Happy Friday Readers!
We've got more exciting Phone-A-Friend news for you. Deweese's brother-in-law's girlfriend (we think of her as a sister-in-law) is looking for a new bed. And we agree with her that having a real bed, complete with a head board is oh so adult. Here's her note to us...
Hi ladies!
I have finally reached my breaking point with our awful bedroom decor
and am in need of some guidance. I figured, who better to ask then you girls!
Tim and I still have a lot of that mixed-matched furniture from when we first
moved in together and it has been way too long without a bed frame. So, I have
decided to start saving for one! Although our current bedroom furniture will
most likely not join Tim and I at our next place (which will hopefully be our
first home!); I still want to buy a bed that will. So now, the difficult part... how do we choose a bed that will do the following:
1. Match different styles of furntiture, because who knows what we will
end up purchasing for a bedroom set years from now.
2. Be trendy and stylish now and will stay in trend as styles change
over the years.
3. Satisfy both my super feminine and shabby chic style and Tim's bold
and modern style.
4. Not be limited to only a few color schemes (i.e. wall color, bedding
etc.) - Do I go with light or dark, since I will most likely have dark
furniture?
My ideal bedroom is to have the bed be the focus point of
the room. I want it to look rich and elegant. The thing is, I love so many different
styles that it's hard for me to know which one I will decide to go with when
Tim and I finally purchase our adult furniture! I enjoy eclectic pieces,
however, I am not great at putting pieces from different styles together in a
complimenting way.
I have found myself being drawn to larger tufted headboards,
the beige colored upholstered frames, dark wood sleigh beds, and although I
have not found the right one, I have always loved cast iron beds. I just have
no idea which direction to go in! Please help!
Thanks so much!
Amanda
To Amanda, we say: Right On! This is a challenge a lot of us face, and it's not easy! Blending not only your feminine style with Tim's more modern style and also blending your post-college/early 20s furniture with more adult furniture can be wicked hard.
For instance, if Deweese and Jeff didn't live together, she would totally have this bed, probably upholstered in something lovely and floral and pink. But alas, they do live together (for loads of wonderful reasons) and have no bed at all, just a metal frame.
Keep in mind: It's way okay to mix different styles and finishes in one room. Mix and match you're furniture to have a more collected and authentically "you" look. Buy pieces that make you happy, and they will end up working together. Promise. We know it's easier said than done, but when you're surrounded by pieces you love, instead
of pieces you're trying to match, you'll love the result.
However, we DO agree that it's a good idea to stay neutral on the bed for now, especially with upholstery, it's so easy to change bedding and/or wall color and give the room a whole new look. You can even change your bedding with the seasons, we learned that from Dukester!
This may not be your color palette, but it's a nice example of an upholstered bed, blending masculine and feminine. The color palette of browns and reds is super HIM, but the prints and patterns are more delicate and soft, not to mention the curvy headboard: very HER. Notice the miss-matched side tables.
Again, curvy and feminine shape on the headboard, but masculine color palette. So very harmonious. And again, the tables.
Here's our first choice for you, an upholstered wing-back bed from Room + Board. Super sophisticated, but also a little masculine, think wing back chairs in a library or study.
And you can't go wrong with a simple square tufted headboard.
You can find upholstered headboards in every shape and at every price point. There are loads of fabric options, too. Try
Ballard Designs,
One Kings Lane and
Overstock for a more pocketbook friendly approach. And definitely consider a leather bed. See Blythe's headboard
here, with lovely and delicate white accents in the bedding.
You also mentioned liking iron beds, and we have some thoughts on that. When Deweese thinks of iron beds, something like the below usually comes to mind. Which is well, just a little too
Cider House Rules for us (Read: Orphanage).
And while we love iron canopy beds, they are a bit femmy. Something tells us Tim isn't going to be dreaming of a Pats Super Bowl under this.
But THIS is a great alternative. Nice bold clean lines for Tim, and a lovely canopy bed for you. You have to have a big enough bedroom for this, but it's supah classy.
A bonus, both upholstered and iron beds will work with any and all wood stains, so you won't be limited as you start to collect more bedroom furniture.
Final tip: Get something you love right now, even if you're afraid you're not going to love it in 10 years. Odds are you're not going to be spending your last days on earth in this bed. We hear this advice a lot from designers and bloggers... it's easy to get bogged down by making sure something lasts style-wise, but make sure you're not a slave to that notion. This is a piece of furniture you're going to spend a LOT of time in, make sure you love it now. Don't spend 10 years kind of liking it, only to replace it anyway.
Keep us posted!
