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Writer's pictureEmma Barker

Behind The Design - Classic, Coastal, & Contemporary Bedroom Design

This primary bedroom needed to be a calm retreat with a custom headboard incorporating traditional, coastal and contemporary design styles.

Coastal inspired interior design for primary bedroom

Classic & Coastal meet Contemporary interior design in this week's concept board, posted June 12, 2023.


I wouldn’t consider this a standard design style. Or at least not my standard design style. My mom and dad have always loved antique furniture with character, but their move to Florida a couple years ago meant they gave a lot of those fragile pieces away, mostly to me. I know you two are reading this so, thanks by the way!


Before this move, they both started incorporating more and more contemporary pieces into their home. This, now paired with a tropical lifestyle, has made for an eclectic feel consisting of bright colors, accessories with character, and modern functional furniture.

Inspiration for the design

My parents currently have this painting over their bed and love it.


Inspiration

My parents currently have this painting over their bed which was my main inspiration for creating a calming primary bedroom retreat. Now, this concept board started with my mom asking for some headboard ideas since they just want a bedframe for their new mattress. I, of course, decided to design the entire space.


Colors & Scale

The artwork has a lot of neutrals, blue and greens that I wanted to bring into the rest of the space through various patterns. The solid navy nightstands help break up those patterns, so the eye has somewhere to rest.


I loved the idea of an upholstered bed and full-wall headboard to emulate a custom hotel feel. Padded three-foot sections would make this headboard easy to DIY with plywood, cotton batting, spray adhesive and a staple gun. This vertical patterned fabric helps draw the eye up while the one-inch-thick wood cap on the upholstery draws the eye across the room. The wood detail on top adds some warm color to the wall and acts as a small styling ledge if desired.


Styling

For the bed, a light blue large palm leaf duvet paired with the fine foliage print quilt and pillows layered on top of the striped headboard shows how you can put pattern on pattern with the right mix of scale.


There are approximately infinite ways to make a bed, but layers are always a must. Since there is no headboard here, I went with two Euro size pillows in the back for height, two kings in front of that and a long green lumbar to cap them off. The green lumbar is a great call back to the statement rug.


Speaking of which, this large palm leaf rug is the cool piece that really makes this space feel more contemporary.


Some green dipped glazed lamps on the nightstands bring in more of this green so it is evenly spread throughout the space.


Now Step Back

My parents love having stools or a bench at the foot of the bed, so they have a spot to sit down and put shoes on. This bench adds so much warmth to a mostly cool tone space and the little carved detail makes it feel unique.


A seagrass basket for extra blankets brings in more coastal materials.


A palm tree in the corner by the window ties back to the statement rug and duvet pattern.


I kept the nightstand styling minimal with some books and a glass of water.


In reality, I know my parents will want a more traditional style rug and different bed frame, but part of the fun of posting these concept board polls on social media is pushing my usual design style to incorporate pieces you want to see!


Make sure you follow @EmbarkingOnDesign on Instagram to participate in the concept board voting each Friday. You can also expect a new Behind The Design post each Monday here, on the blog! You can sign up for email alerts, so you never miss a blog post.

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