Congratulations on finding
the “home of your dreams” and if the
bedroom problem you are describing is the only
irritant in your new residence, then you are indeed
lucky. It is a problem that I have encountered
any number of times over the years and have been
able to solve with great success on many occasions
providing the client maintained an open mind and
was willing to step out of the predictable mode
and into the creative.
I have been in any number
of homes, not only in Las Vegas, but in California
and other parts of the country as well, in great
big houses and ones that were quite small, and
I can’t tell you the number of times I have
encountered this same scenario. For some reason
homeowners seem to revert back to what they knew
growing up. Perhaps there is some sort of comfort
to be found in doing so: if it worked for mother
and dad and they lived like that for 40 years,
etc. etc. Easier to stay within the box where
furniture belongs propped up against the wall
and there’s plenty of room to walk around.
How sad! Don’t do it. Don’t settle
for the norm, but step over to my side, open your
eyes and your mind and begin to see the possibilities.
We are living in a time
when convenience is important to us – and
comfort. And why not since we have to work so
darn hard to afford a lifestyle as good or better
than our parents had. We want to enjoy great views
and have rooms that we can point to with pride
and satisfaction. Most of us take every opportunity
we can to upgrade our homes or move on to something
bigger and better and yet we seem to continue
down the same old design paths. For sure we can
change styles and colors and even surfaces, but
what about the underlying foundation of “placement?”
This seems to be the Achilles heel for many of
us.
Not too long ago an old
client of mine called and asked me to help with
the new home he and his wife had just purchased.
I considered this client a friend and always admired
his work on stage and screen and so I happily
accepted his offer. The home was located in a
picturesque golfing community and as this client
was a celebrity he had been offered a prime lot
with a magnificent view – much like the
one you are describing in your home.
I toured some of the
models with him and even visited some of the other
homes with floorplans similar to his and I truly
couldn’t believe what I was seeing. While
the other houses may not have commanded quite
the same view as my client’s did, they were
still missing the boat as far as I was concerned.
All of the homeowners had followed their natural
inclination to utilize either of the two long
walls in the master bedroom for placement of their
bed and night tables. The fact that they would
be “missing the show” didn’t
seem to register with them at all.
All of these homes had
beautiful scenery right outside their bedroom
patio doors. In addition, they all featured fireplaces
that had been built-in to the corner of the room
next to the doors. When I first walked into my
client’s bedroom and came face to face with
his glorious view I knew exactly what I wanted
to do with the space. The question was would the
homeowner (and his wife) go for my suggestion,
or would it be too “over the top”
even for these creative and well-traveled people?
I took a breath and presented my case for going
against a time-honored tradition.
I pointed out Nature’s
beauty right outside their window and the fireplace
that they would enjoy on the those cold nights
in the desert and asked them how it compared with
the long walls on either side of their room as
that would be their view if they went ahead and
placed their furniture in the same way as their
neighbors had. I went on to say that in order
to see the fireplace and the lake outside they
would forever be forced to turn their heads to
the side for a quick look and then back again
to see the TV which would no doubt be at the foot
of their bed. (This was before the invention of
the plasma TVs that can now be hung on the wall.)
My clients barely paused
to look at each other before they both smiled
and I could see the light bulb going on in their
heads as they quickly grasped the concept of floating
their new custom bed (that I would be designing
for them) in the middle of their room, directly
in front of the patio doors so that all at once
– abracadabra- they would be able to enjoy
the up/down TV, the fireplace, and the greenery,
lake and mountains beyond. They were thrilled
– and so was I. And in case you’re
wondering why I just didn’t advise them
to place the bed on the wall opposite the French
doors, it simply wasn’t feasible as that
wall was of course not wide enough and was broken
by the entrance to the master bath. How sad and
how typical of so many architects I remember thinking
at that time.
And once these savvy
people got with the program, all the pieces of
the puzzle fell quickly into place. I told them
that the bed would be centered on a platform in
order to maximize the view. (Always a great help,
by the way.) And because they needed storage space
I would design a bed totally self-contained with
drawers on the back-side of the headboard that
would appear as a somewhat curved chest as you
entered the room .
There would be night
tables built-in on either side of the bed with
pull-out task lighting above. The gentleman’s
side of the bed would feature a touch-latch door
in the night table that would conceal his DVD
which of course would be connected to his hidden
TV at the foot of the bed in a cabinet that was
an integral part of the overall design. He would
be able to press a button to open and close the
drapes and another to work the fireplace. We would
add a built-in chest of drawers on one of the
long walls to complement the bed and give them
additional storage space. And finally the walls
on either side would feature large abstract paintings
from their collection.
And so you see dear reader
how placement of furniture in a room is fundamental
and can lead to amazing results if you don’t
fall into the trap of looking but not really seeing.
Go beyond what you are used to and look for the
excitement and interest that “design”
can engender. Remember that with good design –
form always follows function – as I have
demonstrated here with my bed design. And even
if your space isn’t quite large enough to
center a bed, try to at least angle it and/or
place it on a step-up platform. You will see the
wonderful results with relatively simple changes
like these..
