Name: James Omedo
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Style: Cool, calm bedroom
We've come a long way together, and finally we've arrived at the smallest room and the only bedroom in this summer's bunch.
James' room has a very straightforward use of color (reverse accent wall people!), and the Valspar Paint color we went with was, to my mind, a great choice for a calm, but romantic bedroom. James and his wife have a very young son, Elliot, and they've got their hands full, so they wanted a modern, clean space that they could relax in.
JAMES' COOL, CALM PALETTE
This simple palette was meant to clean up the bedroom and bathe it in a soothing color. Using a Dove White for the trim (which has a touch of color in it), the Evening Lilac was inspired by one of James' favorite dress shirts. Though this is a small room, I decided to pull the color around all the two existing walls, which does pull the walls in, but it reads as "cozy" in this bedroom. I love shades of lilac in a bedroom. You sleep really well.
• Evening Lilac 1002-5B (main accent wall)
• Dove White 7002-7 (trim)
James' bedroom before
Above is the bedroom "before." The bed was positioned on the opposite wall (with your head towards the entrance - bad), there was a good deal of clutter and the bed was a bit shapeless. Aside from turning the bed so that James and his wife could face the door (and both get more easily to their son's bedroom next door), we've given the room a lot more focus by laying a sisal rug and reverse accenting the wall above the bed to emphasize and extend the headboard.
James' bedroom after
These pictures show two things that really make this room work. One, James' building is all new construction, and only the wood floor had any character to it. Working closely with Joe, who shopped Atlanta, we were able to get a lot of vintage pieces at a good price and make the room feel much more comfortable. Two, since both the original window shades and the closet doors were defunct, AND since the room was very tight, we installed sliding shades. These saved us a lot of space and cleaned up the room very quickly.
James sent me a very sweet email once the project wrapped up. "We love it," he says, "and I find myself spending more time upstairs instead of the living room. The room is now inviting and very calming. It has also changed the way we see spaces and make the most of what we have."
"The most challenging part about the redo process was trying to get rid of a ton of stuff that we do not actually need. We had too much clutter that had to go in order for us to realize the space we had. As I speak, we have gotten rid of almost 20% of what we originally had in our room and we continue to find stuff we don't really need."
"Maxwell, thank you for the time and changing the way I look at my living space as well as my resting space. Joe, (and your team ) thank you for bringing the concepts to life! All of you are amazing! Thank you!"
You're welcome, James, and I'm so glad you like it!
Check out the color, but don't miss that we've paired the brightness with a lot of neutrals and wood tones so that it reads in a sophisticated way. In addition, note the constant use of contrast, which pushes the Lilac against White. Very strong accents in the vases, shades, and the art on the wall above the dresser create further contrast. Adding color doesn't just solve your problems. You also have to create contrasting layers so that your eye keeps moving and feels invigorated.
A special thank-you to our painter, Tony Smith of T&S Painting, for his great work. Thanks also to our stylist and expert shopper, Joe Maer, and our photographer, Jim Franco, for pulling the final layers together and showing off the room so well.
SOURCE LIST
- All paint courtesy of Valspar Paint
- Painted wall panel behind bed — Valspar Gossamer Curtain 1002-6C
- Wall art behind bed — West Elm, spray painted with Valspar Black Plum 65087
- Metal wall art — West Elm
- Stone sculpture on books — West Elm
- Rice bowls — James
- Flatscreen TV — Target
- Tall and large vase — IKEA
- Sheepskin — IKEA
- Guitar — James
- Rattan stool and Danish credenza — Kudzu Antique Mall
- Night stands and lamp and vase on nightstand — Kudzu Antique Mall
- Sisal rug — IKEA
- Platform bed and headboard — West Elm
- Bedding — IKEA
- Globe lamp and water decanter and glass — IKEA
- Curtain panels over windows and closet — IKEA
- African sculpture and woven basket and bird carving — James
ABOUT THE INSIDE MAN
We've teamed up with Valspar Paint to create The Inside Man, a special feature dedicated to daily (Monday — Friday) posts from Apartment Therapy and GQ about men's color conundrums and style questions. From sofas with cup holders to brilliant bachelor pads, we’re focusing on the décor dilemmas men often bring to us.
MORE FROM THE INSIDE MAN
• James' Treehouse Bedroom: Phase 3 - The Progress Report
• James' Treehouse Bedroom: Phase 2 - The Prescription
• James' Treehouse Bedroom: Phase 1 - Local Inspiration
• Read more about guy style at theinsideman.apartmenttherapy.com.
• Check out GQ's guide to guy style at gq.com/theinsideman.
Photos: Jim Franco
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Beautiful and serene! I love it!
Ok, I take it back. I do like it! Though I think I would have chosen a deeper shade like this -- http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/uimages/boston/03_03_auberginetour.jpg
Really really wonderful. Bravo.
The closet preview photos really didn't do this work any favors!
The lilac goes wonderfully with the natural wood of the floors and furniture.
<3 it.
But, not diggin the nightstands.
I like the result for the most part - When Maxwell said he was exchanging the closet doors for curtains, this is not what I had imagined...
...and the color tuned out very nicely - a good choice for this nice married couple.
Only thing I would have chosen differently would have been the color of the wall over the bed - the white doesn't accent the upholstered headboard so much as make it disappear. It needed the same color as the rest of the room, a darker color or a wallpaper.
Nice job. Love the unexpected color--and the reverse accent wall! I also like how you customized the West Elm artwork. Very cool.
hmmm...coincidentally, i'm about to try Dove White out on the trim for a room the Before color...
Very refreshing!
OK i admit-Better than expected!
I do think one might tire of the color rather quickly though
Another feminine color? I guess since his wife is a woman, it provides a nice balance for the two of them. I must be taking this "Inside Man" thing too literally. I think the overall design is refreshing, but as Montreal Modern says, I do think it might get old quickly. It's very saturated, and has the potential to restrict other color or decor additions and changes.
I love it! I have to admit, though, I thought the detail above the bed was bacon. Very manly...but sortof odd. ;)
I was initially hesitant about the color, but the lilac does accent the wood tones really well. There are to issues though, the dove white makes the headboard disappear, and said headboard seems too low for the mattress.
While I don't think it's necessary to have matching lamps, their does need to be a taller object on the other nightstand to balance the height of the table lamp. Oh, and ball in the tiny basket is ridiculous.
Wow... I'm not usually a fan of purple, but it looks terrific here.
I would've gone with a more neutral and a bit darker lilac myself, not as saturated as it is now. And probably would have used a large (white) painting over the headboard instead of the current highlighted area, or a white highlighted rectangle in a shape of a painting with the “bacon” artwork; that would've expanded the otherwise narrow wall.... The nightstands are indeed too bulky, something similar to Saarinen tulip sidetables in white would've done better and complimented the midcentury modern style of the credenza.
Though overall it is a great makeover. The bedroom looks very serene. Beautiful and well done!
Actually @MsDonnaGirl, James is from Uganda. He doesn't have the same cultural identification with 'masculine' colors the way we do in the United States. He is also an art director which I suspect means that he probably loves color without reservation.
As far as I can tell, the process was collaborative and James was equally excited about the Evening Lilac.
Personally, I tend toward blue but I was downright stunned by how gorgeous the dresser looked next to the purple! Just gorgeous.
James, I have loved watching your space come together and I hope you enjoy it greatly.
I neeeeeed that Danish credenza or something just like it. I love it.
the color is gorgeous as are the bed & rug.
Gorgeous! I wouldn't change a thing!
It is a beautiful color. But I'm not sure I like the overall effect. It is so much purple that the room seems monochromatic, and actually a little boring visually. Its not a room I would care to live in, let alone sleep in.
My first thought when I saw the room was "yummmmm, Welch's"! :-) I love this room; the paint color is (fortunately) darker than I initially thought it would be, and the furniture compliments the wall color. I like the so-called 'impractical' objects in the bedroom, as there are drawers where the usually bedside stuff (books, glasses, pads/pens) can be kept out of sight. The soothing, monocramatic look is perfect for a bedroom - I lurves it!
I really love this colour. I agree that at first it seems a teeny bit feminine, but when you see big masculine James in the final photograph, and he is so clearly happy and comfortable with the result it all makes manly sense. I think some people have forgotten that these are the real rooms of real people, so what is "masculine" in the context of their homes is very personal and may not be generically masculine.
Having said that, I think the white panel behind the bed going all the way up to the ceiling, coupled with the white panel curtains on either side, makes the room look narrower than it needs to. I think if it stopped just short of the ceiling, so there was a band of the purple between it and the ceiling, it would look much better.
Also, I do think the lamp on the window-side bedside table needs to be taller to draw the eye into that corner. Currently the room just seems to "drop out" in that corner.
But overall I like it, the warm wood tones look great with the bright purple and crisp white, it's a great combination.
WOW. I would have never had the vision to push for that color. I guess that's why I am in banking and not interior design.
Stunning results!! Good job!
I can understand wanting matching window and closet curtains, but the new window coverings, at least as shown in the photos, cut the room off from the outdoors. Top-down shades would have provided privacy while preserving what made the room special in the first place.
Unfortunately, the twiggy arrangement above the headboard looks like something from HGTv. And although the nightstands are missing something, I do like how the lamps are mis-matched. Not a fan of the color.
Beautiful. Shame on all of you genderizers.
I like this room most, though David's apt. in Brooklyn and Barney's came close. I could see myself doing something like this in my BR, especially the bed and the dresser the TV's on. It's probably my favorite single piece of furniture in the entire contest.
This is quite stunning.
Can you tell me how the curtains are working out as closet doors? I need a solution for my own outdated sliding doors ... The bedroom, btw, is gorgeous! Love it!
@ trixiebalto the curtains are working out better than I expected. The are much easier to slide than the clumsy doors. The small panel width also helps us get to our closet easier. The one issue is that our one year old likes to play in them.
james' wife