This is where I dream

I’ve posted photos of my bedroom before, but now that we’ve come to know each other a little better, I thought I would give you a full tour.

Let’s start with the bed. My bedding is white as you can so clearly see!  The cover is thick matelasse cotton with paisley floral design – a lovely raised pattern - but you can’t really see it in the photos.  I think when you have light colour a bit of texture adds some interest. I like the white bedding because it is restful and calm and makes the room look open and airy. You can also have fun switching the cushions and throws around when you have a white base. I’ve got a black bedskirt, to give the bed a bit of ‘weight’.

I have no artwork in my bedroom, or a headboard, but I do have an antique Asian screen above my bed. I totally love it. It was not cheap, but I asked my family to give me money one year for my birthday, so it went towards this.

 

I picked up my bedside tables very cheaply, and painted them and put new handles on them myself. What I love about these bedside tables is how much stuff they hide away – they’re full of books, magazines, body lotion, my diary. I like things tucked away, so my room can have a ‘zen’ like quality! I think lots of furniture with storage is the key to a clutter-free zone.

The lamps are cheapies picked up at Freedom, and they have brown textured ‘eelskin’ shades. I use these instead of the overhead light, so at night the room is bathed in a soft glow.

I keep photos of my loved ones nearby – on one side I have my two favourite males – my son and my late dad. Mum and my son are on the other side. My tiny clock radio hides behind dad and my son because I like to keep those types of things tucked away too.

In the photo below you can see shots of my son, with his cousin.

As you can see I like candles in my room, for that bit of romance!  Not that any of that happens in here, but they say ‘if you build it, they will come’. Just one would be nice!

Moving along, here’s my mirror again, below. It bounces lots of light around the room. I bought the dark brown pot from Sydney years ago, and I throw my keys in here so I always know where they are!

Now over to my chest of drawers, below, which I’ve had since I was a teenager living at home with mum and dad. It used to be stained and have big clunky round wooden drawer pulls.  In my early twenties I gave it a white paint finish and replaced the drawer pulls with some Asian-inspired black ones. I still like it, so it has stayed with me all these years. My ever-changing stash of magazines is kept in the rush basket.

A close up shot is below so you can see the paint finish in greater detail.

Below is a collection of shells and candles in a wooden bowl that I picked up in Sydney. Up until a few years ago, Adelaide had no decent homeware shops whatsoever (even now we only have a sprinkling) so whenever I went away I’d always make time to go to some great shops and pick up one or two things.

The antique Asian table I picked up for a song here in Adelaide.  It fits the spot perfectly.  I love old Asian furniture, and I think this piece adds to the ‘zen’ feel I was trying to create.

Now I don’t know if this is true in other countries, but here in Australia plantation shutters are prohibitively expensive. But I wasn’t going to let that stop me! I bought my shutters in a kit form, made to measure, from here. I then sanded, painted and assembled them myself. It took me ages, I swore a lot, I turned up to work with paint splatters on my hands, but it was so so worth it in the end. I’d like more shutters in my house but have yet to work myself up to the idea of all that painstaking sanding and painting again! Although I’d probably be less of a perfectionist this time, because seriously no one gets up that close. The shutters do a great job of hiding my hideous aluminium windows.  You can’t see it obviously, but one blade has a teeny tiny set of teeth marks embedded in it, where my son decided to test out how tasty they were when he was  three!

I’d love a chandelier for my bedroom, some more mercury candlesticks, antique perfume bottles and perhaps a romantic little chair tucked away in the corner of the room. 

A chandelier like this….

 

Antique perfume bottles like these….

 

A chair like this…

 

So there you have it, the place where I dream. It is my little haven. My house faces a park, full of gum trees, so when I wake up in the morning I listen to the parrots and other birds warbling away. There is no tv in my bedroom, and I never take my laptop in there. I do some writing and reading and lots of sleeping, of course. It’s my favourite room in my house. 

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Best wishes,