If you're looking for inspiration on how to make a small bedroom both beautiful and comfortable, take a look at how designer Nina Campbell transformed this guest bedroom with a space-defying scheme.
In any conversation about interior design with Nina Campbell, it’s never long before the word ‘comfort’ crops up. Throughout her 50-year career, she’s been driven by her belief that rooms should be as comfortable as they are stylish.
This bedroom is no exception; the dual-aspect windows, which enjoy far-reaching rural views, have generous, full-length curtains with elegant square-edged pelmets. The colour palette combines both pale and dark greys with a subtle pink in the form of Le Castellet fabric by Schumacher, sourced from www.turnellandgigon.com; the walls, meanwhile, are hung with fabric to create a cocooning effect.
Nina draws these colours together by using pink piping on the grey-linen headboard, as well as on the chair. ‘They’re easy colours – I don’t think a man would have an issue with sleeping here.’
‘I find it maddening not to have somewhere to put a glass of water, a clock or a book’
The problem of limited space was resolved through the use of bespoke joinery. Either side of the bed are full-length wardrobes – one with shelves, the other for hanging clothes – and, above, there is further storage space for spare linen and extra blankets.
In order to root the scheme firmly in the country, Nina chose to hang a gingham fabric by Cloth & Clover behind chicken wire on the wardrobe doors. ‘This is a useful technique, as, otherwise, fitted cabinetry can end up looking too much like a fitted kitchen.’
In the absence of any room for bedside tables, Nina has created shallow niches – about the depth of a paperback book – on either side of the bed. ‘I find it maddening not to have somewhere to put a glass of water, a clock or a book, so have done this a few times in smaller bedrooms,’ she explains.
This image is featured in ‘Nina Campbell Interior Decoration’ by Country Life’s interiors editor Giles Kime, (£45, Rizzoli). Find out more about Nina Campbell at www.ninacampbellinteriors.com.
Nina Campbell: How we designed Annabel’s, the club where everyone looks good
A new spin on the inn: Heston Blumenthal’s redesigned Hind’s Head
Increasingly, the redecoration of former pubs offers an opportunity to evoke a long-lost style of decoration.
Inside the home of a top designer: Philippa Thorp’s Hampshire dream
Interior designer Philippa Thorp tells Arabella Youens about the transformation of her Grade II-listed house in Hampshire.
