Hi everyone, it’s Remi reporting for duty with a bedding design agony question. Amy, one of our readers from San Francisco area, reached out to us in hopes of transforming her less-than-fab furniture with new bedding.
In (relatively) short form, I am struggling big time with finding bedding that I like. Our bedroom furniture (which will have to stick around for now, as we just moved into our house and swapping it out now is out of the question) is super basic. And probably painted wood, as it is a chocolate sort of brown. Design sin, I know. Ack!
I want a bed that is fairly low-maintenance (real talk: the biggest struggle of my life is keeping white sheets white, so while I love the look, the white duvet probably would kill me) but has a layered look and is still soft, airy, and calming without being boring. Also, slightly feminine without being over-the-top girly.
We use a duvet with a top sheet, which apparently makes us super weird, but my husband says the top sheet is a non-negotiable. I’m less of a fan of bedding that is super flat (i.e. just a quilt as the top layer)–I like a little squish.
Colors I love: grey, grey, grey. All the grey. Peaches and corals are awesome as well. None of the above are mandatory. I trust you lovely folks more than I trust myself. Hence the email.
Check out these images of her existing bedroom set up. We love the corner window, which looks like it gets great afternoon light; but with the carpet, existing paint colour and dark furniture the room felt very drab.
Now this is what we’re talking about. Ginny & I got started by looking through Amy’s inspiration board and the direction was clear- make the room feel light & bright without a lot of use of white. It’s not as easy as you’d think, but hey we’ve all been there with not-perfectly-white sheets.
Ikat Euro Shams | Pink Pillow Cases | Grey Pillow Cases | Kilim Throw Pillow | Pink Linen Sheets | Ikat Duvet Cover | Yellow Throw
The first look is certainly the more playful and feminine, with the blush sheets and patterned duvet cover. After looking through Amy’s pin board, we kept with her love for soft grays, adding in hints of blush, yellow, and graphic patterns to keep her bedding lux but lively.
Border Euro Shams | Coral Sheet Set and Pillow Cases | Light Grey Linen Pillow Cases | Grey Patterned Pillow (no longer available) | Pink Pillow | Light Grey Linen Duvet Cover | Grey Geometric Throw
Both looks feature the same airy & calming color palette for the most part, but the second is a bit more unisex. In the execution of both looks, we suggested she switch out her overhead light for a Capriz Orb pendant she had laying around.
We of course wanted to include white in the bedding– so wherever we specified white(ish) bedding we made sure there was a pattern to distract from any stains down the road. Since Amy wanted to change up her wall colour, we called out Pavillion Gray paint from Farrow & Ball and recommended swatching alongside Lamp Room Gray & Dimpse, since lighting is different in every space.
