ALL FOR A GREAT NIGHT’S SLEEP
Trend watch: Bedrooms are getting plenty of design attention
BY SUSAN KELLY
The bed. It provides a natural focal point in the design of a bedroom. And heading into 2015, it’s becoming even more of a personal expression. Think of it as a manifesto of what spells style, comfort and luxury for you.
“There are so many ways to make a very individual and distinctive design statement now, with a new elegance coming through,” says Lianne Carioto, interior designer and vice president at Design Louis George on Côte de Liesse Rd.
Consider the headboard. While it’s a chic option, upholstering one is not new. What is: cladding the bed frame and sometimes the legs as well in fabric. Carioto finds this modish trend accounts for 80 per cent of the beds sold now. And the fabric adds another dimension of texture and colour, and a soft surface in counterpoint to hardwood flooring and furniture.
The styles of upholstered beds and fabric choices are endless. Most of us prefer a classically elegant look and the feeling of velvet or linen, says the designer, who often takes a hand in customizing them.
One audacious trend takes headboards to new heights, more than six feet or even up to the ceiling. Just don’t make the mistake of buying a bedroom suite; the matching look is out, according to Carioto, who prefers to start with a beautiful and distinctive bed, and coordinate the room around it.
There are highs and lows in bed design – quite literally. “We can raise or lower bed height and make it harder or softer by using a platform or box spring artfully,” says Brad Warner, president and managing partner of sales at Marshall Mattress.
And so this Ontario-based company that began making mattresses in 1900 has moved beyond plain blue ticking to damasks and other luxury woven fabrics, and has added tasteful touches of piping, borders, and quilting that echo bed design.
For the bedding atop it, a cottony expanse of crisp white sheeting is always inviting. This is especially true if it evokes the luxury of the world’s most sought-after boutique hotels. What’s passé: insisting on very high thread counts. Savvy consumers know that the source of the cotton and how it is woven is more important in sheeting.
A passion for prints has also emerged in bed linens. Over-sized motifs are still popular, and the trendiest take inspiration from Moroccan tiles or old-fashioned floral chintz. And jacquard prints – once so overdone and then so outré – are back. Prints that are unique, almost like works of art for the bed, are also a strong trend, according to the designer, who cites linens with hand-blocked prints by Toronto design house Kiska as an example.
This new eclecticism presents more options than ever. “Almost anything goes now,” says Carioto. “If you like a trend, there’s always a way to make it yours.”
