BRICK FIELD STUDIOS

Style Pointers
WALLS AND CEILING
Fresh white walls and ceiling reflect the light and create a spacious atmosphere as well as a neutral backdrop for colorful furnishings and accessories.

ACCESSORIES
Framed posters reinforce the blue and white color theme and break up the wall space. A few well-chosen accessories – vases of flowers, bedside candlelamps, and simple knickknacks – add a personal stamp.

SOFT FURNISHINGS
Blue and white bedlinen in a strong, naive design adds a bold splash of pattern. A blue and white ticking roller blind, softened with voile drapes, provides night-time privacy.

STORAGE
Bedside tables provide storage space for books and other items. Clothes may be hung in freestanding or built-in wardrobes or from a screened-off hanging rail.

LIGHTING
Slender candlelamps are an elegant choice and provide ample light for bedtime reading. Wall-mounted torcheres, in white to match the walls, give restful overall lighting.

FURNITURE
A wrought-iron bedstead and wicker bedside tables and chair have a straightforward, contemporary feel and clean outlines which are perfect for the look.

Furnishings
Furniture: Apartment-style decorating revolves around maximizing space and minimizing cost, so try to choose furniture that offers plenty of storage space and serves more than one function. A well-lit, clutter-free dressing table, for example, doubles as a desk to make a quiet work place away from the main living area; a low, painted chest makes a perfect bedside table with room inside for bed linen; a platform bed with pull-out drawers or even a second, spare bed underneath is a real bonus; and in an older home, a built-in window seat creates a snug corner for relaxation and provides valuable storage space. If your bedroom is really small, consider installing a sofa bed to free up maximum floor space during the day. Futons have a suitably modern feel and are generally reasonably priced.

In terms of style, keep to functional furniture. Pale, stripped, or stained wood, in white or primary colors, laminate furniture, and polished or painted metal are just right. Avoid cluttering up the bedroom with too much furniture. In addition to the bed and built-in storage (see below), all you need are bedside tables and, if there’s room, a comfortable chair and perhaps a basic dressing table or desk. Wicker furniture is inexpensive and adds a friendly touch, especially if other furniture in the room is stark. Glass-topped tables take up little visual space and add emphasis to any ornaments or objects displayed on them – a clock or vase of flowers, for example, seems to float in the air.

The bed: Like the other furniture, the bed should be simple and functional in style. Choose a basic wooden bedstead, natural, painted, or stained, or a wrought-iron one for contemporary chic; or opt for a simple daybed and dress it up with boldly patterned and colored bed linen. Set against the walls with a bolster at each end and some scatter cushions along the back, such a bed provides sofa-style seating during the day.

Storage: With space at a premium, built-in floor-to-ceiling cupboards and wardrobes make sense, along one wall, filling an alcove or fitted in an arch over and down the sides of the bed. Mirrored doors on storage units double the sense of space and light and, unlike a freestanding mirror, take up no additional floor space. In a very small bedroom, choose built-in furniture to tone and blend in with the walls.

Check out office supply stores for functional filing cabinets and box storage systems, which come in a bright array of colors as well as traditional gray and black. Industrial suppliers are a potential source of clever storage units, such as galvanized metal high-security boxes.

On a limited budget, you can fit a clothes rail across an alcove and screen it with bright fabric curtains or with white or boldly painted medium-density fiberboard panels. For added storage options, build one or more shelves at various levels behind the screen.

With its emphasis on hand-crafted natural materials, informality, and simplicity, the country bedroom is stylishly restful and refreshing.

The hallmarks of the country bedroom – natural materials, unfussy and practical furnishings, airiness, restrained but rich color schemes, and a commitment to comfort – create an environment that is perfectly conducive to rest and relaxation at any time of day.

Whether stripped, stained, varnished, or painted, wood features heavily in country schemes as floor and wall surfaces, furniture, and smaller decorative objects. Other natural raw materials such as cane, wicker, and cotton play supporting roles. Colors such as teal blue, creamy yellow, conifer green, and rich Indian red are traditional, used on their own to cover broad expanses of wall, or in small doses to give character to large expanses of white or pale neutrals. Furniture has a timeless practicality, based on a mixture of Shaker simplicity, American Colonial elegance, and a hint of toned down Victorian. Generously stuffed cushions, pillows, and quilts ensure that comfort is high on the list of priorities.

Ornamentation, from stencils to children’s toys, is – in appearance if not in actuality – handcrafted. Likewise, fabrics have a slightly rough, homespun appeal, and patchworks and samplers continue the hand-crafted theme. The look is mildly eclectic rather than highly coordinated, but never chaotic – everything has its rightful place.

Creating the Look

Walls: Whether they are plastered, papered, or tongue-and-groove paneled, keep walls plain. Combining low-level, tongue-and-groove paneling with a plain painted surface above is traditional. Consider narrow, vertical tongue-and-groove paneling up to wainscoting level if funds allow, with wide, horizontal tongue-and-groove paneling above, or vice versa. The paneling can be left natural, stained, or painted in solid, matte tones.

Patterned wallpapers are unsuitable, as are chalky ice-cream pastel colors such as light pinks, blues, and mauves. Earth colors, natural dye colors, off-white, and white are ideal for the look – the latter two especially for small bedrooms. For an authentic touch, paint the woodwork – doors, architraves, baseboards, wainscoting, and picture rails – a rich color to counteract the impersonality of white or off white. Varying the density of this color from paneling to architraves, reveals, and baseboards is typical. Consider high-level stencils and friezes with simple geometric motifs or motifs based on fruit, flowers, or leaves; grapes, pomegranates, pineapples, willow and oak leaves, and tulips are all authentic.

Floors: Wide, stripped pine floorboards are ideal, but if your house doesn’t already have them, modern wood-look floor covering strips make an acceptable alternative. You can use subtle paint effects, perhaps even a stencil around the edge to mimic a rug. Hooked, crocheted, knitted, or braided rugs, and embroidered needlepoint rugs, or Berlinwork with rose motifs, look perfect and make walking barefoot comfortable. Plain or striped, inexpensive cotton, hand-woven rag rugs can work equally well. Although not strictly authentic, wall-to-wall carpets in near white or neutral tones won’t detract from the look, provided they aren’t too sumptuous or shaggy.

Windows: As the look depends on plenty of natural light, make the most of windows. Outline small windows in the same color as baseboards and picture rails; you can paint wooden window frames, reveals, and sills, or simply apply a band of color to the wall surrounding the window. White-painted internal louvers, wooden Venetian blinds, and plain, checked or striped fabric shades are fine for the look. If privacy is a problem, or the view is far from leafy and rural, hang simple white net or muslin curtains. A little swag made from patchwork fabric adds a pretty finishing touch on its own or with another window treatment.

Lighting: For practicality, have several light sources: low-level, sited near to the bed for night reading, plus wall-hung and/or ceiling-hung for general illumination. Candles in sconces, freestanding or wall-hung, add to the mood; electric lights mimicking candles are useful as well as attractive. Table lamps with simple shades in checked, striped, or plain fabrics, and earthenware bases, such as old jugs, are ideal. Victorian-style brass table and floor lamps with translucent glass shades, or plain, small contemporary lights, also suit the look.

Light, airy, and modern, the apartment style features streamlined furnishings, well-planned storage and bold, bright accent colors – it’s a look guaranteed to make the most of small bedrooms.

The fresh and functional approach to decorating looks fun in any bedroom, but is especially suited to small bedrooms like those in modern apartments. It’s a cost-effective look that relies more on a lively imagination and a confident approach than on a generous budget.

The look draws from many varied sources, which is part of its charm. For example, you can combine office-style, high-tech lighting with Scandinavian-style pale wood furniture and ethnic woven rugs. The aim is to create a lively, comfortable space that’s practical, well organized, and easy to keep orderly, but with a youthful sense of fun.

Fresh, pale, solid-toned walls are the starting point for the apartment bedroom. As well as creating a restful ambience, they provide an unobtrusive backdrop for colorful accessories. Inexpensive, simple furniture available from home-decorating stores suits the style’s streamlined look. Many pieces come in flat-pack, self-assembly form – practical when negotiating apartment elevators and narrow stairways. Where possible, opt for dual-purpose bedroom furniture, such as a dressing or bedside table, which doubles as a desk, and perhaps a sofa bed – you can then enjoy the room during the day as well as at night.

Creating the Look
Walls and ceiling: The smaller the room, the more important it is to use a light-reflective color. White walls are a good starting point and leave your choice of accent colors wide open. Continuing the wall color over the ceiling, especially in an attic bedroom, creates a sense of smooth-flowing space.

Though subtle paint effects such as colorwashing or sponging are suitable, avoid highly contrasting effects and fiercely patterned wallpapers – these can make an already small space seem claustrophobic. Larger bedrooms can take bold, solid but still light-reflective colors, such as rich yellow.

Windows: Window treatments continue the pale background theme or introduce bright color. Use streamlined, solid-colored or striped blinds on their own or combined with simple curtains or drapery, in pale or bright tones and plain or patterned, to soften the look.

Combine shades with net or muslin curtains for daytime privacy and to hide an unattractive view. Venetian blinds, with their razor-sharp, ruler-straight lines, add to the look; their adjustable slats give privacy and shade with a minimum loss of light. Plantation-style louvered shutters are equally suitable and could repeat the theme of louvered fitted wardrobes. To block out any traffic noises, make or purchase heavy, interlined curtains.

Floors

: For a sleek, minimalist effect, go for stripped and polished pine floorboards or woodstrip flooring. Add colorful rugs, with bold geometric or otherwise large-scale patterns, for visual interest and comfort, especially near the bed. For safety, put rugs on polished wood floors with non-slip underlays.

If your budget can take it, opt for wall-to-wall carpet for a softer, more comfortable finish underfoot. Choose a solid-toned, neutral-colored one which, like a solid-toned wall, creates a sense of space – especially in a small room. Carpets can be white or a more practical neutral such as beige or gray, perhaps with one or more scatter rugs as focal points. Pale, plain natural-fiber floor covering is a less expensive option, and looks especially attractive combined with unpainted wicker furniture.

Lighting: Choose lighting to suit the room’s streamlined, functional feel. Discreet, wall-mounted torcheres give good overall lighting, and are supplemented with simple, elegant, or chunky bedside lamps or portable office-style lamps that you can move about the room as necessary.