Bed Nook for a Blue Bedroom

Hey, Charlotte- what’s a bed nook. Well, fine reader, I had to figure that out for myself when my son requested one for his bedroom makeover.

As a reminder, we moved into this house a little more than a year ago and my youngest son finally got a good sized bedroom. (This was is room at the old house… cute, but not big.) Because everyone likes to see where we started, here’s the room when we moved in:

I sat down with my son and put together a design board with him. He had the following requests: the aforementioned bed nook, navy blue walls, a desk, a papasan chair, and… purple.

Building a Bed Nook

Step 1 was figuring out what my son meant by ‘bed nook’. For this space, it mean enclosing one corner around a bedframe and mattress and then trimming it out. Originally I was going to anchor boards onto the walls and then build out from there but then I remember this part of the house is old AF which means plaster walls, mystery studs and no telling what’s hiding. So the pivot was just to build a box around the bed.

It was at this point, that I was reminded that old houses don’t have level floors or walls or ceilings. I also had to maneuver around his baseboard heat. So far so good and the addition of trim and baseboards helped conceal some of these idiosyncracies. I tried to match the existing trim so his bed looks like it’s part of the room architexture.

I painted the walls a color match for BM Van Deusen Blue and then added that horizontal purple stripe.

Another detail that Arthur thought up was rehanging his assorted animal heads on the back of his bed nook. I wanted to find a way to make these seem a bit more cohesive and intention so I had the idea to outline each one as if it were sitting on a mounting plaque. Say it with me… the power of paint.

I also found that pay phone on FB marketplace (yes… it could actually work if I wanted it to) and we’re using is as a piggy bank. It’s heavier than I thought but thankfully I added a support bracket behind it into the bed wall.

Thanks to Better Homes and Gardens for sending over the perfect papasan chair from Walmart for the space. Looks vintage, but it’s actually a great boucle cushion and a durable metal frame. I found that wooden desk on Facebook marketplace. It’s a little deeper than I realized but it’s a nice solid piece. Same goes for the new dresser I picked up on Facebook- I sanded that one down and added some tung oil and then replaced the knobs with those purple ones my son chose here.

The roller shades are these ones from Two Page Curtains and that fun bulletin board was a collab with my favorite Felt Right. Because the space is so disjointed, I ended up layering three of these smaller patterned rugs.

I love designed spaces with and for my kids. Not only is is something we can share, but it’s also this wonderful opportunity to validate their opinions and gain insight into who they are and what they’re interested in. This room was no exception. There are little nuggets of my son and his personality all over the space and I just helped it come to life.