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The Journal

Layering the Bedroom

A bedroom can be moody and atmospheric, glamorous and serene, all at once. But comfort always comes first.

A moody bedroom with an olive velvet bed, botanical wallpaper and terracotta pillows by Hallie Goodman

The bedroom is the one room in the house that no guest is meant to judge. It exists entirely for you, which is precisely why it is the room people most often neglect and the room we most love to design. A bedroom can be many things at once, moody and atmospheric, glamorous and serene, but if it is not first and foremost comfortable, none of the rest matters.

Start with light

We think about light before anything else, because light is what a bedroom does at both ends of the day. Layered lighting, a soft glow for winding down, a reading lamp positioned exactly where a book wants it, blackout where you need real dark, means the room can shift from morning to midnight without ever flipping a harsh overhead switch. Get the light right and the room already feels finished.

A serene bedroom layered with sumptuous, tactile materials
Layered light, colour and tactile, sumptuous materials

Then colour and texture

Depth comes from layering colour and sumptuous, tactile materials, the kind you want to touch: velvet, aged linen, a wool throw with real weight. We are not afraid of a darker, enveloping palette in a bedroom. Contrary to the usual advice, deep colour does not shrink a bedroom, it wraps it around you. The trick is to keep the textures soft and varied so the whole room reads as calm rather than heavy.

The perfect chair to sink into with a favourite book. We understand the assignment.

Anticipate every need

The best bedrooms are designed by anticipating every need before you have to ask. The perfect chair to sink into with a favourite book. A desk that is just right for penning thank-you notes. Guest beds so inviting that friends push back their return flights. These are small things, and they are the entire difference between a room that looks like rest and a room that actually delivers it.

Somewhere To Retreat

Let's design a room you never want to leave.