How to design a Master Bedroom
It’s kinda pretty, but would you be able to read? (image by Haley Truong)
So you want to redecorate your Master Bedroom? And you don’t know where to start? Let me help with a few practical tips - des conseils et des astuces (‘advice and know how’ in French). These tips are relevant whether your Master Bedroom is in your home in North America, or in Paris. Obviously in Paris, space is at a premium, so careful measuring and planning is even more important!
Let’s get going!
Decide how you want to feel in your Master Bedroom
Do you want a restful ambiance? A romantic atmosphere? A minimalist feel? This is important, as it will determine what you do in the bedroom - the most restful bedrooms are just for sleeping! So if you have the luxury of space, ie. it isn’t necessary to have a desk in your bedroom, make the most of it!
List what you want to do in the bedroom (apart from sleeping!)
Do you want to be able to work in the bedroom? Do you put on make-up or style your hair in the bedroom? Will you store your clothes in the bedroom and get dressed and undressed in there (don’t forget to include a laundry basket in this case!)? Would you like to include a chaise longue for afternoon naps? Do you want to keep some books in the bedroom? Is there anything else you want to store or display in the bedroom?
For all of these activities, make another column on your list with the furniture you’ll need. For example, if you get dressed and undressed in the bedroom, as well as the obvious wardrobes and drawers, I always recommend having a pretty chair to sit down on (useful for putting on socks, unless you’re a yogi with amazing balance!) and to drape the day's clothes over, instead of the floor! You might like to include a trouser press as well. I also find that hooks or door knobs are useful for airing clothes on hangers before they are put away.
Draw a rough plan and measure
Now, don’t let this become daunting! The idea really is to have a ‘rough’ plan! So take a piece of paper and draw a rectangle on it, which is vaguely the shape of your room. Then draw in the door(s) with their opening ‘arcs’ and the windows. Now measure les grandes lignes, the main lines - so the horizontal and vertical lengths of your drawn rectangle. I also find it helpful to note the width of the doors and windows (including the frames around each), and the distances to the ends of the walls on each side. This means that you can work out what fits where when you start choosing furniture. Also, please measure all the door widths from the front door to the bedroom door - this way you’ll be able to know what can actually fit through the doors and can be placed in the room! It would be très dommage (a great shame) to go to the trouble of ordering something that can’t actually be delivered into your bedroom!
Choose the mattress size
When I start designing a space, I always start with the biggest piece of furniture in the space, in this case, the bed. Work out which size mattress you want - in France, I recommend a 160cm wide mattress - comfortable for two people, but doesn’t take up the entire room!
Position the bed in the room
Firstly, see where the bed will actually fit - with space on either side for bedside tables and to be able to get in and out comfortably on each side. Also consider electrical sockets - where are they relative to the bed? (for reading lights, phone chargers, alarm clocks etc.). Once you know where the bed could be placed, think about which position is the best. For example, do you want to be able to look out of the window when you sit up in bed? Or for the door not to open directly ‘onto’ the bed?
Roughly position the other furniture from your list
Decide roughly where you want to put the other furniture - this means that you know the maximum measurements for each piece. If you want to put decorative items (candles, flowers, small sculptures…) in your bedroom, don’t forget to include some flat surfaces, for example the top of a chest of drawers or a console table.
Lighting!
Once you know more or less where the furniture will go, you can consider the lighting. Lighting should be task-related. So if you read in bed, you’ll need a small bright light which you can angle so that it hits the page just right. And if you put on makeup in the bedroom, you’ll need the correct lighting for that - convenient to the table / shelf where you store your makeup and a mirror! Personally, I really don’t like spotlights, as they’re too bright, unless they’re in a bathroom or over a kitchen counter. I actually don’t like other overhead lighting either (so unflattering!!), so I dot lamps on side tables around the room, so that you can see what you’re doing and you can adjust if you want some romantic lumière tamisée (soft lighting)! If you can, it's more convenient if these lights can be turned on with one switch, or you could cheat with this remote control system.
Choosing furniture and decoration
Start choosing the biggest pieces, bearing in mind the ambiance that you want to create in your Master Bedroom. Once you have chosen those, a color scheme might come to mind, otherwise think of the ambiance you want while you’re looking at paint or wallpaper samples. I like looking at paint seller sites like Benjamin Moore as for each color, they suggest other colors that go well with that color. For example, the creamy beige called French White (which I’m not sure the French would consider white, but anyway, I digress…), goes well with a gentle beige-gray called Fieldstone, a soft white called Cloud White and also Roasted Sesame Seed, a pale caramel. Little Greene is also a good source for complementary paint colors and also wallpapers.
Installing curtains will soften the look of the walls and help with acoustics. And remember, if you like to sleep in total darkness, you will need to layer a few different types of curtains to achieve this - eg. a blackout blind, then thick drapes with a pelmet (you can always add more later if it’s not right on the first try).
I hope that this helps! If you’d like help designing your Master Bedroom, in your home in the US, I’m at your service! I offer an Online Design Service, you can find out more here.