1.25.2019

Bedroom Design: Reality

TGIF, readers!

Those who follow along on Instastories know I decided to delay this post to today, since Bryce had a work dinner last night and I chose to spend Wednesday night focused on him rather than blogging.

I'm excited to share the final post in my bedroom refresh series. Hopefully the next post related to this will be a reveal of the updates in the next few months!

If you're just tuning in, be sure to check out the other posts in the series:

In these posts, I started with the inspiration for a bedroom refresh, and worked my way up to a design. Today I'll share the plans I have to incorporate into our bedroom now.

As mentioned in the Dream post, pattern play is still a must for me, but I decided to go with a bit more neutral palette.


After playing around a bit, I decided on this combination: Kravet Xu Garden Veridian (existing shams and bedskirt), this neutral leopard (not sure of fabric source, but have chosen this bolster and these pillows in it), and Colefax and Fowler's Bowood.

I actually polled on Instagram asking for a vote on this combination and the vote I got was about 60 yay/40 nay. I was surprised, because it's rare to get such a close split. I'm wondering if the Bowood feels too traditional or grandma-ish for some? I also have had some reservations, because while it's timeless; it is definitely on trend right now. I keep seeing it over and over as I scroll Instagram, so while I'm about 90% sure I'm going to stick with the plan as shown here, I'm going to keep thinking on it a little longer. I don't want to go with Bowood because it's in now and then regret it. Plus, I keep coming across other fabrics I love like this one. this one, this one, and this one.

Okay, so assuming I stick to the plan, let me share it! If I end up veering off the Bowood path, the overall plan will remain the same, the Bowood pieces will just be replaced with a different fabric.

As mentioned on Tuesday, I've wanted to add a bolster to our bed for a while. I excitedly told Bryce my plan was to reduce the number of pillows on the bed, but he wasn't all that impressed decreasing from 7 to 5 (not counting the pillows we sleep on). I originally chose this leopard, but decided the neutral would be more versatile than blush and liked the idea of adding velvet into the mix as a new texture. 

The impetus for the rest of the plan came when we decided to convert our sunroom into Bryce's office. We're still working to complete that update, but have started the process. Namely, we moved the club chairs from the sunroom into our bedroom and the leather chair and plaid ottoman (that never really matched our bedroom) down to the sunroom. This gave me a springboard to create the seating area I've always wanted in our bedroom and do some additional updates to tie the whole space together.

This is the starting palette:

 

The blurry spot in the photo below is a bookshelf I edited out. It's an eyesore providing storage in our 1950s home that has next to none, but it's getting out of our bedroom, so I went ahead and removed for these purposes. Additionally, I had envisioned the chairs flanking the window seat, but the window isn't actually centered in the room, so this layout worked better.


So now for the fun part! I played around with different combinations to find the perfect design.

I played with the idea of keeping our ikat pillows (I do really love the pattern mix) with the bolster, as well as two small bolsters. Neither was quite right...


I also played with the idea of adding both Bowood and the leopard on the bed, and really love the look of the 3 Bowood pillows with the bolster, but that would increase not decrease the pillow count.


I finally settled on the original, simple plan of just the bolster with the existing matelasse euro shams and trellis standard shams. It evokes the calm feeling I'm going for, and I love that it lets the trellis shine.


Wanting to still incorporate the Bowood to this part of the room to make the overall plan flow, I decided to go with a Bowood tablecloth for my nightstand. The thought is that in a future dream bedroom that will hopefully have the space for matching nightstands, this table could perhaps go into the seating area.  You can see a mock up here, with the throw I mentioned Tuesday (comes in 29 colors!) for an added pop of color.

Fun Fact: 
My grandmother petit point embroidered 
the bench at the end of our bed as a teenager!

 Next, I turned my sites to the sitting area. I opted to add leopard pillows to the chairs to match the bolster and a basket beneath the existing table. As mentioned Tuesday, I find that natural fibers bring a cozy feel to spaces, and I have a few baskets similar to this one throughout our home. I even already found the perfect, rectangular shaped one for this space at Home Goods, my go to source for baskets!


I decided Bowood could have its place in our window seat and couldn't resist a fabulous monogram, as well for the window seat. It adds another pop of color and I really love a monogram in a bedroom. Our bedding doesn't really lend itself to monograms, so this dupioni silk pillow brings the couture monogram look I love in bedrooms. I've also already ordered this pillow for the space opting for my monogram. Bryce and I are not the hugest fans of the couple's monogram (just our preference!) and instead have opted for the more traditional Southern route of using her monogram for linens and his monogram for barware. Because of the size of the window seat, I created a custom order for a toddler sized pillow, and will need to go with 16" pillows in the window seat. 

And just because I'm obsessed with this pillow, I'll show you a close up. Aside from having to go with a smaller size, I chose everything else to be identical to this one shown in terms of monogram style and color selection. I can't wait for it to arrive!


So there you have it!

I plan to order the leopard bolster and pillows next, and as mentioned am going to think a little longer on the Bowood. I'm 90% there, but just want to give it some additional time to be sure, especially considering it's more of a splurge fabric, and that we have a few other little home refresh projects going on right now. 

Did you like this four part series, or did you get bored?

Are you a fan of Bowood?

What colors and style do you have in your bedroom, or want in your dream bedroom?

Have a great weekend!