Bedrooms should be a very personal space. Nowhere else in the home are you at your most vulnerable. All your barriers are down and you just want to relax and retreat from the world. So, when designing a client’s new master retreat I thought flowers would be the perfect backdrop because of the homeowners love for gardening. Plus, her only request was to make the room “girly.”
To me, nothing says “girly” more than flowers. I love flowers, and I use them many times in bedrooms because of the feminine quality they bring. I design many types of bedrooms, put personally I love a feminine bedroom, because they’re soft to the eye and, well, I believe bedrooms should be soft.
My overall theme for this room was Scandinavian country. I discovered the most serene floral fabric a few weeks prior on one of my buying trips as well as an extensive set of antique china that complemented it beautifully. (I know, china in a bedroom?) The room was large with absolutely no architectural detail to ground it. So, I selected an amazing large-scale biblioteque made of reclaimed wood and painted a quiet, chalky white on the interior. This gave a focal point to create a sitting area and provided a beautiful backdrop for china and books. Directly across sits the recovered headboard and hand-embroidered bedding. The bed is crowned with an antique painting of a lady in nightclothes.
The bath is covered in a trellis pattern wallcovering with a blue strie ground. The bath was large enough for a covered table showcasing the floral fabric as a sort of entry table with jars of soaps and stands of towels. The mirrors were changed to feature milky white and silver carved ones that continue a more elegantly rustic theme. The window treatments are in the floral with a honeycomb embroidered sheer that subtly plays on the garden theme of bees and flowers.
The quiet combination of pale blue and creamy white makes a soft and soothing haven for the new homeowner where she can enjoy a book, a rest for the night, or prepare for the day ahead.
Isn’t that what a retreat should be?