Project Reveal: My Modern Meets Traditional Southern Living Primary Bedroom
- Nancy Lane
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
For years, just like so many of you, we never really put a ton of effort into creating a bedroom that felt finished. We toned down the yellow walls from the previous owner to more of a neutral beige paint on the walls as soon as we moved in that worked with everything brought over from our previous home. After all, I had twin toddlers and was pregnant with a third baby when we bought this house so I was more than a little busy, growing and raising littles. I didn't need pretty at the time. I just wanted to sleep! Ha!
Over time I added green silk shantung drapery panels, neutral bedding, and various geometric and floral pillows depending on the season...all perfectly fine and benign. But once we replaced all of the windows in the house, it led to all new window treatments and finally once the bathroom project was complete, the bedroom just felt off next to our glorious bathroom space.
Continuing with the rest of our primary suite reveal - today I'm sharing our primary bedroom and the oasis it has come to be for the two of us! Of course, you know me, once I start brainstorming a project, I like to pull inspiration photos to see what things I repeatedly gravitate towards. You can see my initial inspiration board above, when I really thought I wanted to go all white and bright like I did in our bathroom. While I did go in the opposite direction wall wise, I did in fact stay in a neutral position when it came to our new custom window treatments and our beautiful new upholstered bed, both similar to what you see in the initial concepts board below.
Project Reveal: My Modern Meets Traditional Southern Living Primary Bedroom
It all started with this uber amazing fully upholstered bed - super simple lines but oh so chic. I loved that the footboard that wasn't too high, but still would cover up possible pulled-out sheets and give the room an understated foundation to work around.
Mind you, we switched this bed out a couple of years ago, and each piece and decision after that was done slowly, with the majority happening around the time of the bathroom renovation. It's a nice reminder that not everything has to be done all at the same time, amidst family responsibilities and life stuff. Call me the queen of slow decorating in my own home but I like it that way or rather, I don't mind it. Its all about prioritizing after all and we've always put ourselves last in the scheme of things but happily we made it to the top of the list and I am here for it!
When we replaced the windows last year, I may have cried a few tears of joy because our previous wood windows were all single-pane. When it was cold outside, they would frost over on the inside with condensation, and I would literally have to raise the blinds and towel down each individual pane by hand. In. Every. Room. Of. The. House. Not anymore!
I can't tell you how glad I am that phase of life is over! Once the windows were replaced, I knew we'd need to replace the old window coverings which were inside mount and honestly were in need of an update. This time we splurged and installed automated blinds in a gorgeous natural grass shade that I can lower or open up with a hit of a button by my bedside. 10/10 recommend doing that in your space! Light from the eyebrow window above doesn't bother me but since I always think five steps ahead, I used a custom length traverse rod with the custom drapery panels. One pull of a hidden rod and the curtains completely close off the wall of windows like magic.
Early in the design process I originally contemplated doing a mural behind the bed to make it super special, but that little bump out wall you see that naturally separates the sleeping from the seating area caused my eye to twitch in thinking about the return. It was a blunt end to a nightmare for my mind that loves symmetry and I decided this wasn't the space for a mural after all. But as one door closes, another window opens and I found this gorgeous geometric wallpaper from Mitchell Black and thought why not go crazy and do this on the ceiling instead?? The hubs, the smartest man I know, said he trusted me, and I just went for it, any naysayers be damned. I don't know about you but I love how it turned out!!
It's also not lost on me that I have a plethora of stripes in this room - I just love them so much! I'd find striped pillows in my search for client accessories, and scoop them up for maybe this person, or that person, maybe me in the end...#guilty. But they play well against each other and even with the striped chair next to the dresser (more on that later) and again, I always tell my clients, if you love something, get it and we'll figure out how to use it somewhere!
Our two nightstands are heirloom pieces that we purchased over the years from a few favorite high end vendors, as our budget allowed. I wanted them to complement the dresser we bought when we were first married. I'm definitely sentimental, and I love that some of our pieces have been with us since the beginning of our marriage and still ring true of our style sensibilities! Its definitely a modern meets traditional married with more than a touch of Southern Living style house we live in that reflects who we are, what we love, and what we hold dear in our hearts.
This chair belonged to my husband's grandmother, who used it through many decades of her life, all the way to the end. It definitely was worn and well-loved, so my husband took it to be reupholstered years ago before he even met me and picked a fabric almost identical to the original, and brought it right back to life! Did I ever tell you that the day I met him, I just knew he was the one for me? True story y'all. He's a keeper. I've had that Chiang Mai pillow for years, hand made by moi! I've always loved this print (in every colorway to boot!) and it ties in well with my twins' artwork from their very early years. I've always had these hanging separately in our house but after the most recent updates, I moved everything around and found that these fit well in this little space next to the dresser.
This chair also belonged to my husband's grandparents. Good taste runs in our family y'all, what can I say? I've had this large oversized coastal print that I scored on Facebook marketplace of all places. Originally I bought this for a client project but ended up going in a different direction. You know that I never met a coastal landscape I didn't like so this one just floated around my office space until one day during renovations, I walked out into this space which had blank walls at the time and it hit me. Instead of going back with the previous gallery of family photos, I decided to use a singular piece. I love this piece, in spite of the fact that it's a reproduction giclée, because it reminds me so much of my island home near the marshes in Savannah.
That side table obscured above belonged to my mom and dad. It's another treasured piece that I will have forever somewhere in my home. This entire section of the room is a tribute to family in one way or another, and I wouldn't have it any other way! I reframed the family photos from the previous gallery wall which used to be heavy both in frame sizing and dark walnut coloring. In our newly appointed space, I kept things light but timeless and classic with thin gold frames and larger warm white custom mattes.
One last nod to my Southern roots and Savannah marshes is found in the new ceiling fixture, from Regina Andrew, aptly from the River Reed collection.
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In all honesty, I wish I had prioritized our spaces earlier, but if we ever do move, I'm telling you right now that if need be, our future primary bedroom and bathroom spaces will absolutely be at the top of the list for a redesign.
You spend more time in your bedroom than probably any other room in your house, and I really think that it's such a gift to give yourself to have a space that feels like you and that you want to be in - a space that brings you joy just by merely walking in, and gives you that sense of relaxation and rejuvenation, similar to walking into a luxury resort hotel. You deserve it ;)
Stay tuned later this month to see our dining room transformation!
