 Q: I desperately would like to have a bright, sunny bedroom where I would enjoy spending time, but not one that is overloaded with fabric and flowers. I live in an older house and its one saving grace is that it has terrific French doors and good light. Please help me. Melanie Hatch Greensborough, North Carolina A: Try color. However, instead of opting for pinks, baby blues or multi-color prints, think green. The green-and-white fabric print pictured here (Revman’s Laura Ashley pattern Josephine), with its interesting mitered border, could be the answer. The plump quilt along with its matching sheets and shams make a bed that anyone would like to crawl into. The unlined curtains in matching fabric give a light, airy feeling as does the simple room shade in the small print (again unlined). To soften your walls, select a warm, buttery yellow. Be careful, though, for yellow can become acid when it has too much green in it (not flattering for most people). Next, find botanical prints to frame the door. Find a small upholstered chair at a tag sale and slipcover it in a wide jade-green stripe. Keep the floor bare. I suggest a medium walnut stain with perhaps a needlepoint scatter rug, or a braided or rag rug. The bracket shelves in the photo perpetuate the room’s garden feel; they are easy to make—or easy to find in many garden or woodworking catalogs. A simple painted iron bed and a weathered side table are the perfect finishing touches. |
 Q: We recently moved into a new ranch house. Thankfully, the living room is large and livable, but the bedroom is a real nothing. It is short on storage space and square, with too many windows. And to make it worse, since it is on the ground floor, there is a real privacy issue. Is there any kind of creative and inexpensive solution to my problem? Sarah Holland Huntington Woods, Michigan A: To solve your creativity and privacy problems with one clever solution, use the Hunter Douglas Duette shades, which come in terrific colors and can lend a more modern country feel to the room. These are available in bottom-up shades, as seen here. (Curtains or a fancy window treatment will just clutter a small room and won’t work.) Pick a palette of three colors for your room; use these hues in big blocks— think of a Mondrian painting. Q: I have a small bedroom that I want to use in a variety of ways. Here are my requirements: I want storage for out-of-season clothes and equipment, a nice sitting area and a clean country feel. Of course, I am on a tight budget. Help! Jennifer Michels San Clemente, California A: A good idea for storage is the space behind the bed. One of my favorite tricks to get the effect of a headboard is to build out the area just behind the bed. Doing so will create a storage area for seldom used things and a wonderful ledge for displaying pictures. (Bedcoverings: Haiku by Utica for West Point Stevens.) An updated wicker chair with a hanging lamp creates a distinct seating area; an arrangement of exotic leaves warms up the room. What you notice is this room’s aura, not its size. If you make similar changes, your tiny bedroom will achieve a stature you would not have previously imagined. |
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Editor’s Note: Margot Gunther, ASID, is a designer who has worked on residential interiors, country inns and restaurants.
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