The Master Bedroom – Where We Are Now

The older I get, the more I want my master bedroom to just be super simple. I used to sleep walk really badly – like REALLY, REALLY EMBARRASSINGLY BADLY – imagine the worst; I did that. I often have nightmares where the piles of clothes in the room became monsters that are trying to kill me, etc. I clearly have one of those brains that don’t really shut down well and if I’m stressed it gets my body up and I do weird things in the room. It’s been so much better the last few years, but Brian still finds me rearranging things in the middle of the night – dreaming that I’m in a client’s house or on a photo shoot. Sleep styling, I suppose. Perfectly normal.

Click through to see the whole tour:

So while I’m attracted to lots of fun/weird accessories, I’ve realized that I simply sleep better in a room with less. Which is why this room took me forever to ‘finish’. I think I didn’t really want to and I still don’t think it’s totally there. But it was just time to pull the trigger on shooting it and let you in on what we’ve done.

To recap, here is what it looked like when we first bought the house last October:

A few months later, the ceiling walls and flooring were done and we were happily sleeping in this really simple bedroom:

But it didn’t feel quite complete so we added this rather emotionally controversial custom wallpaper  and a few more accessories:

And that’s where we are now. My fairly simple, happy, calm bedroom that only holds a few regrets of mine.

Let’s go through the things I love, first. I love that bench. I bought it from the flea market years ago and had it reupholstered in this cream linen. It has almost been sold to so many clients but it’s never been perfect for them , so I happily have kept it and now that I have a bedroom big enough for it, I’ll never let it go.

I love that quilted cowhide rug. The left size of the bed gets a lot of foot traffic because it’s the pathway to the deck and we aren’t really ‘please take your shoes off’ people, even though I really wish we were. But I didn’t want a dark rug in there or a crazy pattern. So the white cowhide is perfect because it is light but still repels dirt. We haven’t even tried spot cleaning it with a wet rag yet to make it brighter, but just so you know the nature of hides are that they really don’t stain easily and generally you just need a big cow’s tongue to clean it. I also love this one VERY much.

I love the bedding. I change it up frequently but it’s always a combination of a simple linen duvet and something white. I’ve been using Eileen Fisher’s linen duvet for years now, but Target has a really affordable one. Then for the sheets, which you can’t really see here, I’ve gone with this tiny polka dot that gets softer and softer with every wash. But generally I keep it super simple and neutral. On a day-to-day basis we keep it with four pillows (two big king and two softer standard pillows) and that long white one on the front, but it just looked kinda sad for the shoot so we beefed up the pillows and added two more throw pillows on there.

I have mixed feelings about those nightstand. I generally really like them, but they aren’t perfect. I bought them on sale at Crate and Barrel for I think $125 each last year. They no longer sell them. They are metal, in a dark gold color. I like that they have storage, are a good scale/height for the bedroom and have a different finish, but they just look kinda boring and brown in the photos. I’m on the lookout for their replacement, but not terribly upset about these. They are fine, but I’d like to find my perfect nightstand match.

I bought those lamps on Etsy or Ebay last year and I LOVE their simplicity. I think they might be a bit tall in here, but again, I love them so I’m willing to sacrifice scale for beauty. If I find some that are a better scale that I love, then I could always move these to a different room.

On to the other side of the room. We have two different dressers – mine which is the big wood one, and Brian’s which is the tiny white one. He isn’t psyched about this situation – he thinks he got shafted in the dresser department, but its the perfect size for the space so I’m not totally sure what to do. Should we trade? That’s a hilarious thing to even type. NO, WE SHOULDN’T TRADE. Men get paid more and women get dibs on all dresser and closet space. My dresser is desperate for new hardware but its original hardware is irreplaceable because it’s vintage so I’m just waiting until I find another great dresser to go there. If I were anybody else in the world, it would probably drive me nuts that I have to jam my fingers into the underside of the drawers to simply open them, but for some reason it doesn’t really bother me enough to splurge on another dresser. I just want to find one that is simple and big enough but has some sort of amazing detail or hardware.

I got rid of the TV for the shoot and I’m not sure it’s going to come back. The room is just soooo much prettier without it and we rarely watched TV in here, so I’m thinking that unless pregnancy (or nursing) makes me want to watch TV in bed, that we are going to nix it.

I love those marble lamps very much. They are possibly the heaviest lamps on the planet but just so simple and pretty.

I was nervous about bringing art in here. I just really didn’t want it to get too busy, but I’m so glad we did. Both of those paintings speak to the blue of the headboard and just help the room look/feel complete.

Before you start maniacally scrolling through to see where those brass jewelry stands are from I’ll save you the effort – I got them from the flea market and they were from a closed-down jewelry store in Beverly Hills – as their displays. They are so simple and heavy. I highly suggest that stores knock off this design. I love how it’s just such a straight shape for all of your feminine weird non-straights baubles. Those Polaroids are by my friend Jen Gotch, and that wallet is from Target and it’s what I’m using right now and loving it.

I have a thing for hearts, apparently. So does Betty:

That blue seascape is so awesome because its way more graphic and well, juvenile, than most seascapes. But the electric blue of it was so attractive to me so I had to have it. It was also only $5 at the flea market and I think its weird old frame helps off set all the mid-century pieces in here and make it feel a bit more ‘crazy lady’ which I always like.

The window treatments are wonderful. We used the company Decorview and they basically brought a ton of fabric options over and I chose this pretty gray/blue linen. We did blackouts on all the windows/door. But then there was the problem of the transom windows that were angled. You can’t really do straight romans up there or you lose a lot of the window area, so we were convinced to do the honeycomb up there. Typically I find the honeycomb too contemporary for me, but the thing is that it’s really functional and simple. I’m glad we didn’t use it everywhere but it doesn’t bother me up there and it’s really, really easy to pull up and down.

I love that macrame hanging monster. I got it at the Rose Bowl for $100 and its pretty darn intense. Those cross bars are mirrors, by the way. It might cause my divorce but it’s staying for now.

So let’s get into what I would change:

1. If I could go back in time I would use that wallpaper somewhere else. I still LOVE it, but I wish this room was all white. I’m not going to go through the effort of taking it off – it doesn’t offend me enough to put any effort in. I really like it in the close up photos of the nightstands, but in the room as a whole I think that it would be better if all the walls were white.

2. I love that headboard but it doesn’t go with the frame. Also that headboard is strangely like 8″ too wide. I bought it at an antique store and had it recovered. It was labeled ‘king’ and I assumed that it was a standard king – but its even wider than a standard (and no it’s not a CA king, that would be even narrower). So it sticks out on both sides and it bugs me. Two years ago I had a partnership with this bed company and so the base of the bed is this pretty dope motorized bed that is wrapped in cream linen. Its nice but it doesn’t match the navy. So I’m on the hunt for the perfect bed. I could just get a base made that matches the headboard, but the width part creates a weirdness, and part of me wants something even simpler – like a gray linen. I’ll keep you posted

3. I would buy the rug in 9×12. In many rooms an 8×10 would be big enough but I think that this room could handle a 9×12 and then it would be more balanced on both sides of the bed.

4. I need a new dresser – that’s obvious, and I would like more perfect nightstands so if/when I find them i’ll update.

But despite the things I would change, I still LOVE this bedroom. It’s totally calm, easy, and comfortable. There is very little visual chaos and because of that it’s easy to keep clean  – which means less nightmares for me.

While a lot of these things are vintage or custom, we went ahead and did a ‘get the look’ for you:

1. Nightstand 2. Lacquered Jewelry Box 3. Natural Hide Rug 4. Marble Pillar Lamp 5. White Draw Chest 6. Navy Dotted Sheet Set 7. Bench 8. Roman Shades 9. Mobile 10. Jewelry Stand 11. Oval Wall Mirror 12. Washed Linen Duvet in Pebble 13. Washed Linen Duvet in Rose Water 14. Mid-Century Six Drawer Dresser 15. Blush Wallpaper 16. Tufted Headboard in Navy 17. Wood Pillar Lamp 18. Quilted Pillow

What do you think? Do you agree with my loves and regrets?

*After photos by Jessica Isaac