PRIVATE SPACES

What we sleep in can say a lot about how we feel about our personal space. No, I'm not talking about pajamas, or t-shirts or au naturale. I mean the bed we choose to sleep in and how we accessorize that bedroom.



Although I'm not big into fashion or makeup and I am definately not a helpless damsel, I am a girlie girl when it comes to decorating the bedroom.

My dad occupied this room for a short time while he helped me with some of the early rennovations. Then it became my bedroom.

I selected the smallest room in this house for my bedroom because of the lovely bay window and window seat. It was romantic and so were the delicate peach roses that wrapped the room. I even wallpapered the ceiling with a coordinating minature check. (Not without a huge struggle and lots of help from my sister-in-law, Therese. It is a wonder she still speaks to me.)

I HAVE NOT SINCE AND WILL NEVER AGAIN WALLPAPER A CEILING.

The iron bed was painted white and covered with a homespun blue and brown quilt and shams. Yes, I made it myself with fabrics I selected on a trip to San Francisco. All women of that day were proficient with a needle and thread.

White fluffy poufs framed the bay window and a heart shaped boudoir chair completed the romantic look.

This look lasted until water beds became vogue. Well, maybe I was a bit behind the trend as I bought mine from someone who was "over it." A queen size waterbed required a larger room that resulted in a move across the hall.

The roses bit the dust and gave way to the new "media" room.

At the time, this meant a TV, a futon, and a movie poster.

As goofy as it sounds, I thought this hip water bed needed a canopy of white eyelet with side panels restrained by tiebacks trimmed in soft blue. To camouflage the pedestal, I added a white dust ruffle. Another floral wallpaper, this time in pale blue on white, eased the room to the feminine.

That lasted until I needed more closet space.

Although there was a closet in this location it was recessed into the bathroom on the other side of the wall. The existing closet remained and the side walls were extended into the bedroom making for a deeper closet.

This closet served to balance the larger closet to the right of the doorway. It also provided much needed shelf space in a walk in closet.

Fortunately the room was large enough to accomodate a couple of closets. Etched bifolds kept the contents hidden and added a little interest to the room.

I transitioned to a bolder scheme of red, blue and teal. Framed sketches of women from the turn of the century and flouncy roman shades gave the room a feminine presence.

Along came a class in Feng Shui and suddenly the water bed was taboo. The air needed to flow under the bed. The energy from the doorway was crossing my body and interrupting my sleep. And worst of all, I was not in the position of authority in the house.

This meant moving into the "all purpose" room. The only room left on the second floor that had not been my bedroom. I felt a bit like Goldilocks hoping this time I would feel like it was "just right."

The walls were once again a coral color but this time in a plaster rubbed finish done in a five layer wash. It remains to this day, a soft smooth finish that glows in the early morning light.

By this time I had become enamored with a painting technique made popular by McKenzie Childs. Right on cue, a bed fell into my hands compliments of my son's friend, Dan. He snatched it from an alley for me.

I spent hours planning the layout of my design and then spent the winter months painting most of this bed on my kitchen island. It gave me the chance to practice marbling, tortoise shell, gold leafing, and a variety of other techniques.

The coverlet was a beautiful linen toile in peach with a tan background that I discovered at a remnant shop in Fredricksburg, Texas. The piece was not large enough to cover the bed so I added a border and buttons to resemble a duvet cover.

By now you are getting the idea that nothing stays the same for very long. I don't really tire of these lovely items but there is so much more to love and treasure in the world of interior design, and so this bed went to someone else who loves it.

I moved on to a headboard that I had purchased at a garage sale when it was in its pink velvet and chrome frame incarnation. I repainted the frame for a friend to use in a showcase house and then got it back newly upholstered in a lovely brown rayon velvet.

So another coverlet was fabricated and I was once again sleeping soundly in my new bed.

No matter how much our tastes change, there is a core part of who we are that remains the same.