by James Gallichio
A man’s bedroom is a direct reflection of himself.
Styling a bedroom is a personal affair. Like with personal style, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to a bedroom. It depends on several key factors; it depends on the room, depends on you style, depends on what feelings to want to elicit (within both yourself and others) when inside it.
Personally, I like a minimalistic look with a few classic cool items – I have an old slim wooden chemist’s filing cabinet I salvaged from my Nonna’s old house, a big sexy lamp and a few artistic pieces I’ve made here and there which I like to rotate from time to time – sometimes it’s a 10ft high Jeff Buckley Rasterbation I made; other times, it’s a winged-explosion of weird and wonderful photos from my adventures around the world. These things are all interesting to look at and create a warm, cool energy that I feel when I’m in there, as well as within other people feel when they see it.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
Bedsheets:
100% cotton sheets are the way to go. Always. Synthetic sheets feel shit and will make you sweat in summer. The higher the thread count the better. You can get some nice sheet sets (fitted + sheet + pillowcases) from places like Bed Bath and Table, there’s an outlet store at DFO and also one in Ivanhoe where you can usually get a set for $100-ish. Otherwise a decent sheet set will run you back about $150. Heavy-feeling sheets are the nicest (usually high thread count feels “heavier”).
Quilt covers
Keep it simple. It depends on the colours in your room/whether you have wood or carpet/what colour the wood or carpet is/what colour your curtains/everything else in your room is. If you’re starting from scratch, choose a neutral colour for your bedspread (I’d go with beige of white, or at least something predominantly beige or white. Personally I use a white quild cover which has thin blue pinstripes, looks very nice and inviting.
Doonas
Known as “comforters” to our friends across the Atlantic, doonas keep you warm on those cold winter nights. There are two basic fillings you can go for – natural or synthetic. Natural fillings are generally made from feathers or certain wools, while synthetic doonas are, well, synthetic. If you have allergies, or you want a vegetarian-friendly bedspread, then synthetic is the way to go.
For doona covers, plain is generally better. Avoid garish colours, and make sure it matches the walls, carpets and decor in your room – e.g. if you have a lot of pieces in your room made from dark woods and natural fibres, you’ll want a darker, earthy toned doona cover.
Here’s an exclusive HF tip – ALWAYS get a doona that’s the size bigger than your bed. If you have a queen bed, get a king doona. If you have a double bed, get a queen doona. Single bed, get a king single doona, etc. This creates a nice “overflowing” look for your bed. Obviously, you’ll have to buy a bigger doona cover too.
Lamps.
Here’s where you can get creative. As I said, I have this lamp that’s made of interwoven sticks that is the sexiest thing I have ever seen. There are a lot of really cool lamps going around, hell you can even make one – a friend of mine made what is possibly the coolest lamp ever – basically a big perspex enclosure with about 50 old burnt out lightglobes sitting inside it, with one working light in the middle (it’s hard to explain, if you’ve ever been to Section 8 in the Melbourne CBD, there’s something quite similar there). You can buy cheap lights from Ikea and put them inside anything that has some sort of canvas surrounding and it will look very cool and unique.
Blankets
Mohair or cashmere. Always. If you can afford it, that is – a mohair blanket will set you back at least $170, while a cashmere will be upwards of $400. But these are incredibly comfortable, and you cant go wrong.
Don’t skimp on a blanket. There is a major difference in quality between the things you find in Target/Big W and that which you will find David Jones, Bed Bath and Table and other homewear stores. Brand doesn’t matter, but quality does.
Antiques:
Adding an antique piece to your bedroom can add an element of charm to all but the most modern of bedrooms. If you want some really REALLY cool and interesting antiques/refurbished stuff, I cannot recommend Tarlo & Graham in Windsor highly enough. This is the holy grail for interesting and unique artifacts.
Read Up:
If you want ideas for what’s fashionable and/or contemporary in bedroom designs, or even to just get some inspiration, go to Border’s or Mag Nation and check out some of the design magazines they carry. There’s one called Wallpaper which comes to mind
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