apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Don't worry about idiotic "rules", especially scams like Feng Shui. Arrange your space in a way that's practical for you and with looks you can live with. You can design around most any "problem" with a bit of creativity and a dash of good taste.

There are, as others have noted, films you can apply to your windows that will not only help screen out harmful UV rays, but will also render them shatterproof. If you plan on staying in your space awhile, you may want to look into these treatments. Some of them are commonly available at many home improvement stores.

Does it have to be against one of the side walls? Can't you center it in between, even if it means you both only have a little space to walk on either side? I'd rather not be under windows, but I also want to be able to get in on my own side of the bed (we are also sideways between a door and a window and I wouldn't change it).

Feng Shui and design rules aside, it may actually be a good idea to call a contractor and talk about changing out the glass to a more modern shatter-proof alternative....I realize this may be more expensive than you had intended, but compared to the cost of reconstructive surgery, it can't be so bad, right?

First off forget what you've read. Most decorating books do not account for people with odd rooms (i.e studios, one room living, or a house that's been borken up into individual units). While I understand your concern about the window I would put the bed there or as Anne stated in the center.

No matter where you put it there's a chance the glass will get you if the earthquake is a strong one although i could be wrong.

I just bought my first home. I fell in love with it immediately. The energy and light pulled me in every sensual direction. After reading all this philosophies and Feng Shui I realized this house broke every rule. But do I give a monkey's uncle? Go with your deep intuitions. Follow what truly makes sense with what you have. I love my home not specifically because of the space but how it makes you feel. In the end that's what is relevant.

My boyfriend actually wants our bed against a side wall, but he likes having the cool wall next to him during the summer.

There's a security film called Pelti you could get installed on the window (not a DIY product, as far as I know) to prevent the glass from shattering. It's actually designed to prevent people from breaking into your house, but I imagine it would be good for earthquake purposes too.

Does the door wall give you space to place the bed where you can look out the window over the foot?

Rules, schmules. Put the bed where it works best for you/your room.

Sunspot, calling Fung Shei a "scam" isn't very fair. That's fine if you don't believe in all of the energy stuff (even I take most of it with a grain of salt), but calling it a scam is ripping on interior design techniques that are a few centuries old. Sure they're old, but at least they were trying to do something with their spaces, even back then.

Lisa -
Do you have room to put the bed at a diagonal? I've seen some awesome floor plans where people did that and turned the triangle space between the bed and the wall into a nightstand/storage. I think I even saw one on here that look pretty top notch.

I like having the door not visible from the bed (and vice versa), because it seems more private, enclosed, etc.
As for Fung Shei, I painted my door red but I'm still waiting for all that money that's supposedly coming my way... :-)

I'm with the other Patrick - rules, schmules. Put the bed where you want the bed to be!

That's weird that all the books you've read "insists that that the bed should face the bedroom entrance". To me, that makes the bedroom layout less private (i.e. open the door and *bam* people are immediately looking at the bed). I prefer having the bed be not visible, which for you would be around the corner and parallel/facing the windows. If you can't have that, have the door facing the side of the bed (which is what we have in our bedroom).

As for feng shui being a bunch of bunk, I respectfully disagree. Yeah, some of it is nuts, but a lot of it is based on practical & pleasing ergonomics/interior design. For example, feng shui says that you should have a curved path to your front door. The official feng shui reason is that you don't want bad luck from the outside to flow straight into your house. Regardless, it's usually visually pleasing to have a curved walkway up to the front door instead of something that is a straight perpendicular to the street.

The only way my bedroom works is if the bed is on the same wall as the doorway! If it's under the window, it blocks the radiator. If it's opposite the doorway wall, the closet eats up all the floor space and I can't have a nightstand. And obviously I can't put the bed along the closet wall! I used to think it was "wrong" to put the bed on the doorway wall, but it is the ONLY arrangement that has ever worked. You can see pics of the bedroom by clicking on my name. (Though since those pics were taken, I've been able to change the lighting and add a second night stand, as well as a low, narrow cabinet opposite the foot of the bed.)

I think you just have to go with however the room is going to work best for you, and break the so-called "rules" if they don't fit that.

(Erm, and by "cabinet" I mean bookcase-type thingie with baskets for organizing stuff.)

Where did you find this "rule"? - i've never heard anything so ridiculous - and I've never had a bedroom that allowed for a bed opposite the door - they have always been alongside - do whats best for you

Hi everybody and thanks for the kind feedback!

Violetrose and others, I have to confess I am a librarian and a dyed-in-the-wool word person (rather than a visual person) so I slavishly look up *everything* repeatedly in an absurd number of sources, but I didn't actually create a bibliography... I can honestly say I saw this same advice many many times.

HOWEVER it should be generally assumed that anything I read which then requires me to visualize something will immediately be visualized incorrectly, so I could well have repeatedly misinterpreted the same tip. I am an astonishingly not-visual person, and following AT I often feel like Margaret Mead observing the detailed ritual and obsessions of an utterly alien tribe, from whom I can learn a great deal but to which I will never belong!

Tailypo, I'm fairly sure I know where you got the advice repeatedly: decorating books that emphasize finding a focal point for the room. The bed is usually the item with the biggest stretch of color and bulk, so plenty of decorators want it to be what you see from the doorway.

Feng shui advice does indeed go the other way, recommending against putting the bed directly facing the door.

I'm with p(too) on choosing a spot that works for you, and if the bed is the focal point, put that focal point where it works for YOUR room, not for a decorator's abstraction of the ideal room.