How to Plan Your Bedroom Design
July 20, 2011
Before going any further with your decisions about wall, floor and window treatments, you should make a furniture placement plan. The position of the bed is the most important one. This is where you’ll spend most of your time when you’re in the bedroom.
If you know anything about the Eastern philosophy of feng shui, you know that the placement of furniture can bring harmony to every aspect of your life. Where better to employ this philosophy than in the bedroom? Supposedly, you can bring energy to your life as well as find inner peace just by placing your furniture in certain relationships to each other and the room. Rumour has it that even Donald Trump called in a feng shui adviser for one of his Manhattan buildings.
The main thrust of feng shui is that you can create an environment within your home that relates to the natural order of the universe. If you’re curious, it can’t hurt to consider some of the principles of this traditional Chinese school of thought. For example, concern with compass direction is important to feng shui practitioners. They profess that positioning your bed so that you can see the sun rise will do wonders for your morning attitude. Further, they suggest, never put your bed underneath a window; if possible, the head of the bed should face north or east, but should not be directly opposite the door.
Once you have the ideal aesthetic and spiritual location for the bed, the rest is easy. Night tables on each side should be large enough to hold your “stuff” and high enough to be comfortable. They don’t have to match. In fact, you might use small dressers as side tables if you need extra storage and don’t have room for a larger bureau. Or, use a small desk on one side of the bed with an occasional chair. If lamps aren’t attached to the wall, they should be high enough for reading without shining in your eyes.
Decide where you will keep your clothes. It might be a dresser or armoire, but if you don’t have enough room for another large piece of furniture, you can design and outfit your closet with shelves for efficient storage of bulky items. Once you’ve figured out where to put the essentials, you’ll know how much room you have left for the extras.
Even a small, cast-off wooden chair is better than none in the bedroom. While you might be the neatest person in the world, you need a place to toss your clothes at night, or for holding a bathrobe or the laundry you don’t have time to fold and put away. Find a corner to hold a charming little chair. This is an item that’s easy to find, either old or new, for little money. If there’s room for a comfortable easy chair or a chaise longue, all the better. Know your priorities and plan accordingly.
Other items that work well in a bedroom and don’t take up much space are a quilt rack, a full-length mirror, a floor lamp and a television stand.
Choosing the Right Table for Your Living Room
July 1, 2011
Coffee tables, end tables, side tables and library tables are some of the options for the living room or family room. Here, too, you’ll find different sizes, styles and construction, but the quality of your tables isn’t as crucial as it is for upholstered furniture. A table should be sturdy, functional and appealing. Its size should relate to its use.
Coffee Table
The coffee table, as we know it, is a relatively new creation. After 1915, the low table in front of a sofa came into being for holding books, magazines, beverages and flowers, as well as for propping one’s feet upon. Before this, decorative painted metal trays were placed on a stand in front of sofas or chairs. The low coffee table was favored by designers as the alternative to its more refined cousin, the tea table. The tea table, which is generally higher, is often found in Victorian-style rooms and set in front of a straight-back settee. The low coffee table, with an average height of 15 inches, contributes to a more relaxing atmosphere and is the most obvious piece of furniture around which to arrange a sofa and chairs.
Alternatives to Traditional Coffee Tables: Ottomans, dining tables cut down to size, nesting tables, small tables of the same size placed side by side, a pedestal or large clay planter turned upside down and outfitted with a thick glass top, and a trunk suggest just a few of the ways you can create interesting tables. Wrought-iron garden tables make interesting coffee tables as well. If you find one in a yard sale but the frame is rusted and the top missing, it’s easy to restore with spray paint and a piece of wood or glass cut to fit the top.
Tea Tables
These tables are higher than coffee tables, 23 or 24 inches, and often smaller as well. They are perfect in front of a settee or straight-back chairs and can double as eating tables in small rooms that serve many purposes. A tea table is perfect in an apartment that lacks a dining room. No matter what style of furnishings you’ve chosen, even if it’s contemporary, an antique tea table is a nice small piece to consider as an interesting focal point or accent in a room. It can be used as is, or covered with a linen tea cloth or a full tablecloth hanging to the floor.
Occasional Tables
End tables, placed at either end of a sofa, are a relatively new invention, part of the twentieth century. They are used primarily for holding lamps, and while they often match, it isn’t a necessity for good design. End tables don’t even have to be made especially for that purpose.
I found a lovely tea table in a secondhand shop (“antiques shop” would elevate it beyond its station). It has a wooden Victorian-style base that I painted light gray. The top is a separate oval piece of beveled marble. I use it as an end table to hold a lamp and a few interesting objects.
Be creative, using an antique piece or something that wasn’t originally intended as a table at all. A sewing cabinet, for example, might make an interesting side table, as would a dry sink, an unusual plant stand or a serving cart from another era. Hand-stenciled and painted work tables from the 1800s are quite popular as end tables for sofas and bedsides. They often have a single drawer with a small, rectangular top. Those made in New England and Pennsylvania between 1820 and 1840 are currently in demand.
All-Purpose Tables
A library table is usually long and narrow and can be placed against a wall or behind a sofa for holding lamps, books, flowers or collections. These tables are wonderfully practical in the dining room for serving buffets or in a hallway, as well as the living room. Aside from being good-looking, a library table is a handy piece of furniture to press into service for holiday entertaining, even if, at this point, a party is the furthest thing from your mind.
Another table that could work well in a living room might be an occasional drop leaf that takes up little space when the leaves are folded but can be expanded to accommodate various uses. A large round table is often used in a corner or next to a sofa. If it is made of beautiful wood, leave it bare; if not, cover it with a pretty floor-length tablecloth. The top is of ample size to hold a lamp, a vase of flowers, a stack of books and some framed photographs.