Reuse and Repurpose - The Anatomy of a Modern Master Bedroom

Project: Family bathroom and a modern master bedroom renovation in Brixton, South West London.

Client:  A family of four (with two young children).   

Photography: Richard Oxford.

Welcome to our very first blog!  We are starting off with a deep dive into a recently completed master bedroom to show you how we reused and repurposed existing items of furniture, and to share some of the investment and versatile pieces we included to complete the project. Read on for some modern master bedroom design ideas.

We really enjoyed working on this project with such lovely clients. They didn’t want to reinvent the wheel, they liked a lot of their existing furniture and wanted to keep it, but they felt that everything did not quite work together.

Reusing and repurposing existing items

We started by looking at all of the items that our client wanted to keep to consider how they would fit into a brand new scheme.  They had lots of lovely vintage pieces of furniture, and we were keen to explore an earthy colour scheme with lots of texture, which would complement those pieces well.

We were able to keep our client’s existing bed which was upholstered in a grey/green linen mix fabric and had the most fabulous wooden bun feet.  This bed was a pretty new purchase and we knew that it would work perfectly in the new scheme. This helped to fuse the modern and traditional design elements of the space. 

Vintage lounge chairs reupholstered in Fermoie fabric, new picture light and bedside light.

We were fortunate as our clients already had a large amount of art which we were able to rehang.  The statement piece above the bed was bought by our clients a few years ago, but they had not got around to finding a home for it.  The colours were perfect for the new earthy scheme so we suggested adding a simple oak box frame to let the piece really shine.    

The existing free standing, full length mirror was also retained and positioned in a newly created “dressing area”.  We added a wall light above which was a new purchase and popped a matching one on the other side of the room, above some art for balance.    

Our client’s existing bed worked beautifully with the new scheme we created.

Our client’s vintage lounge chairs were great but they sat at opposite ends of the room and their cushions needed some love.  These chairs were reunited in the bedroom bay window to create a spot to sit and read or simply watch the world go by.  We originally considered the Fermoie Quantock fabric in colour way 015 for the bedroom curtains, but the large windows required a lot of fabric, so our clients were happy to go with our more budget friendly suggestion of using this fabric to upholster the cushions for their vintage chairs instead.

It was an easy decision to keep the vintage chest of drawers which sat in an alcove beside the fireplace. We decided to source another similar chest to sit in the opposite alcove for some much needed additional storage.  It was our client’s mother who spotted the new drawers in an antique shop close to her home - we were all delighted as they fitted in beautifully.

Vintage chests were used in the space for some much needed additional storage, we added floating shelves above.

Key investment pieces included a new rug and blackout curtains.

Choosing investment and versatile pieces

Naturally, we did specify some new items for our clients but we were careful to choose a combination of investment and super versatile pieces. We wanted to make sure that any new items could be taken with our clients to a future home, or used in a different room years down the line.  New lighting was needed and in addition to the wall lights mentioned above, we also added two plug in Original BTC Hector wall lights for beside the bed.  For added texture and warmth we included a statement rattan ceiling light sourced via Etsy.   

The existing nightstand bedside tables were not fit for purpose so we invested in two green bedside tables to break up some of the wooden furniture in the room.

New curtains were in order as the existing ones were brought over from a previous home and had always intended to be a temporary measure as they were the wrong size for the window.  With a large bay window and smaller sash to dress, this was potentially very expensive business.  We suggested using Gotain blackout curtains in sand linen.  These curtains are a good half way house between “off the peg” and completely bespoke, the quality and price point are both great, they look absolutely stunning and what better thing to invest in than a good night’s sleep!

Our clients already had exposed wooden floorboards in their room and we decided to leave them and add a beautiful braided jute rug by Emily’s House - a real investment piece.

Finally, we dressed the bed with oatmeal linen sheets, a Bulgarian Wool blanket by Toast and two Carskiey square cushions in pink and yellow by Fermoie. We used Farrow and Ball paint in this project - the walls and skirting boards were painted in Setting Plaster, the ceiling in All White and we painted the outer window architrave in Green Smoke for added interest and to elevate the overall look and feel of the room.