Live Breathe Decor

It’s true that there’s a lot to be said for a serene, pale bedroom with no colour or pattern, and there are some wonderful examples of these sorts of bedrooms around. But sometimes a bedroom cries out for colour – especially if it’s a dark room or a room with no architectural interest, or a child’s room. And often, colour and pattern in a bedroom are a way of simply making the room fun, beautiful and enjoyable to be in.

If you really like a colour, why not go to town in your bedroom – after all, it’s your most personal space. Like in this blue bedroom (above), a real mix of pattern and trim looks fantastic, even though there’s not a lot of variation in the shades of blue used. I love that link-style fabric on the headboard!

kit kemp - haymarket hotel

 Kit Kemp is a master (or mistress!) of layering pattern (above and below in the Haymarket) over pattern and mixing patterns that most people would think don’t ‘go together’. But there are no rules! These bedrooms are sophisticated and co-ordinated but still look interesting and unique.

I think this is from House Beautiful (above). One bold pattern in a relaxing shade of blue is used on the walls, to cover the side tables and on the linens. The blocks of white keep it from looking over-the-top.

via kelly green

 I love the layering of geometric fabrics in the bedrooms above and below. The colour palettes are limited to three colours to allow for a little more craziness with the mix of patterns.

This black, white and blue bedroom is an interesting play on shapes (above); a really curvy bedhead topped with a simple box pelmet, and lots of geometrics. I love the nickel side table (I have the same one at home- it’s my favourite because it’s easy to move around, wipe down and impervious to boys who think it’s really a drum!).

elle decor san francisco showhouse

Don’t you love the hand-painted wall in this bedroom? I’d love to try this at home sometime! My favourite part of this room is the black and white tailored pelmet and drapes and the pop of blue in the lamp and morroccan pouffe.