Dear AT,
I have a large bright bedroom facing east that is off-white. I'd rather not have to paint, but am having a hard time finding a color scheme or comforter/duvet that will brighten up my room. I like jade green, purples, bright oranges, etc.
Any advice? I haven't been able to hang pictures or curtains, because I can't decide on the bedding. Price is also a bit of an issue.
Thanks, Katie
First of all take a look at our Top Ten Bedding list.
First decision: warm or cool colors? Since your room is off-white (warm), we would advise warm - head towards oranges, reds, purples, browns, warm grays...
Second decsion: colorful or neutral colors? While it can be a lot of fun to get really colorful with all your bedding, it is far more common to work with neutrals and put in dashes of color. This is the course we advise. Head towards creams, browns, tans and throw in oranges, reds, or purples
Third decision: what do you need? A typical list:
1 duvet cover
1 bottom sheet
1 top sheet
4 pillowcases
Fourth decsion: how many colors do you need? MIX IT UP! We would advise no more than two or three colors ranging from light to darker.
Here is a sample of what we would do:
1 duvet cover - ivory - lightest
1 bottom sheet - warm, soft yellow
1 top sheet - warm, soft yellow
2 pillowcases - ivory
2 pillowcases - soft orange - darkest
We also advise looking for photographs in catalogs of made up beds you like and purchasing exactly what the highly paid sylists for those catalogs have already done. (Thanks, Katie! Picture from Matouk) MGR
A good place to start might be the ABC store in Dumbo. I was in there yesterday and they're selling lovely sheet sets for half off; I got a queen-size set of 270-thread count egyptian cotton (whatever that means, they feel good) for $60. They seemed to have all sizes, and a decent selection of neutrals and colors.
I'm a big fan of both Garnet Hill and The Company Store for bedding.
There's also some nice Thomas O'Brien bedding available at Target.com
i actually just got a set of brand new 800 TC Egyptian Cotton sheets for $50 on ebay. crazy. they are SO nice and soft and perfect. meanwhile, i bought a set for myself a few years ago and spent over $200 retail!
of course, getting the right color on ebay is rough, but i myself, like clean bright white bedding, so it worked for me...
btw: the w store is having an online sale right now. they have beautiful gold and orange and green duvets and shams.
check out Fig. ---www.figstyle.com.
Love these colors for the bedroom!!
Acid green, burnt orange, chocolate brown mixed with burgundy. Great designs that are full of texture.