Crisp Autumn Bedroom

I recently put a house up on the market for which I needed to design a master bedroom. Since the house was for sale during fall, I wanted to create a crisp, seasonal look that would have a wide appeal. I kept the room minimally furnished in order to appeal to the most buyers, but with this basic beginning, you could layer and accessorize to create a truly lovely autumn-inspired room.

Because the room was intended to be autumn inspired, I knew I was going to be using some touches of bright fall colors. For this accent, I chose a deep, claret red. To give an elegant feel and give the red room to breathe, I chose a classic black and tan color scheme. I then added white to brighten and neutralize the palette.

The Room
I painted the walls a warm neutral, using an eggshell sheen. I prefer to use a low-sheen paint because flat paint gets so dirty so quickly, but shiny paint doesn't look elegant. I painted the trim in a gorgeous creamy white.

The Bed
The only bed I had to use was a country-style pine bed. I loved the bed as is, but I knew I wasn't going to be using it in the new house and needed a crisp, sharp bedframe to give the room a focal point. I painted the bed black, using "Dark Secret," again from Glidden. Although the curved top and spindles looked classic country in pine, painted black they add just enough interest and charm to an otherwise very linear bed.

The bed before:

I dressed the bed with white, high-thread count sheets for luxury, a natural cotton cable-knit blanket for a shot of texture and a spa-like feel, and that gorgeous red on a fluffy duvet cover, piled at the foot of the bed. Finally, I added matching pillows in red and another neutral textural element with the front pillow shams, quilted with a seashell motif in golden tan thread. I chose those shams because I liked how they added additional texture, and pulled more of the golden tan from the walls into the bed. In addition, the seashells add to the spa-like quality.

Acessories
The largest accessory in the room is the wool dhurrie rug on the floor. The dhurrie rug is a flat weave rug that is durable and textural yet inexpensive. This particular one features irregular stripes in grey, cream, olive green and the red, a perfect match to our room. Otherwise the accessories were kept to a bare minimum. Just two matching black metal side tables with punched tops (from IKEA), and two very tall, black metal lamps with gorgeous red silk shades embroidered in golden tan thread in a scrollwork that mimics the shape of the seashells. The window treatments are deliberately simple, just a black metal rod and semi-sheer white panels. If I were going to live in this room, I would have continued adding layers until the room had a more personalized, charming feel.

Notes
While this room has a strong, even dramatic, color palette which makes it striking, it has several elements that help it to also feel very serene and peaceful. First, the paint color and trim are very soothing and spa-like, and the whites and tans are 80% of the color in the room, with the black and red providing the accents. Also, elements are repeated often in the room, and that repetition is soothing. For example, the curves on the headboard, the lampshade embroidery and seashell shams have similar shapes. Also, there are repetitive stripes in the headboard spindles, the damask duvet cover and the wool dhurrie rug. The stripes are especially soothing because they are inherently repetitious, providing a soothing quality to the space.

So, that's what I chose to do. What do you think? And what about you? Have you freshened up a room with seasonal accents? Let me know!