Bedroom Style

You always hear that when a house is being renovated/redecorated, the bedroom is the last place to go. Whether that's because no one sees it but you, or it's too much of a hassle to tear apart your place of rest, it definitely seems to be true. It certainly has been true in our apartment. We've painted and arranged, searched craigslist for our first real dining table, contemplated colors, etc, until finally, we feel like we're home. During this flurry of activity, however, our bedroom has become more and more decrepit. First, it was just disorganized. Then we actually bought matching side tables. But the old ones are still living in the room. We craigslisted an ikea coffee table for the living room and now the previous one is taking up residence at the foot of the bed. While painting the other rooms and hanging frames, all the extra materials were conveniently set in our room, out of sight of guests, never to leave. I'm so tired of having to sidestep coffee tables, old blankets from college, piles of things for goodwill and other projects, as I'm just trying to get into bed at night. The one time I can truly feel relaxed and like no one needs me. The clutter and junk is like static in my head. I think it's time to clean it away and make our bedroom as comforting as the rest of our house. Accordingly, I've been working on what I want it to end up as, and have decided to do a neutral space for the first time in my life. I'm a huge fan of color and pattern, of bold and big. For our room, though, we really need peace. We see so little of each other now, and sitting in bed at night is our true moment of zen each day, especially on the ones Mark's home. I want our room to reflect that. I also want it to be warm and enveloping, our own little cocoon, that is (at least we can pretend) free of all the usual stressors (ie the moniter...). Hence, I think we're going to go with a darker color on the walls, which I've also stayed away from in the past. I've also been on a Hollywood Regency design kick lately, loving the chinese-inspired details and the general poshness of it all. I'm not sure Mark will go for foo dogs, but we'll see. I found this site this morning, with lots of fun ideas. I'm in love with the wallpaper, which we won't be able to do, but perhaps I can figure out how to do it with tape and paint. I also really love in the bottom photo how they've used a lot of traditional Regency elements, but still allowed it to be eclectic and fun.