Making a bed

One thing I've struggled with in decorating our home is figuring out how to make our bed look finished. I flip through magazines and see how cozy and put together the beds look and can't seem to replicate it in our own bedroom. When we first got married, I drove my husband crazy with millions of pillows on the bed but eventually they just ended up driving me crazy, too. I wanted a simple, comfortable, finished looking bed. What is the secret? Is it just that I'm used to looking at my stuff, so it doesn't look all that amazing? Some beds are so simple, yet they still look done. I decided to take note of what specifically, I liked about a bed each time I saw one and here's what I came up with.

>> layers
>> texture
>> lots of neutral colors

all the links to the pictures above can be found via my for the home pinterest board

Now that I think about it, another thing all of these beds have in common is restraint. I love bright colors and cute patterns, but it takes restraint to use them correctly, so that the overall look and feel of the bedroom is still simple and calming. I wanted our bedroom to be simple and bright, but I still wanted it to have some interest. I also didn't want to spend any money, so Jared and I decided to paint our nightstands the same bright yellow as the breakfast nook, since we had leftover paint. (>>side note: when painting furniture, a quart is almost always enough paint.) However, after painting one entire nightstand, I decided I hated it. I didn't take a picture, so I can't show you, but the orange headboard and the yellow nightstands just did not work. I hated it. So, I looked at them for two days, painted one drawer stark white, looked at them some more, and decided to mix a few leftover colors I had to make a light turquoise. I decided on turquoise because that's what I had, but afterwards, I realized it was the perfect choice. I love turquoise and orange together, it's so vintage and fresh all at once. I almost painted the nightstands white (like the ones in the pictures above), but I'm toying with the idea of painting our bedroom walls white so I decided to go with some color.

As for the bed, I tried to implement those three elements: layers, texture and neutral colors. I added a herringbone blanket in a neutral color, and used minimal pillows in mostly neutral colors. The next step is to change out the bed skirt. I'm planning on using the existing bed skirt for a pattern, cutting off the brown and sewing on something lighter. For now, I'm happy to have a bedroom I want to be in, one I'm relieved to retreat to at the end of the day.