillow, was the starting point for the room. The kilim is from Seref Ozen in Istanbul; the headboard and valance are made from Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler’s Zig Zag print. To the left of the ladder hangs a linocut of Chelsea by her great grandmother Agnes Reeve; above the chest of drawers an Indian Pichwai textile, painted for a festival of cows, was bought back from Udaipur. The indigo throw is from the Chapel Collection. The blue Chinese indigo cushions are from Penny Worrall. The long bolster cushion is made from Santander by Rosa Bernal.
The bespoke headboard in the second bedroom in this Notting Hill pied-à-terre by Studio Peake is in Wicklewood on Rustic Col: Dark Pink from Blithfield, which sits prettily against Gayle Warwick bed linen. The wall lights above are the Carter wall lights by Pooky.
Interior designer Philip Hooper’s masterful blend of the classic and contemporary has given this late-Regency house in Hampshire a greater sense of harmony and dignity. The walls in the main bedroom are covered in ‘Strie’, a linen-silk blend from George Spencer Designs. The pelmet embroidery is from Chelsea Textiles, which also supplied the ‘Daisy Sprig’ fabric used for the bedcover. A Louis XV revival window seat from Christopher Jones Antiques stands at the foot of the bed.
When designer Hana Mattingly was asked to re-design her friends’ basement in their San Francisco house, she saw the opportunity to transform the space into light-filled oasis perfect for a family. In the bedroom, Hana created a soothing oasis whose colour scheme makes for an inviting space.
When photographer Laura Muthesius and her wife, stylist Nora Eisermann, acquired a neglected former schoolhouse in the north German countryside, it took a gut renovation to transform it into the calmly beautiful retreat it now is. The main bedroom, with a bed from Matri by Fennobed. The rug is from Sera Helsinki. The bed linen is from By Mölle with a linen blanket from Tekla.
Modernising without losing character is no mean feat, but Carlos Garcia has approached the decoration of this early 18th-century house and its Tudor elements with great sensitivity, marrying period details with colour, pattern and contemporary touches. The headboard and valance in Nicole Fabre Designs’ ‘Laure’ linen and the 19th-century Turkish kilim runner add pattern and colour to this elegant bedroom.
Designer James Huniford has breathed new life into this 18th-century farmstead in rural Connecticut, sensitively rearranging and restoring its period interiors to create a restful retreat for a Manhattan-based family. The classic floral prints of the bed covered in ‘Santander’ linen by Claremont and the Victorian armchair in a vintage textile are balanced by a ‘Bellucci’ rug in ice by Stark.
The Argentinian architect Mario Connio has spent four decades transforming this traditional Andalucian farmhouse into a bright and welcoming retreat. The stylish guest bedroom once housed a bread oven.
Serial renovators of historic houses on a grand scale, the dynamic design duo Peter Sheppard and Keith Day took on their greatest challenge yet with exquisite 18th-century Wolterton Hall in north Norfolk, which had lain uninhabited for almost 30 years. In the state bedroom, walls in ‘Pear’ paper-backed linen in grey from Watts set off the Antwerp tapestry and the bedcover made from panels of 18th-century cut velvet originally used on the state bed. The bed corona was sourced from Lukies Antiques, in Aylsham, in an unrestored condition and regilded with the addition of the globe and the Walpole arms.
Travels in the Cyclades influenced the decoration of Rebecca Körner’s house on Mykonos, in which the Australian interior designer has combined bold mid-century pieces with stylish elements in natural materials. In the main bedroom, Indian textiles were used for the headboard and curtains; the toleware palm tree chandelier is a French mid-century design.
Interior designer Lonika Chande transformed an owner’s rather dark childhood home in Holland Park into a light-filled oasis perfect for family. In one of the bedrooms, the twin headboards were original to the house and had been pushed together to make a double bed.
Each area of the open-plan main room in this small west London flat has its own distinct atmosphere, thanks to the inventive details introduced by interior designer Beata Heuman, who relished the creative challenge of making every inch count. In the spare bedroom, Mark Hearld’s ‘Cirque d’Hiver’ cotton from St Jude’s was used for the headboard and bedcover. ‘Selma’ wallpaper in mossa by Astrid & Rudolf on the walls and ceiling unifies the space. The ‘Hector Medium Pleat Wall Light’ is by Original BTC.
Small spaces always present their own peculiar challenges, but Isabella Worsley was determined to work with the quirks and charm of this house in Hove, rather than fight against them. In this bedroom, walls painted in Edward Bulmer’s ‘Aquatic’ provide a moody backdrop for patterned fabrics, including ‘Thebes’ by Katie Leede on the headboard, and curtains in Lewis and Wood’s ‘Oaksey linen with Samuel and Sons’ Flanders Border in Raspberry on the leading edge.
The most ambitious in Joanna Plant’s West London house is her own bedroom. This haven of peace and quiet is wallpapered in a stunning Laura Ashley chintz matched to similar but ever so slightly different ‘Chinese Paper’ hanging fabric from Bennison, which she trimmed in red to better define its edges (as the Laura Ashley chintz is discontinued, Joanna had to amass the wallpaper roll by roll whenever she came across it on eBay). The quilt is vintage from Katharine Pole, as is the chest of drawers, from Myriad Antiques. On top of it is a lamp with a scalloped shade by Matilda Goad.
A recessed bed creates a cosy, cocooning atmosphere. Panelling painted in ‘Asian Blue’ by Emente offsets walls papered in Morris & Co’s ‘Marigold’ from Style Library in this bedroom of a Georgian house by Ben Pentreath. The bedcover is in ‘Therese’ paisley cotton by Les Indiennes.
Rachel Chudley’s design for the velvet headboard in the bedroom of her warehouse flat was inspired by the leaves of the toleware lights. It makes for a unique focal point of the room.
Melinda Stevens’ bedroom in her west London house is a dramatic space with glossy turquoise panelling and a riot of patterns on the bed. “The drawings that line it are by Edward Le Bas, my husband’s great uncle, who was part of the Bloomsbury crew. They are his costume designs for a production of The Duchess of Malfi, given to me by my mother-in-law.”
In Angus and Charlotte Buchanan’s bedroom, they have created an easy, airy canopy using a lightweight aluminium frame and lots of white linen. The valance and headboard are done in Buchanan Studio’s Studio Stripe in rose. A vintage sofa re-upholstered in a cream boucle from Yarn Collective stands in the window.
In Cathy Nordstrom’s bedroom, the wallpaper is William Morris. “I pinned a picture with a bedroom from, I think, Soho House Barcelona and knew I wanted to use that wallpaper one day.” The headboard is her own ‘Gingham’ in Lemon. “It complements it so well, and I just love spending time here.” The chest of drawers is a flea market find and the quilt is an antique American quilt. “This is one of my favourites; it’s super soft and delicate so it has to be treated gently.” The throw cushions are in Cathy’s ‘Spotty’ fabric in Sage. The lamps are hand-painted by Vicke Lindstrand for “another iconic Swedish ceramic factory, Upsala-Ekeby. Vicke is one of my absolute favourite Swedish designers. The shades are, again, Pooky.”
The colour combination in the master bedroom of jewellery designer Sandra Barrio von Hurter’s house is a soothing use of ‘Setting Plaster’ on the walls, with ‘Sulking Pink’ on the woodwork, both from Farrow & Ball. Pooky lampshades sit on brass lamps from Chelsea Antiques Fair. The bed is one of Sandra’s favourite things in the house. It is a traditional matrimonial bed that she and her husband bought from Lotts Road. “What I really like is the feature of two little hands holding hands together in the middle of the headboard,” she details.
Francesca Gentili’s farmhouse is filled with Moroccan influences and in the spare bedroom, a Penny Morrison lampshade sits atop a tamegroute lamp base, from a collaboration between Francesca and Laurie Lamps. Francesca found the vintage wall hanging while on a buying trip to India. The antique Swat Valley wedding cushion on the bed is one that Francesca sells similar versions of on her website. The suzani bedcover and Turkish kilim in the spare bedroom were sourced by Francesca on a buying trip – similar styles are available on her website.
In a small bedroom in Thea Speke’s country house, curtains in a green check from Merchant & Mills screen an iron bed from The French House.
The large antique patterned suzani that lines the bed canopy inspired the colours for this room in a house by John McCall, with outer bed hangings in ‘Tapa’ by Fortuny from Claremont and walls in a blue linen-effect paint finish by Hughie Turner. Hughie also painted and grained the metal rafters to resemble wood. The bedside tables were made by Jonathan Sainsbury to a design by John.
The wallpaper in this bedroom in Victoria Barker’s cottage is by Molly Mahon, and the bed was designed to sit beneath the beams, with an upholstered headboard and frame again in 36 Bourne Street’s ‘Little F’ linen in ‘Tutti’.
Re-using their old bed from the previous flat in the spare room, Lucy Williams and her husband “breathed life into it” by adding a vintage wall light and a big cushion by Howe. The quilt is a Toast piece. The rattan bedside drawers are vintage and display a Zara Home lamp atop them. The painted carafe is Petra Palumbo.
Interior designer Kerri Lipsitz has always been drawn to calm, serene interiors, and her own house in London combines this tranquil mood with a luxurious, sophisticated aesthetic. In the bedroom on the raised ground floor, the walls are painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Smoked Trout’. The simple curtains are in Romo’s ‘Alana’ fabric in alabaster. The wall lights are by Rose Uniacke.
Leaving his lovingly restored Georgian house in Whitechapel behind, conservation architect Tim Whittaker has turned his hand to a 17th-century farmhouse originally built by his ancestors, filling the beautifully preserved interiors with a remarkable collection of antiques. The main bedroom has an 18th-century walnut bed with a cornice painted by Tim and hung with plain linen and ticking fabric. The original 16th-century cruck trusses are visible in the roof.
In this Tom Morris house, walls in Little Greene’s ‘Olive Colour’ set off the rich blues of a chair in antique Dutch cloth from Howe London and a Melin Tregwynt blanket on the bed, under which is a Turkish cicim kilim rug from Francesca Gentilli. Displayed in the fireplace is an ash vessel by Anthony Bryant and, on the mantel, an abstract painting by Giovanni Mattio. The Seventies brass light by Florian Schulz was chosen to add interest to the room.
A headboard in ‘Beaucaire’ linen by Nicole Fabre Designs from Tissus d’Hélène blends with walls in ‘Pavilion Blue’ by Farrow & Ball in this bedroom by Samantha Todhunter. The bedcover is by Torna Lucia and the ‘End of Bed’ bench is from the Turner Pocock x Lorfords Contemporary Collection.
source : houseandgarden
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