Change that old bedcovering

We spend a third of our lives in bed therefore your bedroom should be your sanctuary.  We recommend that you keep the tones of the room soothing and earthy.  Try to stay away from loud paint colors, excessive clutter and furniture too large for the room.  Everyone knows space is a premium in Manhattan.  I can’t tell you how many times we would see a bedroom that was nothing but bed.  No room for a dresser or no room to walk around.  Studio apartments were even more amusing.  As soon as you walk through the door all you would see is bed, which can send the wrong message if you bring a date home for coffee.  Here are some tips to a beautiful and relaxing bedroom:

• Let’s start with the floors.  If you have hardwood, don’t cover the hardwood with wall to wall, put down an area rug.  Most people don’t know this, but you can custom make an area rug and it’s easy and inexpensive.  Go to any floor covering store and pick any carpet style that you like.  Going in this direction gives you a wide variety of colors to pick from as well.  Have the store cut it to your exact size and they will bind the edges.  We encourage clients to pick a “designer” carpet style like a frieze to bring in texture and depth.  Don’t do boring this is a chance to do something fun.  There is one other benefit of going with an area rug, when you move you can take it with you.  If you don’t have hardwood floors, the carpet mills have developed dozens of new soft fiber products that are very colorful as well.  Again, look at a product that gives you texture and depth.  Whether it’s an area rug or wall-to-wall, the bedroom is a place were we encourage you to be creative.

• Now let’s talk about paint.  Remember we want it to be soothing, a sanctuary.  Be careful of some of the wild colors.  They look good in the magazines, but remember you have to sleep there.  Don’t paint the bedroom florescence green because you saw it in a designer magazine and it “looked good there…”  That look may work elsewhere in your home, but we suggest you try to stick to the more muted warmer tones.  Grey tones tend to lean towards cold tones.  The paint manufacturers code their paints as warm or cold tones to help guide you.

• Space in a bedroom is important.  If you are buying a complete bedroom set, please make sure you can still see some floor space.  You need to be able to walk around the bed.  If you can fit a king, great.  However, if you don’t have the room, downsize to a Queen or Full.  And if you are really tight on space, consider a twin.  Hey, Ward Clever slept on a twin.   We also don’t think that the bedroom is a good place for a 60” projection television.

• Lighting is particularly important in the bedroom.  Remember it is not a place to chop vegetables.  Keep the light soft.  We prefer lamps over ceiling lights.  Lamps also give you the opportunity to bring in some interesting design accents.  You can also zone your room with lamps.  If you have enough space, create a reading area separate from the sleeping area.

The master bedroom may simply be the most important room in the house for your personal wellbeing.  It’s important to get all the basic design elements right.  The focal point of every master is the bed.  It’s the largest piece in the room and thus attention to bed design detail is essential.  Did you know that you can custom design you own bedding?  You can pick practically any fabric for your bedcover, shams, dust ruffle and trim and have them made to fit your exact specifications.  For a complete designer look, add a collection of custom made accent pillows to your ensemble and by mixing and matching patterns you get greater versatility when selecting fabric for your window treatments.  Don’t simply settle for the standard offering from large retailers, everyone else has the same thing.  There is no better way to make your room look amazing than with luxurious, inviting custom bedding.

At the Fabric Workroom you can select your own fabrics and create your unique bedding design.  Alternatively, you can pick from our bedding ensembles crated by our design team where all the work is done.  Either way, at the Fabric Workroom we want your bed to look so good; you will want to make it every morning.