RIVER HOUSE REVEAL: My Brother’s Primary Bedroom – How We Added Color While Keeping The Calm
Y’all, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I love designing a bedroom. Unlike a family room that has to act as a playroom, seating area, TV room with storage, etc, this room needs a singular function – sleep – (ahem), welcomes symmetry (less decisions!), and by nature of the space you don’t have a ton of options. This room was always meant to be calm, simple, white, and wood with huge windows (per the rest of the main spaces in the house) which lends itself easy to be designed. But the easy pitfall with more neutral rooms is that they can look boring (especially on the internet these days). So I needed to still honor the original intent (warm minimalism, focus on the views) while exerting some style and punch (new by-line?). And I LOVE how it turned out. But before you see it all decked out, let’s talk through the bones: The Bones – Flooring, Ceiling, Paint, Windows And Lighting The house was designed and laid out by Anne Usher, their architect. I love how she played with volume, light, the views, and didn’t just create a box. The triangular jut outs from the window seat are such a pretty architectural feature that you see immediately when you walk in. The wood flooring is Shell by Stuga, and the ceiling is also from Stuga, called Drift. If you are nervous about putting wood flooring on your walls or ceiling stay tuned for a blog post soon – we think if you do it right it looks AWESOME. The walls are the most perfect warm, but not too yellow white called Alabaster by Sherwin-Williams. It’s my new go-to white. Boy am I jealous that I had to learn my hard “not every white is equal” lesson in our house, but glad I did so that we chose the most perfect white here. The windows are by Marvin – white oak on the inside, black aluminum clad on the outside. The spotlights are from Rejuvenation and are so much prettier than recessed lighting (but less light, FYI so make sure you have other light sources). We also put in this fan which we still need to add an extender on (which came this week lol), so they’ll have that light source as well. It was a really simple space, as they all are when they are empty, and it was ready for some punch and style. Step on in… The Bed Wall Headboard | Bedframe | Rug | Nightstands | Lamp Base (vinage) | Pleated Shades | Sconces | Painting This room wasn’t as much of a challenge as other bedrooms I’ve done (layout wise), but the bed wall was more narrow and the room itself was more long, less square especially for a wider king bed. So when I started thinking about how to anchor this room, I wanted a bed/headboard that would be grounding enough to handle these high ceilings, to hold the wall with enough impact, add some color (but not in a super bold way), and frankly not look dinky and short but not be so big that you couldn’t fit proper nightstands. It was tight, TBH. So when I found this headboard from Article – wide, with channel tufting and the most beautiful green I designed the room around it. It could anchor the wall in a powerful way, and the right nightstands could tuck right inside. The headboard (and bed) from Article allowed us to casually float these rounded nightstands (which have storage – opens like a cabinet) and look good from all sides – which is important because if they are floating in front of the nightstand you’ll see the back as you walk in. This worked PERFECTLY and I love how the ribbing on the nightstands mimics the channel tufting on the bed (and the pleating on the lamps). We paired the headboard (that attaches to the wall with a big cleat) with the light oak platform bed from Article which is a move that I love to do – you don’t need a fully upholstered bed if the base contrasts enough and is pretty like this one. In fact, I’d argue that if you are on a budget get this headboard then use a basic base with a bed skirt – the headboard packs so much punch for the price. I love how the sconces flank the painting and take up more of the visual space above the bed, softening the shift between the horizontal headboard and vertical painting (plus they provide nice reading light). If you want a video tour the space HERE YA GO (just wait for the ad to play) The Most Beautiful Painting This painting by local Portland artist Charlie Salas Humera and is incredible. I was tipped off to his work last year (shout out to Purl!) and have been stalking him to see what I can buy for my house or convince my bro to buy. His use of color is incredible. When this came up on his stories I begged my brother and SIL to go see it in person – I knew I loved it, but it was an investment as good art should be and I needed them to love it, too. They did and bought it (support local good artist if you have the budget!) and my goodness does it make this room, color-wise, totally sing. The Lamps And Sconces I bought these vintage lamps when Charlie was a baby off Etsy, one of my first vintage splurges ever (I think they were $300 each). They are from Sweden and I’ve loved them for so long, and had no intention of using them here. We actually ordered these from West Elm that are so similar but they didn’t arrive in time, so I pulled these lamps from storage, ordered the pleated lampshades which did arrive in time. And while I wouldn’t put the two blues typically together, both colors are in the painting so collectively I think it looks really curated and intentional. The second I placed the lamps Gretchen, Emily M. and I all gasped. It took the room next level. And while I wouldn’t sell these lamps to just anybody (I have a strange sentimental attachment to them as I remember the exact time, place and mood I was in when I ordered them and it was a very, very special time in our lives) having them at my brother’s house felt emotionally doable for me, LOL. I can still visit them! Creepy! The Rug – The Remy Rug In Green The rug is our new Remy rug, in green from our new Rugs USA collection that just launched last week and we LOVE this rug. It’s so soft, has texture variation, and a really beautiful rich color that is really forgiving. It’s wool, durable, and the graphic staggered rectangles are totally transitional – they can live in both modern/contemporary houses like this but is so simple that it can easily be in a more traditional home as well. The View This room has the most incredible views of the river and trees (which is why Anne faced the bed that way). The huge wood windows anchor the opposite wall and create the focal point of the room. We hired Decorview for motorized shades (hard-wired, during the construction process) and we chose a color that integrated well with the wood and is just warm and soft. The shades are room darkening (“blackout” but there is always a tiny light leak in the center) and you can even do top down/bottom up, meaning if you want privacy up to your chest you can control them to go from the bottom up to any point, allowing light to come in from the top. The Window Seat There are a hilarious amount of window seats in this house, all full of storage and done in a rift-sawn white oak. This one, if head by the sconce has the most beautiful views of the river and is where my bro claims he will be napping. We made them deep enough (30″) to be ample for napping (and in the kids’ rooms they can have friends sleep on them for sleepovers). I found the most incredible fabric at our local upholsterer (shout out to Alexander Matthews in Tigard). The fabric is from Pollack and is called Boxing Day. I love how the pattern (that is a soft, textured cut velvet) integrates so easily with the wood and yet still adds some pattern and punch. We could have done a solid over here but with the solid rug and headboard I really wanted to bring in a pattern somewhere and this is perfect. Opposite the bed, we have the most cozy and big chair and ottoman, the Abisko from Article. This corner needed a big guy (and yes, we thought about putting it facing the view, but ultimately they wanted it to face the TV which worked better for me, too) and the scale of this chair and its low profile is perfect. It also comes in a few other awesome colors. The chair is firm and so comfortable (not a sinking-in chair, but very ergonomic and easy to snuggle in (with a child) with a really generous ottoman. The side table is so graphic and cool (and functional and heavy). The lamp has a great tripod base and mixed finishes – both wood, black, and of course a fabric shade. The painting I bought at Urbanite by an artist unknown (if you know let me know!). Vase and pillow from Anthropologie, marble dish from Target, and throw from Article. The bedding is a mix of a bunch of brands we shopped from. Upon my advisement, Katie bought the sheets/pillowcases and duvet in ‘bone’ from Parachute which is a really warm neutral (their heathered percale is so buttery and my current favorite). For styling, we added the Garnet Hill green linen duvet, a Parachute blue quilt, a linen throw from Garnet Hill, velvet pillows from West Elm, and custom bolsters (that were originally made for their daughter’s window seat but look sooo good here). The whole bed looked so layered and cozy (and while I wanted a bench at the end of the bed, walking around another piece of furniture to get to the bathroom made less sense. As you can see up there, the bathroom is on the left with a pocket door (it’s so pretty, I can’t WAIT to show you – hopefully soon). We installed a Frame TV on an arm so they can watch TV in bed (this was a whole thing but a pretty good solution). I want to now go back and shoot a reel coming out and showing how it works. They had to put a huge cavity in the wall to house the arm, FYI. The whole room turned out so bright and cohesive, but simple and warm. I love it so much. No unnecessary clutter or opportunity for clutter. They are lucky enough to have a walk-in closet (behind the headboard wall, coming soon) storage drawers in the bench, and an additional reach-in closet so this room didn’t need a dresser and hopefully won’t have a lot of clothes mess. It’s ready for a cozy Saturday morning and simple relaxation. A huge thanks to Article who has been a partner of mine for years because I love and trust their quality and design. If you know me IRL you’ll hear me recommend them to anyone who wants high quality, without spending a ton and most things can come within weeks. I have found all of their upholstered pieces to be very comfortable and they have even added a ton more fabrics to choose from should you want custom colors on their sofas and chairs. I really appreciate how they are doing things in a very simple and thoughtful way, expanding their lines slowly, making sure that everything meets their standards and their customer service is excellent.
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