apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Personally I find that decorating a room around one's choice of bedding is putting the cart in front of the horse - or the ad on TV where the lady commissions an Architect to design a house around her kitchen faucet.

Bedding is the final layer in a bedroom, and really doesn't last that long unlike wall paint, carpets, draperies, etc.

Sure, you can choose carpets, paint and draperies that will match this bedding - but when it comes time to replace those sheets and pillows in a year or so, will you be willing to redecorate the rest of the room to fit what you can find in the stores for your replacement bedding?

Obviously, you bought the bedding because certain characteristics of it appeal to you ... the color, the pattern, the scale, or whatever. After identifying what it is that you like about the bedding, I'd browse through decorating magazines, books, blogs, and catalogs to get ideas of how you might play with those elements. Do you like the mix of black and white? Do you like the combination of a curlicue pattern and stripes? Is it the idea of echoing the pattern while reversing background and foreground that appeals to you? I wouldn't worry too much about "matching" things or making mistakes ... just be careful about trying to mix too many ideas that you like into one room. You can always add more touches later.

cute bedding!

you really cant go wrong with black and white!

i'd use white curtains, or maybe white curtains with black trim to tie in the bedding nicely- something like these:

http://www.potterybarn.com/products/p10774/index.cfm?pkey=cdrapes

a white shaggy rug would look nice and is always cozy in a bedroom. white will go great with anything if you change your bedding down the line.

for accents you could really bring in any colors to go with the black/white, that turquoise in the pillows is a nice color. I also love pale blue and yellow to accent black/white color schemes (if you want an accent color).

I did something similar. I had casegoods, art, and paint in place before I selected my bedding. When I found the perfect linens, I chose an accent color for accessories, shopped for area rugs and curtains, finished it off with lamps.

Do you have a style tray? Start scouring magazines for black and white rooms that you love and hate. Identifying what you don't like and why is just as important as knowing what you do like and why.

I think the next step would then be to chose your accent colors. Black and white are clearly great for showcasing any other colors. Are your hard furnishings dark wood? Then choose brighter/lighter colors (as opposed to jewel tones). Do you have light wood? Maybe consider bolder/deeper colors (as opposed to pastels). Try to avoid cliches. If you like red, consider shades like pomegranite or coral or chinese red instead of "valentine red" or burgandy. Layer shades of your accent color and don't forget something complimentary (blue or purple with orange or yellow, for example).

Do you need window treatments? the linens are so strongly patterned that I'd chose solid colors and/or tonal textures. Linen, dupioni, or velvet drapes are perfect for texture. Consider using your accent color in your drapes. If your room gets a lot of natural light a bold color would be fabulous. Imagine bright canary yellow or grass green. If there's not much light, then that bold color around the windows may appear too dark and heavy -- opt for white or pewter and use bold color elewhere.

Consider asking the advice of a designer at your local retailer. I took my bedding swatches to a designer at Pottery Barn when I was looking for beige or cream linen drapes. She took one look at my swatches and pointed me at a semi-gold/bronze dupioni drape that I would have NEVER considered in a million years. And she was exactly right -- I love the color.

StickMix wite with your accent color for acessories like pillows, rugs, boxes, vases, candelabras, whatever. I decided my accent would be lacquer red and bronze. I found two simple jewlery boxes, one large, one small, and put them on either side of the bed on respectively larger and smaller bedside surfaces. The art in my room also has splashes of red. I chose two Pakistani rugs that have simple motifs that repeat the colors in my bedding and also have a small amount of bright red. Oh, and I have two photos of myself as a child with just a little bit of that same red.

Finally choose your lighting. A pair on either side of the bed makes for great, relaxing symmetry. If you only have one bedside table, consider another vase or box or lamp elsewhere in the room that mirrors your bedside lamp. For example, if you get a white lamp with a fun red and gold printed shade, have a prominent vase or bowl in the room that also incorporates the same shades of red and gold. Repetition that doesn't match identically appears relaxed and natural.

great choice. i think you should look to IKEA for curtains, white and cerise to pull off the accent pillows. For accents, you should maybe consider Urban Outfitters for some ornate mirror/picture frames (also IKEA has a great one):

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00091967

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90145428

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10083542

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90111980

http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?itemdescription=true&itemCount=60&startValue=1&selectedProductColor=&sortby=&id=14007959&parentid=A_FURN_RUGS&sortProperties= product.marketingPriority,-product.startDate&navCount=39&navAction=poppushpush&color=

And look at ZGallerie sale section. They might have something cheap and awesome.

I find that a room typically gets pulled together from the floor up because the floor is the hardest, most expensive thing to change. You can build the whole thing around a duvet cover, but if the floor is not cooperating, you are only going to get so far before you hit a wall. Imagine dreaming of one of those all white rooms and somehow reconciling that with apartment beige carpeting. You can buy all the white paint and furniture you want, but in the end, it only serves to emphasize the beige carpet, not the intended effect.

That said, the duvet is striking because of the contrast. If you look at the picture, the contrast is emphasized by a white bed and walls and black accent furniture. Using that as a guide, you might want to try alternating layers of black and white. Because the bones will be neutral, you can go nuts with the colors of the pillows and room accessories, and probably won't run afoul of the floor (although very very dark or very very light flooring would be extremely helpful...)

I love the black and white comforter! I've been working on coming up with a design based on those bold black and white prints. I saw this room on hgtv a while ago and couldn't get it out of my head. It's young and fresh and I feel like you'd have to be happy if you lived in a room that color! Take a look!

http://www.hgtv.com/dream-home-2008/hgtv-dream-home-2008-tour-guest-suite/index.html

I love that color green and the pink is a fun accent color! I hope this helped!