bedroom furniture?!

June 6, 2016 1:11 PM

What bedroom furniture goes with this bed?

I have the bed in the link above, but somehow have managed to either fail to ever acquire furniture OR to get rid of all of my other bedroom furniture (there are only so many times you can move secondhand IKEA). I have no idea how interior decorating works or what would look good with this light gray color (my general preference is for darker colors or super colorful colors, but I do know that normal brown would look awful with this, based on some previous pieces of furniture).

Things I want: a nightstand or two, a bookshelf, and a dresser similar to this long thin IKEA one (would any of the IKEA colors look good with the bed??). What else do people have in a bedroom? Maybe some lamps?

I'm willing to spend some money on this, but prefer CB2 prices over Crate & Barrel prices.

posted by aaanastasia to Home & Garden (11 answers total)

At a similar price point as CB2 but more mid-century styling, what about west elm? You don't say what other colors are in the room, but what about warming it up with gold? Nightstand, dresser. I'd just go ikea billy on bookshelf, in white or black-brown (just not birch--the birch reads super ikea, and the mid-brown just looks cheap). Then do a lamp in an accent color--I can see jewel tones looking nice with that bed.

Personally, I like to treat wood as a neutral and put it everywhere.
posted by mchorn at 1:22 PM on June 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

As you probably already know. All the other furniture in those pictures is awful, so don't do that. Brown is definitely out.

Start by building a theme color and adding accents. Your grey frame is a good theme color, but it might be hard to match. If you can get more in that color, you should definitely do that. You can also try supplementing with white or black (but not both).

For accents, hmm... That's hard. Normally for a grey I would recommend a small amount of a bright warm color, like an orange or a pink, but those contrast well with a cool grey. Your bed is a warm grey, so that might not work.

Trey gettin some color swatches and holding them up next to your frame to see what looks good to you. You can pick an accent that way.
posted by yeolcoatl at 1:22 PM on June 6, 2016

Here's a great West Elm dresser that will go with your bed if you choose one with the gray wood door. Then get two matching plain white nightstands with similar hardware. Get a gray, white, and brown modern bedcover and matching linens. Add a Moroccan rug in cream and gray. Add a couple modern matching lamps for the night tables. Find a bookcase with one of the wood finishes from the (admittedly expensive) dresser. A rustic/recycled wood bookcase would look good.
posted by Elsie at 1:38 PM on June 6, 2016

It's hard to tell from the pictures but it seems like solid white or some of the brass and glass or mirror suggestions should work with that bed either in the Ikea stuff or some of the West Elm suggestions.

I think the reason they decorated with the multi color wood panels was because they had a hard time bringing in woods that don't match, so they kind of went with "let's use all the woods!".
posted by bitdamaged at 2:26 PM on June 6, 2016 [2 favorites]

Yeah, I'd also go with white, probably in a lacquer or semigloss to play off the contrast of the wood on the bed. Me, I'd go silver with lamps and accessories and paint the wall behind the bed a deep lavender gray with pale lilac bedding. Or go gold/brass with accessories and do the wall peacock blue and emerald sheets.
posted by mochapickle at 2:36 PM on June 6, 2016

I think it would work really well with a splash of warm gold or bronze. Lilac would be very pretty, also.

I looked through CB2, and picked some things that I liked, for fun. They're not necessarily supposed to go together. You may or may not like them, but maybe they'll give you some feelings!

Lamps:
floor lamp
floor lamp 2
table lamp

Rugs:
code rug
hide rug
jute rug

Other stuff:
mirror
wall shelf
wall shelf
curtains
clock
clock 2
clock
plant
plant 2
posted by wym at 3:34 PM on June 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

I think blue would do really nice. The MALM nightstand comes in turquoise. As does the dresser. I think blue, whites, and golds will look well. I don't think darker colors will work with the grey-wash tone. That wood tone reads more casual and beachy or farm aesthetic with light and airy accents rather than dark, formal, with bold colors.
posted by Crystalinne at 4:39 PM on June 6, 2016

Best answer: Grey is a neutral. That means it works well with other neutrals like black, white, cream, and other medium greys. It also works well with bright colors like jewel tones and pastels. The reason brown furniture doesn't go with it is that the dark brown is too colorful AND not colorful enough, so it clashes.

Some things to keep in mind when choosing pieces:

Contrast is important to consider. Contrast is the difference or lack thereof between things. Black and white, or white and a bright red, have high contrast. This can be nice to call attention to the things that are high contrast, but it isn't very restful for a bedroom. That grey bed is already sort of in the middle so you're not going to get high contrast unless you push it, like a hot magenta bedspread or a dark lacquered black nightstand. Generally low contrast is desirable in a bedroom because you want it restful. This is why the suggestions above for other medium tones like lilac, blues, and metallics is good.

You can still have lots of life and interest by having things be different colors, textures and materials but mostly not contrast with one another. If you have some art or an item you really love, make it contrast with the rest of the room by picking a high-contrast version of a color already in the room and framing it with that, like a bright white or black frame, or if for example you went with a soft blue rug you could get a royal blue mat to frame your picture. Then your attention will be drawn to the thing you really love and the rest of the room will remain restful.

Light is really important. Do you need blackout curtains? Lamps are great for making a bedroom inviting because overhead light is very harsh and makes things like reading in bed and putting on makeup difficult. Try to set up three points of light that aren't overhead lights in the room. This will make a nice soft light that is gentle on the eyes and focuses brightness in the areas that you need it. An example would be an adjustable lamp on your bedside table that you can point at a book or away from a reflective tablet, a floor lamp next to your dresser, and a small lamp on top of your bookshelf. If your ceiling is white, a lamp that points light up like a torch style will bounce light softly off the ceiling and back onto you.

Big ups to that IKEA Malm chest. I have one myself and it is pretty swank. I think that the plain white would go fine with your bed, and plain white is pretty easy to find in other furniture. It will also go fine with a brightly colored rug or comforter, because white really does go with everything. Since the chest is pretty thin it won't actually take up much visual space - so if you don't have any other plain white things in the room don't worry, it'll just fade out of notice for the most part.

I think that you are probably the right demo for West Elm. This grey nightstand is nice because while it's grey, it is a very different texture from your bed because it's smooth and shiny with some metallic accents. It's entirely neutral but will contrast with the bed because of those factors. Then you can have a brightly colored lamp (I like this one) for a functional accent.

An item you didn't mention is some kind of chair or stool. I call this the pants chair, because it is where my trousers and skirts go when they can be worn another day. I sit on it for putting on shoes, and also since it's actually a very comfy old leather chair I read books in it. But you might prefer an upholstered storage bench, or a wooden chair that can be tucked in a corner. But some kind of non-bed seating is very useful in a bedroom, moreso than you might imagine. This would be a good item to have fun with bright colors. I like this cute deep chair that comes in lots of bright colors. Or you could get a neutral colored chair and put bright throw pillows on it.
posted by Mizu at 5:33 PM on June 6, 2016

I like the dresser you chose in white.

I would choose a fun, bright rug that would match the bed like this one.

I would then choose a couple of bedside tables in bright colors that would work well with the rug.

IKEA has some charming yellow nightstands, like the nordli or the Stockholm, which would look lovely. You might think about getting one bright one, and one white one. The PS 2014, with its attached lamp, bits of Orange, and open design would contrast nicely with the solid bed.
posted by djinn dandy at 7:18 PM on June 6, 2016

Best answer: I think it would be gorgeous with light blue sheets/bed linens like in the photo and a vivid, burnt orange rug or other accent piece (wall art, curtains, etc.). Have to play with the balance a bit but it would look amazing.

Personally, I think this is a bit tough to match but I would opt for gray/silver accents and other delicate patterns and textures. For big furniture like dressers and so on, different shades of grey (but with that "natural" texture) would look good.

In color matching for people's complexions, they often categorized you by season but also by "mood"-- this can be natural, gamine, classic, dramatic, etc. This is definitely a delicate, cool mood with "natural" elements, meaning textures like linen, wood grain, and other rustic touches. But the coolness of the color makes it elegant as well. Strive for that balance.
posted by stoneandstar at 7:23 PM on June 6, 2016

Response by poster: Thanks all! This was very helpful in working to build a theme. I've decided to go for a "thunderstorm on the beach" aesthetic, I think. I'm not sure exactly what I mean by that, but probably blues and grays and metals (with some pops of color).

I totally fell in love with this nightstand that Mizu recommended, and then also got this which may or may not go with anything, as well as this rug which is not too bright, but I do have framed art that works with the colors that it does have.

Still working on what kind of bookshelf and lamps to get, and sadly in the time between when I posted this question and today IKEA has discontinued that dresser, but I think I'm off to a good start!
posted by aaanastasia at 8:52 AM on June 28, 2016