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| The most exciting room to make over is your bedroom. What other room in your home can you decorate totally around your taste and your own personal favorite designs? This is a space that is so personal. Your bedroom should be all about you and your preferences. Your color selections and furniture can be daring, bold, and radiant or subdued, calm, and serene. This is the time to get rid of outdated and broken furniture, ratty and torn bedding, and tired color schemes. If you have always had a traditional headboard and footboard, it’s time to try a new feeling in your space. Try out a new platform bed to give your room an eclectic look and the feeling of more open space. Or try a trendy Murphy bed that is hidden behind creatively carved wood panels. Furniture choices range from clean-lined traditional pieces to the dramatic and daring extreme contemporary. Decide what you need in the way of drawer space and storage. Also have in your mind an idea of how many pieces of furniture will actually fit into your space and their appropriate lengths, heights, and widths. If you are getting a new bed, now is the best time to update and buy a new mattress and box springs too. Mattresses come in all styles, types, and depths. The best idea is to visit local bedding and furniture stores and actually lay on the mattresses like you would at home. Relax for a few minutes and see how it feels. Today’s mattresses have great qualities such as memory foam, hypo-allergenic materials, and protection from mold, fungus, etc. The salesperson you are working with will have all the details and warranties available to help you make the best choice for your needs. Why not try out a new color scheme? This is going to be exciting! You can start by picking the colors that make you feel great—or colors that calm you and help you unwind. Warm colors such as red, yellow, orange, brown, gold, and darker shades of colors help us relax and are pleasant to live around. From the cooler side of the spectrum, there are sensual colors like rich ocean blues and greens that make a room feel luxurious and dramatic. Some of us prefer warm tones and triadic color schemes, while others enjoy monochromatic cool tones and lighter shades of colors. Use these color selections in your bedding, flooring, and drapery. Select trendy plush carpets for a feel of luxury under your feet. And don’t forget to cover the windows with room-darkening fabrics and textures to enhance your decor. Custom-made drapery for your bedroom can complement the bedding and furniture and complete the whole package. You can choose full drapery to cover the complete window down to the floor, or you can choose to wrap only the window frame with a soft custom-made fabric shade. Window treatments are like jewelry: You shouldn’t be without them. Wallpaper that is peeling and faded paint are two big reasons to redecorate your bedroom. Try the creative and textural wall coverings that are available in your favorite design stores and home furnishing showrooms. You might have a hard time choosing because there are so many great new ideas. Textured treatments on the walls, in the rugs, and in the bedding and drapery add great design elements of depth and serenity to your space. Retailers offer wonderful textures, fabrics, and materials with added companion trimmings. If you choose to use paint on the walls, opt for an eggshell finish for softness and less glare. Choose paint colors that you can live with. You might like bright chartreuse, but on the walls it can be overkill on a daily basis. Choose colors for the wall like you choose your wardrobe. Think of the colors that blend well and make good background colors. Popular warm pastel tones of blush, beige, camel, and cream are always easy to live with and allow us to change our artwork and accessories often if we choose to. Use artwork to accent and complement your wall colors. Soft-sculpture wall art and pastels on canvas are exciting textural and sensual elements, for example. Some of us enjoy dark and rich colors on the walls to add a cave-like feeling to the space. Lighting becomes very important when we use dark colors on the walls and floors. Dramatic wall sconces and task spot lighting create light reflections on the walls and ceiling, as well as onto specific art objects. Drama has its place and it is here in your bedroom. Have lighting sales professionals from showrooms or your interior designer assist you with the specifics on this element of your room. Better placement of specific types of lighting is important here. Your choice of lighting will add to the drama of the color scheme and on the room’s shadows, too. Lighting sources need to come from all levels and angles of the room. You need lighting from lamps on furniture surfaces, and you need mood accent lighting that dramatizes the tabletop items, artwork, or accents in the room to set the mood. For a mellow feeling, add some colored bulbs to the setting. Uplighting from the floor level shooting upward behind art pieces or plants will add accents onto the walls and ceiling. This is the one room you need to be able to come into without tasks and without to-do lists on your mind. Relax. Unwind. Rest. There is no stress. Keep the lights low and leave the “mind tasks” for a different room in the home such as the kitchen or home office. A bedroom makeover is exciting and can give you a whole new outlook on life. With inviting and romantic colors and textures all around you, how could you not be uplifted by this new personal space? And now you can even sleep better. What could be more enjoyable than your own newly decorated bedroom? Editor’s Note: Donna Sharp, Allied member of the American Society of Interior Designers, has worked professionally in Omaha for 30 years. She has designed 12 spaces for designer show houses, and is the chairperson of several committees. |
Redecorate Your Bedroom! |
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