The first contradiction that catches my eye is that there is a mix of light and dark: the light curtain panels, the light (white?) curtain rods, the light bedding, the light flooring, against the dark picture frames, the dark wood on the bed and nightstands.

What's your definition of "cool" in "cool, clean, comfortable"? California/Florida/tropical breezy?

I'm not feeling it in the draperies. Maybe the window treatments are the easiest things to try a new approach with--a darker rod, thicker and wood, and perhaps a drapery that has a brown and silver sage-looking stripe or design?

Also, I've never seen SS in person, but do you think the light blue and white bedding makes it look dark or dingy?

IMO--The bed is very pretty..The beige & gold panels don't go with the pale blue/white bedding. Maybe a pure white panels or just a white or bamboo shade . Are the walls green-what is RH SS? pale subtle gray or blue walls. The lamps look brass--if so I would change them as well. i am just practicing so my advice may be totally off track. LOVE the bedding!

Thanks, the pictures are not good. Lamps are silver and the walls were just painted and are a soft sage/blue. To my eye, they appear pale blue (thus the bedding). I realize the bedding makes the walls look more sage. Maybe I should have gotten green bedding. Also, the panels are wrong as are the rods. I had those laying around and only hung them to see how the panels looked. I don't know what color to put on the windows.
White? Also, should the panels be short to the sill?

By cool, I mean sort of spa like. Very simple and comfortable. The furniture is dark with stainless trim. I really don't want to paint the walls again but I can't find a way to work with the paint color. I just hate this whole process!

If you're just getting the room ready for sale, don't sweat it too much. An easy change would be simple white WTs. Then the rest could stay, as is.

The lamps look silver to me. If so, it's a current look and would go well with the SS.

I love the bedding set, it looks very serene and comfy.
The curtains would look better if they were white.

The one thing that really catches my eye are the pictures you have hanging up. They don't feel light and spa like. Maybe pack them away for the staging process and re-purpose something else in the house- maybe a collection of blue/white plates or silver framed mirror?

The flowers in the vases are pretty but if you want to keep a cool look how about some white lilies?

Good Luck in the sale of your home!

I see what you mean. It's like the gold panels and green walls are going in one direction, but the white and blue bed is going in a different direction. I'd change out the bedding for green that goes with your walls and call it good.

I would fix the baseboard heating cover, I noticed that right away.

If you can extend the rods a bit and get the curtains to the side of the windows, they may look a bit more "in place" it doesnt matter if they function since it is for show.

Empty out the night table, you probably know that already. If you are staging I wouldnt worry too much, it looks like a pleasant enough room.

Make things easy for yourself and shop Restoration Hardware for your linens. They will match the RH SS effortlessly. What you have there now is too blue and pastel.

Your bedroom furniture set is sleek and clean lined so avoid anything fussy or flowered on it. You need bedding with oomph. Bold prints. Deeper colors. Copy the RH looks from their website when you shop if their stuff is out of your budget. Staging is not the time to get creative with a quirky decor look. They buyers will respond favorably to a look they recognize and can relate to - "something they have seen before". The bedroom set is a nice looking set for staging.

With the low headboard stack the pillows flat instead of leaning them against the headboard. Show off the headboard. Use pillow shams and not plain pillow cases.

Take back the white curtain rods and drapes. The ones behind the bed are smashed and the other ones just add bulk to the space and are not appropriate for the type of window. Get some weighty textured bamboo Roman blinds for both windows. Roman blinds will keep the room light and airy.

The lamps aren't bad for the space but being metal they are a bit too match-y with the trim on the furniture. Go with a clean lined, weighty glass lamp to add sparkle with a White/Ivory shade of course.

Does the bed NEED a dust ruffle? Having no dust ruffle will make the bed seem light and airy if it has a footboard and nice feet on it. Otherwise go with a tailored box pleated one.

No family photos in the room when showing the house of course. You do not need the two vases of flowers with the floral artwork on the wall. Declutter. Straighten the books. No electronics in the bedroom when you show the house.

The art on the wall adds a nice counterpoint and a tiny touch of other colors. Maybe there is something else in the house that could be switched out with those though? Keep your options open.

Do you have other views of the room? There is the possibility that a different furniture arrangement might work.

Here is a link that might be useful: Restoration Hardware Bedding

I think part of the issue is that the furniture is very modern, and the bedding and art, window treatments and lamps feel very traditional.

I would get simple white sheers on the white rods. Move the rods out wider, and be sure you have enough panels to be as wide as the bed, and full enough - what is there by the bed now is too skimpy.

Change out the bedding for something that clean lined and simple, perhaps even just the tone on tone white stripe. Add a simple throw at the end of the bed that picks up on the green wall color.

Change out the lamps to something in clear glass with white shades.

Take down most of the artwork,and just keep the portrait by the window on the right, but move it over by the dresser where that 4 section framed piece is now . Find a couple of cheap fern prints in silver or black/brown frames and use one by each nightstand.

Clear off everything from under the nightstands. Add a pretty faux fern on the dresser.

I agree with the other voices to go more white and more spare in this room. I'm not crazy about the art: mirrors or black-framed pieces with big expanses of white matting and a more graphic subject would be better, I think. White curtains, or even just white roman shades. Agreed about the dust ruffle: you could put a white fitted sheet on the box spring if you want to cover it.

I wouldn't go deeply colored on the bedding, actually. I'd go plain, boring white -- white-on-white layers or just clean white cotton pieces. The cleaner and simpler you make the room (almost like a hotel room), the more people will either see it as attractive and peaceful or be able to envision their own pieces there...

Hi Jane,

I really like your wall color and I don't think you to need to re-paint. I think your bedroom just needs a bit of tweaking. Could you possibly post a picture of the left side or your room? Can you center your bed to the window? I'd change out the drapes for white and get different curtain rods. I'd also get a white bedskirt versus the beige. Try making your bed with the blue coverlet laying flat and then folding the white duvet on top at the foot of the bed. The pictures behind the lamps are also throwing the room off a bit. How about two duplicate prints or mirrors behind each lamp? HTH and good luck! You're off to a good start.

Oh, thanks so much. The flowers are going, just stuck there to see how the color looked. I also felt the lamps didn't look right. Too old-fashioned, glass would be better. Baseboard will get fixed, still painting in there and they have to dry.

Dally, RH is out of my budget. I did go in and tried to copy their bed set. A small fortune but it gave me ideas. They used white duvet with a dark (navy) blanket with satin hem folded over the duvet. Had navy blue shams with white pillows and sheets. I couldn't find a navy blanket or shams elsewhere. Their drapes are too expensive. I only want to buy things I can take with me. Bedding will.

The master bath is painted the same color and I had a hell of a time finding towels to work with the wall color. Wound up buying RH towels on sale (still expensive). I thought this color would be easy to work with, but it changes color and is hard to find things which compliment it. I notice grey looks good against it as does yellow. I think the blue is wrong.

The bedroom is not big. 18x16 and I'm trying to play up the space. I want a look which is not heavy.

Another view from hallway
{{!gwi}}

Please understand, I opened the packages and threw the bedding on top of my own. So the bed looks messy.

Thanks again,
Jane

I agree that lots of white for staging is what works. Agree with Les's suggestion of sheers. Or look at Target for the Fieldcrest linen panels which let a nice amount of light through but still have some substance.

By extending the rods way past the windows, you will let in more light and have less crowding around the bed (stack the panels behind the nightstands and pull them forward a bit to allow for clearance). That will also cover more of the wall space and reduce the need for art.

Here's my prescription, if I were doing it:
I agree with Dilly dally that the curtains should go, and be replaced with tortoise shell bamboo Roman shades. Hang them from the wall right at the ceiling and pull them up to cover the top trim of the window; buy them wide enough to cover the window trim side to side. It will make the ceiling look higher, complete the windows, and provide the right contrast with the modern furniture, which I like in the room.
The satin should all go, replaced with simple cotton or linen...no ruffles.
The lamps are the right height, but also too fancy for the furniture...they should be replaced by plain fat ceramic or glass ones with straight-sided shades, not the more formal ones you have now.
The pictures are too girly and flowery...cut four good black and white photos out of a magazine, blow them up to 9 x 12, put them in stock 16 x 20 frames with stock mats, and hang them over the nightstands, two on each side, one over the other (not side by side), and shifted to the side away from the lamps, which should be pulled closer to the bedside.
Put a pair of inexpensive, unframed, beveled full-length mirrors from Lowe's or Home Depot on the walls facing sides of the bed, about a foot out from the corners to give light and life to those spots. Take away all the little pictures and any fake flowers. If you have a wall to furnish opposite the window over the bed, think about a couple of big, colorful posters in plain frames from somewhere like World Market or Pier I. Toss one big, colorful, ethnic-print pillow on the bed, and you're done.

Here is a link that might be useful: A lamp from Crate & Barrel

You have a great start! The wall color, the floors, the art...lots of great stuff here!

The bed is a big focal point in a bedroom. I would tuck the quilt in snug all around, and fold the white comforter in 1/3's or 1/4's across the bottom of the bed. Fold the top sheet about a foot down across the top of the quilt. Invest in a few non-floppy pillows to 'tighten up' the pillow arrangement.

I like the clean/spare look too and am working on a similar arrangement in my master bedroom...

{{!gwi}}

I'd change the curatin rods to silver and get rid of the art and replace it with something cleaner and crisper. Kill all the fussy in the room (small objects, fake flowers, carved frames). I'm not a huge fan of the gold drapes, really. I'd go with white I think, or, if you have the money to spend go with RH SS drapes to blend into the wall. If you do go with RH drapes though you should probably change the bedding to all white (at least I would).

I love the furniture- those bedside tables are killer! And know that room as is doesn't look that bad.

jane_ny, here's a crude rendering of your bedroom minus pictures and with white curtains, hung higher & wider to frame the bed:

I think you've got enough textural contrast going there to pull off the monochromatic color scheme just fine. The portrait by the window on the side works well: I'd keep it.

I wondered how your home staging project was going; good luck!

I agree with the suggestions that you go with white bedding and white curtains. It looks like you already have a white duvet on the bed, and that blue that we see is a blanket/coverlet; if so, just remove the blanket/coverlet and return it. If the duvet is not wide enough to cover the whole bed, go up to the next largest size (you said you threw it on, so perhaps the extra width is on the side we can't see in the photo). And I'd either skip the folded-throw on the bottom of the bed look, or else get a charcoal gray or silver throw to replace the blue (and fold it more so that it's just a relatively narrow strip.

If the bed doesn't need a skirt (i.e. the frame covers up the boxspring), go without a bedskirt. Otherwise, add a white tailored bedskirt instead of the gold satin.

The lamps could work if you switched to a round/drum shaped shade instead of the traditional shaped shade that is on them now.

I also agree that the art (except the portrait) is competing with the new style and that a more contemporary style would work. I'd just get a matching pair at of inexpensive framed prints at homegoods instead of looking for posters and a frame; they usually have at least a few things in black and white.

At least as of last weekend, restoration hardware had some of their throw pillows on clearance for $20 or less (on the store website). If they're not sold out, I'd order a couple that have a silver sage background & use them as accent pillows on the bed instead of the blue and white ruffled pillow.

Incredible suggestions - thank you all. I'll have to print this entire thread to figure it all out.

Okay, the lamps can go or change the shades. B&W prints. Get rid of the blue coverlet and I assume the matching shams. Go with grey? I'll probably go with white panels (linen) because I have cellular shades on the window. If that doesn't look right, I'll leave the windows bare.

The opposite wall has a armoire with a flat screen on top. Bestyears, you have the look. Where did you get the coverlet? Do you have SS for the wall color? The one on my bed was all I could find at a reasonable price at Bed & Bath. Could not find white linen panels anywhere.

I want to sell this house but do not want to spend a lot on the windows as I can't take them. The bedding can come with me.

Fabulous suggestions, I appreciate the help.

Jane

The company store has inexpensive white linen panels, if you have time to wait for shipping.

Here is a link that might be useful: Company Store Curtains

The coverlet was from Pottery Barn -much more expensive than I usually pay for such things, but I knew it was just what I wanted... It's called a "Pick Stitch Quilt". The wall color is Silver Mist by SW.

I think your footboard makes a neater look with the dark wood. I moved the pictures off the wall and a few more views.
The floors are scheduled to be sanded and stained Tuesday. Excuse the mess
{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

You know I think the drapes would work, if you added a strip around the edge of the drapes.. maybe a dark strip.. and maybe have either a bedspread of the same color or a throw at the end of the bed the same color. I would change the rods to a bold one.. maybe in black and possible black strip on your drapes or a dark brown.. take down the pictures and rethink them.. take clutter out from under the night stand. maybe add some sheers under the drapes so you can control the light somewhat.. add some color pillows, with gold and black in them.. dark throw rugs , ever thought of putting your bed at an angle in the corner?
just my thoughts..
Huggy

I like the wall color, very pretty. Here is what I see wrong with the drapes. First, the rod doesn't extend long enough for you to pull them back all the way and look good, while clearing the window. They are too bunched up. Secondly, I think a thicker black rod would look better to hang the curtains from. It might even be better to add rings to hang the curtains, I'm not sure. If you decide to change the curtains I think a nice linen would look great.

I would also put in a nice bamboo shade to add some contrast or else white faux wood blinds.

I second brutuses post.....longer rod and get WHITE blinds....and I think that some lighter-weight white drapes would be better.

this is better, staging just for sale remove the blinds..they are distracting..otherwise you have it pretty good..remove everything that isn't needed, don't have any perosnal items, pictures, books, etc..just the basics..no fru fru..in any room..sit the pillows up more vertically to cover up more of the headboard..and honestly if there was a better place for the bed they look best if they are not under a window

Can you believe I still haven't gotten this room done? I am trying to hold costs down (we ran into some major expense)and I cannot afford to change the shades. They will be kept open when the house is shown. I've tried so many different curtains and still don't like the look. I'll post the white curtains tomorrow. The floors turned out well. I am left with the blue coverlet and shams because the packaging got thrown out by accident. We had to empty the room to get the floors done and had to sleep in a downstairs office for a week.

What a mess. I just can't get the curtains, pictures and colors to work.

Thanks for the good advice,
Jane

Hi Jane!
Former New Yorker here! :) My bedroom is SS and I'm in the process of putting it back together. I'll try to post some pics for you later this morning after DH gets up-don't think you want to see him snoozing:P
Anyway, I have natural colored woven wood blinds and will be adding panels in a cream or very soft gold as soon as I find a fabric I like that doesn't cost thousands of dollars-I need 35 yards! Furniture is dark mahogany, antique, carved deco style. Bedding is a mix of gold, cream, brown, and an aqua-ey blue. I have black and cream transferware plates on the wall over the bed (still need something else up there), antique prints in heavy distressed black frames, a sunburst mirror and I'm in the process of putting some antique fabric panels on canvas to hang. Nothing is too matchy. It all seems to work. The basic color scheme is cream, brown, blue, and gold with a little silver thrown in. This is a close up of my duvet:

This is the furniture with the wall color:

I'll try to post more later
Pattie

I wold paint the rods silver, as your lamps & drawer pulls appear silver, and do something about those drapes, don't know about the rest here but I do not like the wrinkled look!(or puddled on the floor look) pull the bed away it appears to be crushing the drapes, or maybe shorten those to just under the window, or just look for valences with a touch of pale blue to cover the rods etc. and the decorators always say de-personalize the room for selling, no family photo's...

I would take down the drapes and rod, fill the holes, touch up the paint. Keep the room as simple as possible. Ever see that show Sell this House - he clears out a lot of stuff from every room just so buyers can see the square footage and don't think that the room is too small, even though it may be small. Good luck!