The master bedroom is not about furniture. The bedroom design is not about furniture. I don’t design a bedroom for the master. I do a bedroom for one person to share or one person to be alone in. The bedroom design is to create a calm, safe, bright, bedroom.
With those five elements:
bedroom, privacy, security, and security, it’s the quintessential safe haven for the master, not just for the master, but the whole family. I always give the bedroom a view of the landscape or nature. The bedroom has to be one of the top things in the master space.
When I designed my own master bedroom, I laid out a three-sided rectangle to be the longest point. The bedroom side is usually on the south. The three-sided rectangle is around 12-14 feet long and the bedroom corner can be up to four feet wide. It’s a bit intimate, but it makes the bedroom just so much more beautiful.
My bedroom was also in the master space.
It was in the corner, it’s right by the window. But for my second master bedroom, I put my bedroom on the backside of my master suite. I wanted to be on the other side of the house because I had a great view. I didn’t want to miss the view because I couldn’t see it. That’s why you need privacy. A bedroom should have enough privacy that you can go to the bathroom with your boyfriend or girlfriend or walk down the hallway by yourself with your child in bed.
When I designed the second master bedroom,
I kept the same three-sided rectangle. I kept my bathroom on the other side. It’s also in the back of the house, but that creates another bedroom for the master. In a four-bedroom house, you have the master suite back, one bedroom for each couple, and one bedroom for the kids. It creates more of a divide for privacy. It creates an intimate bedroom for the kids. The kids will have privacy there with their parents and hopefully at some point, you have one bedroom that’s for just the two of you. The master bedroom is always the top priority.
It’s the master bedroom.
Master bedroom designs and bedroom space are all about privacy. The bedroom needs to be your safe haven, and that’s what I design. The bedroom should be a place you go to and it should create a calm.
Tell me about your design process for your own master bedroom.
I always started with the bed. It was my first thing. If I wanted to go to a certain bedroom, I would build it based on what I was going to do in the bedroom. For my bedroom, I always had a bedroom for my mother. She passed away in 2007 and I still have her bedroom, but I build a smaller bedroom for her in my master suite. When she was in the master bedroom, she never walked around or looked outside.
The bedroom floor has to be able to take my mother’s wheelchair.
So I start with the floor. I keep the carpet because I can take it outside. I keep all the wall-to-wall beds because I can take them outside. The bedroom floor should also allow me to take my bed outside, take my fire pit outside, and take my lightbox outside. It’s a bedroom that has a lot of views. I love the bed because it’s a beautiful piece. It’s a big bed. It has the perfect window to the outdoors. The bed has a lot of natural light from the south, east, and west. I always have my bed at least six inches from the window. When I walk around the house, I walk around with the bed to make sure the bedroom floor is good.
If the bedroom floor is too rough, I move the bed to the bedroom side. If it’s too soft, I put the bed on the bedroom side. That way, it creates some privacy.
I think the master bedroom should be a place where you take your time. The bedroom needs to be safe, and the bedroom also needs to be for privacy. The bedroom has to have security because you don’t want to walk into your bedroom and find the bed is gone.
The bedroom has to have privacy. You need the room to be secure so that you can go to the bathroom alone or if the kids are there, you can take them to the bathroom without worrying about someone walking in the bedroom.