Guest Bedroom

Staffordshire village period house guest room.

This guest bedroom is in a six bedroomed period three storey house in a Staffordshire village. The client requested a style that was in keeping with the existing house. The aim was to create a fresh pretty scheme for a second guest bedroom on the third floor. The room needed a new ceiling, new cornice, new lighting and furniture.

Calming, inviting and relatable.

 The client was keen on blue and white but was frightened of making a mistake and making it too cold and harsh.  We combined ideas of fabrics and tones of wood on a moodboard with carpet colours to ensure the scheme was the vision the client also had.

Blue, it can be very calming and it’s a colour that everyone can relate to. It surrounds us in the sky and oceans. I don’t think there is anyone who doesn’t own a piece of blue clothing. It’s a great colour to layer and mix with other colours to create variation.

In this bedroom we have used cornflower and Wedgwood blues, the clients favourites shades of blue. The customer wanted a wallpaper that had good proportions for the room . The stylised wallpaper was our starting point, it actually has a hand blocked feel to it. The delicate stylised fronds of the frangipani tree combined with accents of colours in the flowers makes this such an appealing paper. A statement design that also manages to have a slightly understated appeal.

With its oatmeal and stone hues it anchors the blue and white giving a calmness to the room. This simple use of colour allows different patterns to work well together; whereas the same combination in other colours could look visually confusing. I love to use textures and pattern so we used fabrics with a tactile quality including linen, embroidery and prints and mixed them all up.

The floor was reboarded to allow for a thick velvet carpet with a heavy underlay to create a sense of luxury and warmth. The handmade curtains are heavily interlined to give a feel of quality and sumptuousness. The handmade buckrum curtain heading is fairly traditional but adds a simple elegance and detail.

The blue and white theme continued into the curtains with the addition of the delicate trimming which was carefully stiched just above the hem. The slightly over long curtains give a more relaxed feel to the room.

Our plainer designed upholstered storage ottomans are a cut above the rest in both quality, storage and style. The size is perfect for the end of the beds. We chose a small geometric fabric for this.

As the walls were patterned it was important to create areas of calm where the eye could rest. In this calm the painted mirrored wardrobe and chest of drawers we sourced do just that. The graining of the wood in the bedside tables and mirror, the pleated lampshades against the blue glass all adds to the layered look. Adding a splash of pink or lavender hues with the flowers works harmoniously with this blue and white theme and the smell of the peonies simply divine.