Blissful Bedrooms
In a lush estate in New Jersey horse country, the bedrooms are designed as much for living as for slumber.
Perchance To Dream: The owner’s teenage daughter set this bedroom design in motion by selecting the wallpaper. To keep the look “cozy and calm,” the designer kept other patterns to a minimum. Crystal-studded bedding and pillows suggest the night sky and invite restful slumber.
When it comes to decorating, many homeowners concentrate on rooms for entertaining, giving short shrift to private areas of the house. “That wasn’t the case with my client in New Jersey horse country,” says designer Lila Munem. “When we finished decorating the family room, the hub for gatherings, the owners asked me to move on to the next phase—the bedrooms.
“That made total sense,” she adds. “We spend at least a third of our lives in the bedroom, and the quality of that environment has a direct effect on how we sleep and our sense of well-being.” The owners recognized this, and they wanted the master bedroom to be more than a place for sleeping. They asked Munem to add sectional seating so they could really stretch out with a book in front of the fire.
Open the door to a lush hideaway perfect for sleeping—and living.
Mauve And Mixed Metals: Many details of the younger daughter’s bedroom—from the Lucite ghost table to the off-white carpet to the two-tone monochromatic furniture—were chosen to create the impression of sleeping in a luxurious cloud. Mauve grass-cloth wallpaper by Thibaut contains subtle strands of silver and gold, which are echoed by the mixed metals of the vanity and bedside tables.
Two teenage daughters wanted some glamour in their bedrooms. The older one, age 15 at the time, presented Munem with a swatch of glittering wallpaper she loved. This was Munem’s jumping-off point for a feminine retreat where a girl could also write a mean term paper or study for midterms, but where any adult would feel at ease.
The younger daughter’s bedroom is equally feminine, and it, too, is designed to grow with its occupant. Luxe touches like a mirrored vanity and slipper chair encourage lingering.
“My philosophy is that every room in the house should be beautiful and designed for living,” says Munem. “When you’re nodding off to sleep or just waking up, beauty really matters!”
Cloud Nine: The low, flat planes of the seating, coffee table and bed create an almost Zen-like sense of calm and stability in this master bedroom and, not incidentally, raise the apparent ceiling height. A Safavieh area rug by Martha Stewart seems to float atop the wall-to-wall carpeting.
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