Friday, April 10, 2009

Bedroom Interior Decorating

About Bedroom Interior Decorating


Bedrooms are important places for both adults and children. For an adult, a bedroom can represent a private space to relax and rejuvenate, as well as a place for shared intimacies with a partner and, ultimately, to sleep. Often adult bedrooms include in-suite bathrooms, sitting areas, large detailed closets and sometimes doors opening to terraces or yards. For a child, a bedroom also represents a private space, a birthplace of the imagination, a study space and, of course, a place to sleep. Decorating a bedroom often comes secondary to decorating formal rooms in your house, but the same essential issues need to be solved for a room to really meet its potential.


Developing a Color Palette


Begin by collecting pictures of rooms from decorator and architectural magazines that you find attractive. Keep these in a binder for easy access. The first order of business for decorating a bedroom is to choose a color palette. Renae's posting on Rooms To Renew suggests: "Notice the colors you see in advertisements, store displays or magazines." This can be accomplished many ways, including finding a piece of art that you love, a fabric with a pattern and colors you admire, or select from your picture collection an image with the mood you want to accomplish.


Retreat, spa-like bedroom spaces are popular, so are Hollywood glam bedrooms, boutique hotel styles, Adirondack lodge styles and more. Each style has a general palette of colors that are commonly used. Pictures in recent magazines showing rooms decorated by top designers will show updated palettes and they are a good place to start, since your accessories will draw from what is available on the market. Paint your walls and ceilings so your ceiling is two tones lighter than your walls and in the same color tone. Change your flooring as needed.


Planning Your Space


Bedroom planning includes pre-thinking furniture placement as well as solving any storage needs. In addition, you have to plan for the active space. This is the empty and open portions of the room that lead to exterior doors, bathrooms, closets. These are the room's pathways. Use some graph paper and plot out your room dimensions. Measure any furniture you intend to bring back (that you already own). Cut little representations of your bed and furniture. Generally, a room looks more spacious if you enter and the bed is facing you. However, some bedrooms preclude this. Position your bed on your focal wall. Your room may also have a view. If so, position your bed to capitalize on this.


Focal Points


In adult bedrooms the bed is the central focus and often the largest and dominating piece of furniture in the room. This piece sets the tone for the entire room and it should be scaled to fit your room properly. Too big or too tall furniture (such as a headboard) can overpower a space. Your bed should have a quality that will allow it to last as a style and it should be flexible to adapt to new colors over a few years. Bed fabrics should be neutral solids that work with your palette.


Bring in other colors, patterns and textures through accent fabrics in drapes, blinds, pillows, throws, area rugs and accent furniture. Select any new upholstered pieces you are adding to your bedroom at this point. Be sure they work with your plan and there is ample space to move around the room. More open space between furniture groupings usually feels more spacious and remember that an awkward path to your openings will make your room feel wrong. You need at least three feet between furniture and walls or other furniture, but five feet is better.


Accents and Accessories


Select your bedside tables and other non-upholstered furniture. Your selection should be scaled to fit your room and should complement each other in style. They don't need to match. When choosing your accessories, opt for one or two large statement pieces and think about texture and finish. Art should be restful and size appropriate. Generally, lots of little pieces look busy and awkward. Black and white prints or graphic botanicals are good choices. Finish off a bedroom by adding lamps and plants.


Children's Bedrooms


Children's bedrooms often include a color theme too. When choosing colors or room style, it is good to think in terms of rapid growth and preplanning on how a room can grow up with the child by the simple removal of accent colors and fabrics. Neutral, classically-designed furniture will withstand momentary trends. Opting for a solidly designed room will allow for frequent decorative changes that are budget friendly. A well-decorated bedroom should be inviting, comfortable and functional. Shrinivas Vaidya of Bedroom Design and Decorating Ideas offers this final, excellent insight, "Finally it is the empty space which remains and is a measure of the comfort level for the user."

Tags: your room, adult bedrooms, Bedroom Interior, Bedroom Interior Decorating, between furniture, Interior Decorating, more spacious