before photo

Here is a link that might be useful: before we bought the house

It is a little hard to tell the color in the duvet - is it grey, or a green, or a blue-grey? Whatever it is, I would match that color and do that on the tall wall.

However, I would move the bed to the opposite wall, where the ceiling is the lowest. I think it will make the volume of the room seem greater when you are walking, and moving around the bed on the âÂÂtallâ side of the room.

I would paint all the rest of the walls and the ceiling a very pale shade of the color you use on the tall wall. Just enough to give it some color and contrast, but not enough to really look like a lot of color to weight the room down.

When you sew the duvets, the seams should go on either side of the bed so that they end up right at the top outside edge of the bed. The added pieces become the drop on either side, and will seem natural.

While you are at it, I would get some piping or hem binding in a solid color that you would want to use as an accent color in there. I could see red or orange or plum. I would do that all around the comforter edges once you have sewn them together, and also around the edges of the shams. Then get a smaller decorative pillow in that accent color to use in front of the shams, and perhaps a throw and a couple of pillows in another pattern to put on the two chairs when you bring them in.

I would put the drawing board and stool in the alcove, and put the two chairs from the LR down by the window, a small table between them. I would love to see the shelving near the alcove, but with only this pix to go on, I canâÂÂt say if there is room or not to try something like that.

are you cutting the seams off the existing duvet cover to make a larger duvet or comforter fit inside?
I'd make the fall around or just below the top edge of the mattress but I would do 3 sides, left, right and bottom with more fabric because to me the end of the duvet looks skimpy as well, plus IMO it will look strange if you lengthen the sides and not the bottom edge as well.

I would not put the seams at the edge of the bed. I fear it will look like you are trying to turn it into a fitted bedspread, which you are not.

When you see comforters pieced together like that, the center bed fabric section is equal to or wider than the two side pieces combined. So setting aside the parts that drop down, you want 1/4 or less on the left, 1/2 or more in the middle, 1/4 or less on the right. So for a king bed (76 inches wide), it would be:
less than 19 inches left, more than 38 inches middle, less than 19 inches right.

If I were doing this on my own bed, I would probably make the center section much wider than 38, maybe as wide as 54 inches. That gives you 11 inches on each side plus the drop.

Here's another option.... What if you buy just a plain white quilt, make the bed with that, and keep your IKEA duvet folded over the last third of the bed? That way you get to see the pretty fabric you love in the room, but you stay warm at night....

thank you all for the advice, it is really appreciated

les, the duvet color is a winter white and charcoal grey combination.

when we moved in, i positioned the bed under the low part of the ceiling and that worked okay except that i couldn't see out of any windows when i woke up, so we ended up moving the bed to where it is. walking around the foot of the bed does not seem to feel crampedheadroom-wise. this way, i can see out of both skylights and two windows in the morning which results in a happier mood. i shall try the chairs and drawing desk the way you suggested. i know that grey is a trendy wall color right now, but i'm not sure i can see doing the whole 'ginormous wall that color - i'll get a sample and play with it though -

tg i agree that the length of the duvet is a little skimpy too, but i wasn't sure how to deal with that at all.

greywings, i think i'm going to try it your way, because i think a fitted coverlet is probably too formal for our style overall.

bestyears, that's a great suggestion. i may go that direction even after widening it.

photos to come - thank you very much for the help.

"tg i agree that the length of the duvet is a little skimpy too, but i wasn't sure how to deal with that at all. "

kiki once you've added on the fabric to the sides you can just add another straight piece of fabric along the bottom which would be the existing width + the amount it's been widened, two straight side seams and then a straight bottom seam, or you could do mitered corners at the bottom but really a lot of bedding and quilts are just done the former way and it never looks odd to me.

I dont think you need to worry about it looking like a fitted bedspread because it won't have stitched corners (like a box) it's still the same shape as it is now but longer so the corners will still fall like a normal duvet but when you widen/lengthen it, it will also need a wider and longer fill to fill out the extra fabric.

Just a thought but a friend painted her room BM Silver Dollar and it's a beautiful color. It's a nice deep grey that casts off some blue. Maybe an accent wall color if it's too much for the entire room.

Since I don't think anyone commented on the window treatment: it looks great - doesn't look weird at all with the small window framed by larger curtains. And I'd paint all the walls and ceiling the same, except perhaps for the wall behind the bed.