Inspiration: The Empress's Bedroom

Picking up where I left off in Part one of the Bedroom Inspiration series I'm going to look at how something so fantastic and grand as the Empress's Bedroom in the Grand Trianon at Versailles can be the inspirational starting point for a gorgeous and liveable bedroom in anyone's home.

I had the pleasure of visiting Versailles last year while in France for Maison&Objet and one of the many and fabulous bedrooms in the Grand Trianon has stayed with me ever since.

So today I've put together a little story board with some pieces that can be used not to re-create the Empress's Bedroom, but that can bring the feel and style of it into your home. I'm going to keep the colour scheme of the original but change the placement of the colours into something a little easier to live with. Re-gilding the bed after denting it with the vacuum cleaner would be a total pain so I'll stick to accents for the gold, make ivory the main focus and keep the gorgeous hot pink to a few pieces on the bed.



Starting with the top centre photo I've used the Alyce head board in Loft Alps. It's a modified wing back freestanding headboard with a slight curve at the top and very light button tufting. The Alyce has a softness from it's curvy lines yet is still clean and contemporary so it fits in any room. The soft chenille fabric has a slight shine that gives it a bit of luxury.

The gold tone sunburst mirror is a design classic and gives the room a bit of the glitter that is requisite for a room inspired by Versailles.

I've gone with Bella Notte's Colette Floral in Champagne for the duvet cover and shams. It's a gorgeous soft and shiny jacquard that is as comfy to sleep with as it is beautiful. Bella makes it using both sides of the fabric so one side shows more gold and the other more white, which means that you can add or subtract a bit of the glam gold depending on your mood!

I've gone with Scramble Fuchsia by Pine Cone Hill for the hot, hot pink. I love the pink so I'd go with three (for a queen) or four (for a king) Euro's and the coverlet. I would layer the coverlet over a sheet set done in a soft ivory, but under the duvet. That way the pink can be covered or revealed depending on how little or much pop was required.

Next up I've added some real glam in the form of a mirrored dresser. This one has slightly antiqued mirroring that shows slightly gold. It's a great piece to add the gold tone sparkle required without going overboard. Mirrored furniture is also great for adding light and the impression of space to a smaller room.

Lastly I've got the gold and crystal chandelier. This is one of the pieces in the room that you can save on by buying a petite and restrained version or go big on with a gold and crystal extravaganza. In the background of the chandelier image I've put in a lovely pale aqua green with a touch of grey in it. It's a great choice for the wall colour as it will cool the whole palette and give the room a nice modern edge.

For more information about the Empress's Bedroom please visit the official Chateau de Versailles website.

Bedroom Inspiration Part 1

I've had a fairly large number of clients in lately who were having a hard time finding a place to start when decorating their bedrooms. So I'm going to share some of the websites and blogs that I visit when I need to start a project or just have the desire to look at some pretty.

Often when beginning the process of putting a room together we do have a place to start. It can be a painting, some drapery or upholstered furniture that needs to stay, an antique vase or even a favourite scarf. Any of those can give you a colour palette or dictate the requirements of the rest of the room. For instance, a bold, multicoloured abstract painting can require that the walls and bed linens be white, the furniture be minimal and low profile in order to best show the drama of the work and from it an accent colour can be chosen for a throw blanket and toss cushions, a vase or candles and an area rug that pulls the room into the painting and softens the starkness of an otherwise white room. There are many, many ways to draw an entire room around a single object.

There are however times when we are presented with a truly blank slate, a completely fresh start. And sometimes the hardest room to decorate is the blank slate. At the store I keep six beds fully made up along with lots of other options that we can pull together but what I have on the floors won't necessarily appeal to everyone. I have literally hundreds of fabric samples to look through and play with, but there are many people who are unable to visualize the finished room from small samples. And there is nothing wrong with that at all! So when frustration starts to set in I tell people that taking the time to find inspiration is a good thing. Whether it's from magazines, blogs, tv shows or catalogues, take it where you can find it, bring it in to me and we can create something perfect for you.

The following are some of the places I love to browse through to get inspired and to drool over.

Design*Sponge is a fantastic site full of design and decor how-tos, before & afters and sneak peaks as well as great city guides, drool worthy recipes and up and coming trend spotting.

Apartment Therapy is a huge, huge, site packed full of fantastic interiors. It can be a little difficult to navigate but if you use their search bar and the term "roundup+bedroom" you'll end up with links to countless articles.

DesignTripper is one of my newly found favourites. The photography is stunning and the locations they feature are extremely worthy of your daily daydream allotment.

Houzz is a massive collection of photos. You can use their filters to select room style (ie eclectic, traditional) to help narrow it down a bit. There isn't any content so you can see a lot of images in a short time.

I Want That Bedroom is a similar site with many photos of gorgeous rooms. Again you can filter the results using the tags, but it is a smaller site than some of the others so go ahead and scroll though. You'll enjoy it!

Okay, that's good for now. I'll be back with Part 2 of this post early next week. There will be more links and a couple of bedrooms based on a single object starting point.

Have a great weekend!

What's on the beds?

So I've been promising this post for ages on Twitter and it's finally ready. Almost everything that I've ordered for the spring/summer seasons has arrived so it's time to get the photos up. Starting at the front of the store and working back here is what we're showing for the season.

Bella in Sea Glass. This bed combines a Peony duvet cover, Homespun coverlet & shams, Whisper bed scarf & cases, Linen gathered bed skirt and Celeste toss cushions in Sea Glass with Linen sheets and Whisper bed scarf in White all by Bella Notte.









My current favourite is Wax by Alexandre Turpault. The vibrant pattern makes me smile every time I look at it. Even better is the fact that it can fit into rooms of many different colours as there are two shades of green, two aquas, two purples and three reds on the white ground. I'm showing it on the sky blue Frankie bed combined with our Lara sheets in white. Did I mention that it comes in a second colour as well? It's a more subtle version with tones of green, aqua and yellow on a pale aqua background.








Also by Alexandre Turpault is Mae in Silver. I've paired it with St.Geneve's Capri sheets and euro shams in Dusky Violet. It's a very soft modern floral in dusty tones of silver, mauve and taupe with some white highlights. It does really well on the deep charcoal fabric of the Franco bed and would look just as good on dark woods or leather.










On the cream coloured Alyce bed is Ophelia by Revelle paired with our light blue Lara sheets. I really like the flexibility of this pattern. It's a floral, but one that isn't overly feminine and it certainly isn't fussy. Pairing this pattern with the pale blue sheets gives it softness and a bit of warmth but it can just as easily be done with a pure white sheet for a bit of extra punch. I also really like the idea of doing this pattern on a dark chocolate or even black framed bed and adding some super vibrant accents (acid green!) to give it a fun, modern feel.






Tokyo plum is an abstract plum and dusty violet print on a background that fades from a very pale pink to a soft lilac. I've paired it with a dove grey sheet to tone down the pink a little bit. For a higher drama factor it can be combined with dark purple or aubergine sheets.

Last but not least is Melisande by Manuel Canovas.
Canovas is a new company to us and I couldn't resist this print combination. In a couple of ways it's not the norm for Oleander, the floral is a pretty traditional one and the colour combination is a little louder than I usually go for, but like I said, I just couldn't resist this one. I think that it's the three tone tent stripe in combination with the floral that's a little unexpected. The colour combination is also pretty much unbeatable.

So that's it for what I'm showing on the beds. Additionally we have Anne de Solenne Duetto in Topaz & Cumulus, some Homespun in Sea Glass and Dawson in Sand by Bella Notte on the shelves along with lots of other bits and pieces. We've Also got some really great new accessories, bath products and pj's in but I think that's going to have to wait for another post. Have a great long weekend and we hope to see you if you're going to be in the Market.