Earthy, California Coastal Main Bedroom

This space on the first floor, which occupies a wing of the ‘L’ shape of the home, was maybe built as an addition after the original build in the 1930s and was labeled as ‘Dining Room’ on some old blueprints we found. Our house was labeled as being a ‘2 bedroom’- but there are no doors or doorways anywhere in the house except for the bathrooms, so it appears that entirety of the 2nd story loft was being treated as a bedroom as well as this whole wing of the house which included a small alcove that had been used as an office. It’s a fairly large space, but with windows on every wall, it is both light and airy and also presents challenges for the space. When we got the house, this room was…underwhelming, at best. It had been stripped of all character and everything looked almost yellow- the way white ages over time. A drab popcorn ceiling and outdated lighting along with stained white carpeting like the rest of the first floor. But we loved the windows and how open it felt to the outside views. Besides the windows, the most stand out feature was an original, river rock fireplace with bluestone hearth but it was falling apart and leaking and blackened from years of moisture and staining. The brass face was drowning out its beauty.

The first project in this room was to tear out the rug to see if any treasures awaited us underneath- and we got lucky. The original oak floors were beneath the carpet but they were beat to hell and covered in tons of paint and popcorn splatter. We refinished these floors and decided on a medium brown tone. The almost white oak was beautiful but I wanted something to ground the room a bit more. Another dream of mine would be to have a lofted ceiling with beams in this space but alas, the less-than-8 foot ceiling covered in popcorn could not be lofted. We could not fathom scraping any more popcorn so we opted for a pine planking across the ceiling which we white washed. I quite liked how the lines of the warm woods pull the eye towards windows, making the room feel light and airy- almost a bit Scandinavian.

A warm white chosen specifically for how the light enters this room which faces north and south sits on the walls and a painting found at an estate sale and done on a piece of cloth from Greece combined with our sentimental driftwood sculpture we’ve made together over the years served as the inspiration for the room. One of my favorite colors is orange, and as a wedding present we had gotten a linen duvet set in a burnt orange color from a maker on Etsy. This room could have easily leaned too beachy given our previous life in San Diego so I wanted to balance it with the autumn palette of New England’s fall. The most special pieces in the room were the midcentury bedroom set which someone was throwing out- their walnut and burlwood finish bring a warm touch to the room combined with the structure of their lines. As always, all furniture and the decor in this room was sourced second hand or made.

After years of searching for a sofa table that would fit perfectly under the windows and bring a rustic, nature-infused touch to the space and not finding anything, I finally decided to build my own. The walnut slab table sits precisely under the window, bringing a sense of organic movement to the space which is otherwise dominated with linear features and serves as a piece of art.

Through the room there is an alcove with a steeply sloped ceiling that was an office but we converted to a closet and would potentially serve as a nursery. We installed some salvaged french doors to separate the space- they will be painted after the fireplace mantle gets installed and handles found at the salvage shop put on. On the other side of the room, the bathroom which I hate but will be the last thing that gets done in the house and will be a major undertaking (but I can’t wait for that day). A minisplit system was installed to replace our dead furnace and lack of climate control so unfortunately that head stands out and I’ll hopefully incorporate a design element to camoflauge it better in the future.

The trim work framing the room and tying the fireplace to the window is odd- clearly something that was updated in the remodel in the 80s. Drywall covers the upper portion of the fireplace- something that if I had the budget to replace should I be wrong, I’d love to rip off and see what perhaps the rest of this wall originally looked like. Masons that specialize in restoration cleaned and brought this fireplace and chimney back to life this year- spending this year without leaking will be a key achievement. The last remaining project in this room for now, besides potentially some window treatments, will be installing an antique wormwood beam as a mantle to bring this fireplace back to life as well as updating the scones above it and hanging our wedding pictures in some glass frames.

Whenever we eventually get to Phase 3 of renovations, this main bathroom and the mudroom that enters to this area will be redone with space redistributed. And at that time, perhaps we will finally get a bedroom door and some privacy! This room has really been the definition of slow design- with elements being updated over the last 5 years and creating the space with what I come across as I go. The whole budget for this room was very minimal, with the exception of the cost of repairing all the masonry. If a larger budget had been available, I likely would do all sorts of projects in here. But the small, DIY budget, has really gone a long way in transforming this room into an airy, calming space that ties the outside in.