Making Life Beautiful

With the busy lives we lead, our bedroom is not only where we sleep, but our sanctuary.  It is here, that you can close the door to the world and feel relaxed and peaceful. 

There are oodles of decorating styles for bedrooms, from the natural look with minimalist accessories to the sumptuous and glamorous.  Whatever style you choose, here are some things to consider.

You still need to be able to walk round your room, so before purchasing or changing your furniture, have a good look at your space and, if necessary, map out where the furniture will go.  You can often get carried away with purchasing a new bedroom setting, only to find that you haven’t got quite enough space for all the component parts eg the dresser, lowboy etc.

Personally I favour using a bedhead, it anchors the wall on which the head of the bed is positioned.  If you bed doesn’t have a bedhead, you can easily purchase one or make one to suit your space.   Again, the options are only limited by your imagination and budget.  You can use padded bedheads in leather or beautiful fabric, bamboo or textured natural finishes or a sleek contemporary look using some of the great laminates.

If your room is large enough, then do consider putting a small side table and an armchair in the room.  Personally I think this adds a touch of elegance and relaxation to the ambience of the room.  If you have an old chair, then consider having it reupholstered in a beautiful fabric, and tie this in with your linen and curtains. 

Whilst a lot of people use blinds on the window, I also like to soften the room by using drapery, which can be used in conjunction with blinds.  The style of the drapery reinforces the style of your room eg swags and tails for a formal/traditional look or tab tops or grommet tops for a more contemporary look.  In addition the fabric selected also impacts on the style of the room, for example using sheers or soft hanging material as opposed to heavier and bulkier fabric.

Lighting is often forgotton about in the bedroom.  You need to assess your room for the amount of natural light it receives (as this will impact on the colour you choose) as well as the artifical light required for ambience lighting and task lighting.   Don’t forget that if your are using the dresser in the evening, then you’ll be needing light, often dressers are placed by windows for natural light, however come night time you need artifical light.  If you have downlights in the room, then using dimmer switches is a great way to change the lighting effect.  Lights either side of the bed for reading could be lamps or pendant lights.  (Obviously if your installing pendant lights, then you can’t change the position of the bed.) 

The dressing of the bed with the linen, throws and cushions is where you can really create an impact.  Mix and match sizes of cushions, fabric designs and textures.  This will add depth to the room and will reinforce the style and feeling you want your room to be.

Layering of flooring is popular and adds warmth to the bedroom.  For example if you have carpet as the floor covering, then layer rugs over the top of this.

The final thing is please keep your bedroom clutter free, if this is your space where you can relax and feel at peace then having a clutter free room is only going to add to the end result.  So make a conscious effort to remove old magazines, beverage cups, or whatever else is lying around causing clutter…

Yours, dreamily, chief inspiration officer – Sharon

One of the questions I’m often asked is, how do you find your inspiration ideas for interior decorating?   Well, hopefully this post will give you some ideas on where to start looking so you can create your home and ‘make your life beautiful – one space at a time’.

1. Artwork – generally most of us are drawn to a particular piece or style of artwork for instance it could be colours of the artwork, this is very true for me personally.  Sometimes I can look at a piece of artwork for sale, and although it is not a style I would generally go for, the colours in the artwork sing out to me.  It could be the emotion that the artwork conveys to you, for example you feel energised or soothed by looking at a particular piece.  If you select a piece of artwork as your theme, then this provides the basis for the colour scheme and the look and feel you want to create in your space.  You could use a monochromatic colour scheme or a scheme which ties in and complements the art.

2.  Your clothes, believe it or not, have a look at your wardrobe and analyse the style of clothes you choose to wear, are they ‘out there’ or more conservative.  Do you go for  a more classical look and add dashes of colour with accessories.  You can apply this methodology to your interior.

3.  A favourite piece of furniture can also be the foundation of your inspiration.   It could be that you have an eclectic taste or a retro taste etc.  Look at the fabrics used in the furniture, especially the texture and colours.   These elementscan then be enhanced by other pieces eg accessories, furniture, lighting and the colours  you use in the room.

4.  Accessories such as vases, cushions, throws and sculpture can also be used.  Personally speaking, at home, I decorated my main living areas based on a few pieces of Wedgewood pottery I adore – the Wild Raspberry design – so I have light green (almost pastel) coloured walls, cream ceilings and trims and striking feature walls in raspberry.  I felt like I was ordering dessert at the paint shop because the colours were called, sponge, apple pie and raspberry – but it works for me……….

5.  A particular period of time you love.  You only have to look through some books to see that there are very distinctive periods in history that could set the seed of your inspiration.   For example, we have Modernism, Art Deco, Retro, Victorian, Baroque just to name a few.  I have recently completed a project where the owners are really into Art Deco, so the rooms have wonderful Art Deco detailing eg cornices, tiles and the design of the tiles in the bathroom, light fittings, skirting boards and architraves which add to the soft furnishings and furniture to give that Art Deco look and feel.

6.  Magazines and catalogues, these can provide much needed direction for your inspiration.  With the myriad of publications on the market, on the internet and available resources in libraries.  What I find helpful from magazines is not only do they show you ideas on what you like, but they can help to clarify your mind as to  what you don’t like.

7.  and finally – Colour.  Colour is a passion of mine and I could ramble on for ever on this subject.  Quite often we are instinctively drawn to certain colours.  If you’re not confident at putting colours together, then look to nature for inspiraton.  The shades of green, the colours in the flowers and foliage, the blues of the skies and the autumnal colourings of the trees.

I thought I would share with you a short video I’ve put together showing the end result of a recent project.  The brief was to create a space that had clean lines, a contemporary look and feel which flowed through from the lounge to the dining and kitchen area.  A restricted colour pallette was used, predominantly black and white with accents of Aqua and Silver.   The wall behind the TV unit was painted in silver, using a special roller, to give the effect of wallpaper.  In the dining room, the focal point is the arch light, giving a beautiful pattern on the ceiling at night.  The kitchen optimises the space, with the breakfast bar also housing the microwave.  Waterfall ends on the breakfast bar turns this functional item into a piece of furntiure.