One Room - Three Looks (plus one bonus look bc I like you folks)

August 24, 2018

For those of you who didn't know...my husband and I bought a house earlier this year! (You can follow along with the renos in my insta stories HERE)

Although not my first house, it's our first house together and you better BELIEVE it's my first California house. Being an "American" house (as opposed to my very humble, very tiny 1920s first house in Winnipeg, Canada) and being located in The Valley (originator of "the suburbs") this house is quite a lot bigger. Meaning: We have a guest room!

So when LA based furniture company Joybird reached out to me to see if we could collab on something, my first thought was GUEST ROOM BED!  We already had a queen mattress that our guests used on the floor (glam, I know) plus side tables, etc...the missing puzzle piece was a comfy bed. 

I also knew that this room would be the perfect place to experiment with colour, texture and pattern...basically a practice room for all the different pillow combos I could come up with. The key: Keeping the foundation of the room simple so the textiles can shine!

If you have commitment issues when it comes to the colour scheme of a room, this is a great option. White walls, medium tone woods and a bed that goes with everything and you'll be set for years. This also allows you to indulge in the fun of grabbing new throw pillows and bedding every once in awhile...and we all know that throw pillows are to home decor what shoes are to fashion so...DECISION MADE.

After looking through their site obsessively I decided on the Bryce bed in the Cordova Eclipse fabric. Since I'm a designer and work with textiles every day I felt really confident choosing my fabric based on the website images, but if you're not sure you can order free swatches from them HERE, which I highly recommend! 

The Cordova Eclipse fabric was exactly what I expected it to be. Overall it reads as a medium dark grey, however there are so many colours woven into the chunky texture that it can easily work with a multitude of colour combos. Additionally it doesn't read as overly cool, because of the rusty hues integrated into the weave, so you don't have to worry much about the "temperature" of the fabric...a VERY common problem with greys!

Two other fabrics I would recommend for a neutral scheme are: Laguna Pepper and Cordova Mineral. In general I think fabrics with a textural weave are easier to live with. Although they might look very retro and chunky in these swatches, they're actually quite subtle in real life...that's why you get the samples folks! 

Look #1 - I'm Blushing

This vintage textile wall hanging was the obvious starting point for this look. Ever since I found this piece I've been DYING to create a look around it. Mission accomplished. I will die another day.

Before we start though, these wall mounted lights are vintage IKEA that are no longer available. I'M SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS BUT PLEASE DON'T SEND ME A MILLION EMAILS ABOUT THEM... PLEASE!

Although I personally know nothing about makeup I've heard that a good foundation is key so let's go with that analogy here. I started with modern organic cotton bedding from California Cotton Home in their "Drift" pattern for all three looks. Mixing simple modern elements with more feminine details is a great way to create balance in a room. The pillow layering started with some wavy watercolour pillows from Sonia Rykiel Home (these are from an old collection but keep an eye on her stuff, it's so fun!) I then topped them with our new blush pink linen pillowcases , Steel Grey Velvet pillows and finished off the layers with our  Palm Leaf embroidered linen lumbar pillow. YES...WE'RE DOING LINEN PILLOWCASES NOW! We can talk about this more later, promise. 

At the end of the bed I used a vintage African textile in a medium grey colour. A throw at the end of the bed is always nice, but it doesn't HAVE to be a throw people! Any fabric that adds some texture or colour will do! Unless you live in a freezing cold climate (I'm looking at you Canada) in which case...treat your guests right, give them that extra blankie!

Look #2 - Desert Trip

This look is all about warmth and coziness, but in a really crisp modern way. This desert hued colour palette was again inspired by the textile art, a one of a kind African Korhogo cloth wallhanging (in the shop HERE)  What can I say; I was having a real "go big or go home" moment. Or rather "go big AND go home". Oy. 

The earthy desert shades immediately made me pull these '70s inspired quilted pillowcases out of my linen closet. Who am I kidding, I opened the cupboard and a million textiles fell out, but nonetheless, my search for these beauties was successful. I bought them last year from CB2, and although they're no longer available they've launched a similarly groovy collection HERE.

Behind them I added the matching "Drift" pillowcases from California Cotton Home then layered in two different sized throw pillows, a subtle grey/off white Geometric 20" Square and a two tone mudcloth lumbar in rust/cream patterns. 

One thing I love about this look is that it proves your pillow layering game doesn't have to be all about symmetry...loosen up people! 

Look #3 - (not so mean) Mr. Mustard

I thought something classic was in order after the desert frenzy of that last look, so for this next kit I tightened the colour palette up, focusing on mustard yellow and my unending love for this colour. 

Creating a really tight colour palette lets you play with texture and pattern. I also simplified things by adding in a geometric black and white piece of art in a minimal gold frame (art by Raymond Biesinger)  

The bedspread is a large African mudcloth textile that I tucked in tightly with a thin matelasse style white coverlet (that's what you see folded over at the top). The modern graphic of the California Cotton Home "Drift" pillowcases do a great job here balancing out the rustic nature of the African textiles. 

Since this look is all about texture I layered in some plush mustard velvet pillows from our fall collection, and a simple off white mudcloth lumbar pillow with a subtle grey pattern. There you have it folks, simple and classy...just like me (one can dream...and by "dream" I mean be totally delusional).

Look #4 - Folky & Cozy (bonus!)

At this point I was on a roll and had developed a possibly unhealthy obsession with seeing how many looks I could come up with for this bed. But alas, I have other responsibilities in life, and since I probably could have gone on forever I drew the line at look #4.

This kit was all about keeping things casual and cozy. I'm a huge collector of vintage sheets, so out came my most recent acquisition, which set the colour palette up front.

Since this look was casual I stuffed the duvet cover with a fluffy feather duvet and left the edges loose. I'm a big fan of an easy to maintain look (aka: I am bad at making my bed every day) Bold art balances out the "cute" factor of the vintage sheets. This piece is a poster for the FORM music festival in Arcosanti by the Fortoul Brothers (Aaron and I went last year, HIGHLY RECOMMEND).

The modern California Cotton Home "Drift" bedding again acts as the foundation. A couple of navy patterend pillowcases from Target blend in to the headboard while adding a bit of dimension.  Three different throw pillows tie in the colours of the patterned sheets; a solid mustard mudcloth, patterned Ochre mudcloth and Emerald green velvet lumbar all joined the team. 

So...One room...ALL THE LOOKS!

Creating a simple foundation is the key. All you need are some bedside tables and a great simple bed and you're ready to go! 

Thanks again to Joybird for sponsoring this post! If you're looking for mid-century inspired furniture made in the exact fabric you want (and Made in LA to boot!) look no further, these guys are golden!

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