Country Bedroom Decorating Ideas - Part 2

Country style decorating is one of the most popular themes to use in a bedroom, and part two of this two part series provides tips and ideas to help you create just the right touch of country style in your own bedroom!

Style Pointers

Head Boards

Natural materials, practical furnishings, and restrained but rich color schemes typify country style. Note the features pinpointed here to help you recreate the look.

ACCESSORIES

Traditional touches include an old cradle housing dolls and a Shaker-style peg rail.

WINDOWS

Roman blinds in unbleached cotton and off-white painted window frames and reveals add to the sense of natural light.

FURNITURE

An antique mahogany bed with turned wood posts and acorn-shaped finials is comfortably dressed with crisp cotton bed linen, a checked blanket, and traditional quilt. A Windsor chair and simple wooden bench provide seating.

WALLS

Vertical tongue-and-groove paneling, painted teal blue with a grapevine motif frieze, makes a rich backdrop, lifted by the off-white ceiling and paintwork.

FLOOR

Varnished pine floorboards are softened with simple, plain, and striped throw rugs, echoing the wall and ceiling colors.

Furnishings

The bed: This is the focal point of the room. Interestingly, early American antique beds would today be considered too narrow and short, so oldish and reproduction beds are better in terms of both comfort and cost. Four-poster beds with or without canopies, or half-testers with two headposts and a small canopy, in dark, polished old wood such as bird's-eye maple, mahogany, or fruitwood are ideal. Curved, carved headboards and carved finials - fruit and flower motifs are typical - on slender, turned posts add to the look. Simple brass beds are equally suitable. On a budget, decorate plain pine furniture with Pennsylvania Dutch-type stenciling, perhaps repeating stenciled wall motifs.

Other furniture: Freestanding, dark, polished wood is best; keep away from built-in units or matching suites. Authentic choices include huge old armoire-type wardrobes, 'high boys' and 'lowboys', which can double as desks or dressing tables. At the foot of the bed, place a stenciled dowry chest, blanket chest, or old sea trunk. Candle stands and washstand cupboards make authentic occasional tables; on a budget, cover an inexpensive table with a floor-length patchwork or white damask cloth.

Accessories: Layers of fresh-looking bed linens, topped by a patchwork, applique, or plain quilt, a white chenille bedspread, or a woven coverlet can give an anonymous bed a country look. Crisp white piecework, crochet or lacework cushions, runners, and tablecloths add a softening influence. Display simple vases, jugs, and baskets of garden flowers and house plants. On the walls, hang framed needlework samplers, or unsophisticated paintings or prints of fruits and flowers, domestic animals, or country scenes.

A related decorating theme you might like is French Country: http://www.diyhomedecorating.com/Decorating-Styles/french-country-decorating.php

Country Bedroom Decorating Ideas - Part 2

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