Butterfly Punchies

Explore the Charm of Country Style Bedrooms

Country style bedrooms have become very popular these days, perhaps due to their informality, simplicity and a leaning towards hand-crafted natural materials. While it can be stylish, the country bedroom should always be restful and refreshing without over doing precise co-ordination of furniture and fabrics.

Since the emphasis is on comfort and character is is easy to see that the true hallmarks of the country bedroom are a clean unfussy environment that is perfectly conducive to rest and relaxation, with practical fabrics and furnishings that have restrained but often rich colour schemes.

If you're lucky enough to have a rustic room anyway, don't over furnish it. Instead, allow the architecture to do the talking and let the furniture complement it rather than fight it. It is often best to choose a showpiece bed and then match it with eclectic pieces of furniture.

Warm pine furniture mixed with cream and white bedding will often give the bedroom a cosy feel, while a traditional brass bed is an important ingredient of the traditional country style and can transform the look of your bedroom. If you feel able to afford a four-poster then you'll instantly create a bedroom that's not only spectacular but also perfect for relaxing in at the end of a long hard day.

Try to choose bedside tables that match for a co-ordinated look and layer your bed with throws and cushions. Be aware that generously stuffed cushions, feather pillows and duck-down quilts ensure that comfort is high on your list of priorities. A deeply buttoned, padded headboard instantly creates a comfortable feel in your room, while padding the foot of your bed creates a look that shouts pure luxury.

Keep walls plain and simple, or go for patterned wallpapers that will still please you even when you are lying in bed with gastric flu! If you're committing to a bold pattern, go for a motif that you really identify with, whether you choose butterflies, birds or florals. While you can mix florals and plains - take care not to overdo it in a small room.

If you want a modern country style bedroom, choosing a bold floral pattern does the trick, but in a small space, keep to smaller patterns. Where space is tight, keep walls plain and co-ordinate - even if you don't match - your patterns elsewhere. For a room that needs to feel free and spacious, go for a light, neutral colour scheme that will play down the pattern.

On the other hand if you want a look that's a little more whimsical then choose a mixture of patterns and colours - choosing shades from a palette of pale and punchy jewel colours. Pile on the pattern if the light is good in your room - and if it's a decent size. However, keep the colour scheme simple, adding interest by varying the patterns' sizes and styles.

You can make a space seem bigger by choosing wallpaper with reflective properties as these will bounce light around and make the space seem more luxurious. Probably the best approach to liven up a naturally dark room is to use a big mirror, shutters and small pieces of furniture which will all help to stretch the space.

Perhaps you feel that your bedroom lacks character and you want to upgrade it. By putting panels of wallpaper behind your headboard you will create what looks like a focal wall or, you could simply wallpaper the wall behind your bed in a feature paper. Don’t despair if you have a seemingly dull all-white theme, it is easy to update as you can easily create a country look just by changing the bed linen for something more striking.

When going for fully fitted furniture all around your room, keep the finish very light - that way it won't dominate your space. Fitted furniture doesn’t have to mean modern and bland, you can still get a country look if you pick the right style of units - and in a small or awkward space, it will help you make the most of space.

If you want your bedroom to have much more of a sophisticated look then glass furniture, chandeliers and mirrors, along with ornate furniture are all must-buys. In addition choosing bed linen with a sheen, will give your room a feeling of luxury - and you can add panels of wallpaper with a similar finish to exaggerate the effect.

An alternative luxury look can be created by incorporating high shine floors, dark furniture, detailed wallpaper and of course posh bed linen. Bear in mind also, that a very tall headboard will give any room a sense of its own importance.

For a large bedroom that you want to look solidly rustic you can easily go for chunky wooden furniture in a light finish or, you can choose darker furniture so that the room looks much more modern. On the other hand in a less spacious room slim, delicate furniture is a better choice as it will help make your bedroom feel much bigger.

Some people feel that a wooden floor is a must-have for country look lovers. Wide, stripped pine floorboards are ideal but, if your house doesn't already have original boards, good quality engineered wood can give you just as smart a finish. You could even use subtle paint effects, such as a stencil around the edge, to add interest and almost any type of rug will look great as well as make walking barefoot more comfortable.

While tiled flooring is not something you'd necessarily expect from a country style room, if it’s under-heated, it can be both practical and comfortable, especially if you add extra layers of comfort with rugs. Alternatively, if you are a committed comfort lover, wall-to-wall carpets in near white or neutral tones won't detract from the authentic look, provided they aren't too sumptuous or shaggy.

Natural light is a very important factor in a bedroom as a gloomy room can precipitate a gloomy mood so do make the most of every window which should be dressed in the height of floral prints or soft naïve fabrics. If you need privacy, or the view is far from perfect, hang simple white net or muslin curtains that can stay half closed all day long with blackout blinds that may be pulled down at night. For a room with big windows, try to enhance your space with flowing curtains and layer the windows with added blinds.

Artificial lighting is much more attractive and softer in the form of wall lights and bedside table lamps, with simple shades in checked, floral, striped, or plain fabrics. Victorian-style brass table and floor lamps also suit the country bedroom look.

One final word; don’t forget to add charming details such as ivory hairbrushes, cut glass jars, old perfume bottles, trinket boxes, a dainty clock, porcelain figurines, silver photo frames and flowers. Flowers really are compulsory in the country bedroom; even a simple posy of wildflowers on a dressing table completely changes the feel of a room. They should always be visible somewhere in your bedroom, whatever the season, simply because since time immemorial country folk have always kept flowers and healing herbs wherever they laid their head.

About the Author

Karole Howard is passionate about interiors, fabrics and colours inspired by the countryside. She launched her well known online shop http://www.countrycream.co.uk in 2003 in order to help people who want to create the country look in their homes.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 12th, 2010 at 10:41 pm and is filed under scrapbooking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.