Finishing Up a Large Primary Bedroom

This homeowner contacted me for help finishing up their large primary bedroom.

Oh, what a nice big space to have! However, finishing up a room like this to appear more thoughtfully designed can be puzzling. Anyone can wonder how to find a rug big enough, how to make it feel cozy and what to hang on those big, bare walls!

Let’s take a look at this bedroom.

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Photos of a Large Primary Bedroom

This photo is taken from the entry to the room, so you are looking over a vast amount of floor to see the head of the bed between the two windows. The bathroom double doors are there to the left.

This person has furniture that they want to keep, so I will be working with that. A mid-century modern type style is desired with a need for a rug and something for those walls. The walls were recently painted so we’re staying with the creamy white.

There is a dresser and a media cabinet in this room. Below is the entry door to the room. See all that floor and wall space?

Door to the bedroom showing this big open space.

Two upholstered swivel lounge chairs looking small against the wall.

The two art pieces above the bed were recently purchased. I liked those and thought they fit well over the bed, so they can stay. I will use the navy blue color and caramel colors as a color palette.

New art to stay above the bed.

The first thing I want to address is the layout. Even if you have a huge tv, that is a long room for viewing a tv from the bed or even the chairs. I offered up two layout options.

Option One Layout - Move the bed wall.

Normally, I would put the bed where it is located now. I usually like to lay a bedroom out where you see the head of the bed when you walk in.

However, with it situated on the wall it is on, a big gap is created in the space and the tv is so far away from the bed. So, I like the idea of having the bed and tv opposite each other in the shorter length of the room. 

I tried putting the bed on the bathroom door wall, which would make sense for seeing the head of the bed when you walk in the room, but it feels a bit pushed too far down toward the wall there because of the bathroom double doors.

So, I put it on the opposite wall, the wall with the entrance to the room, and it seems to work really well. I have a floor plan sketch, below.

That door at the bottom of the sketch is an exterior door to the back yard. The hallway has a door and that is the main entrance.

One thing I don't like is to have two chairs on a long wall, like they were shown in one of the photos. They just don't seem very inviting there and usually feel rather dwarfed. Typically in a bedroom, we put them by the end of the bedroom where the windows are. If we relocate the bed, then we can move the chairs down there by the windows.

I'd like to see new draperies in that navy color (picked up in the art over the bed), to add some interest and a cozier look to that wall. It's almost like painting a wall when you install draperies.

I'd make them a bit bigger overall than what is there, raising the rod and widening the overall area so that there is more fabric covering the wall. With the two chairs there and a substantial piece of art in a blue gray color tone, it will be a nice vignette. 

Here's the art I'm recommending there. 

Add a floor lamp to this vignette.

Floor lamp by chairs

I did select another table for between the two chairs, I 'd just like to see something more substantial there.

And here’s a sketch of that wall with the art, two chairs, floor lamp, new side table and draperies.

Some rugs come in a 12 x 15' size and that was the size I was looking for. That size will fill the room pretty well, without having to do two rugs or do a custom size. Here’s the one I like the best.

I do have an option here, but this is 11'-6" wide, not quite 12'.

I found a nice art piece for above the dresser, it's a photo of clouds, and seems to have a nice dark, navy color. Sometimes you can't tell really about the color until it arrives when you buy online, but I'd like to see something there that speaks to the navy drapery at the other end of the room. 

Here’s how the art scales on this wall above the dresser.

I also like a large, vertical piece that is opposite the entry door when you walk in. That is a long wall too, and some kind of strong vertical is needed beside that tv cabinet.

All of the art is going a long way to add contrast in this room.

Here’s how the art and furniture scales on the wall. The big vertical art piece is directly across from the main entrance of the room.

I'd put the existing bench underneath it, as that will help ground it. I feel like that bench looks a little small and leggy and something more substantial that is all fabric would work better at the end of the bed.

I'd do the new bench in a navy fabric too, so you would have draperies, art and this bench as the contrasting accent color. If you go to the website you can see the bench comes in various fabrics. Go for the navy, get a sample before you order and check it with the other navy colors in the room, like the draperies, etc. 

I selected more new lamps too, a metal, conical lamp for the dresser and then a fun marble/woven shade lamp as a possible replacement for the white bedside lamps. 

Bedside lamps

Lamp on dresser

Here’s how it all comes together.

Option Two Layout - Make a bigger seating group.

If they want to keep the bed where it is, then they can add more furniture.

There is enough room for a whole seating group on one side of the room and the bed on the other, like a proper hotel suite! :-)

You could add a small sofa with the two lounge chairs down by the tv. You can see my optional layout, below.

I'd add something like a triptych or diptych of art on the long wall.

Possible triptych or diptych art for the long wall.  The homeowner preferred more modern art but also liked landscapes. These sepia tones were nice and repeated the caramel colors of the rug and wood furniture in the room. These are each 40” wide, so they will take up some space on that wall.

Then I might do a full length mirror beside the dresser, rather than art there, because I'd keep the navy art over the dresser. If the mirror is used, then I’d make sure to have a big piece of art on the same wall to achieve that contrast and some color.

I'd do the sofa in a navy fabric, much like what I did previously for the bench. That will help spread the navy around the room. 

This sofa comes in a navy blue fabric at a 72" wide version https://rstyle.me/+SHTltNOR6z6r6UASLVPyEg

For a rug, you could go to a local carpet store and look at their patterned carpet that you can make into a rug. Nourison is a brand that I use sometimes and you can have the carpet bound to any size you want. I have a 12 x 17 drawn on the optional floor plan. 

Here’s a storyboard of the optional items, below.

More about my Designed in a Click service is linked here. I’ll be getting back to doing more of these mid-summer, so start thinking about which room you would like help with. Meanwhile, check out a few more similar consultations I’ve done, linked below.