Room of the Day: A Bachelor’s Modern Bedroom
A sprinkling of wood and art adds warmth to this black-and-white bedroom
Recently divorced and transplanted from Mexico, this homeowner desired a fresh start in Houston. His former home featured dark walls and heavy, ornate furniture, so this time around, he wanted the polar opposite. Now crisp white walls, midcentury design and statement-making art infuse his new master bedroom.
The bedroom is at the back of the house and has windows with views to the pool area. Floor-to-ceiling drapes, plus shades in the same spiral-patterned gray canvas, relate to the gray-stained prefabricated wood floors. “Bits of gray here and there work very well in a black-and-white color scheme,” Magon says. “Similar to wood tones, gray adds warmth without taking away from the overall aesthetic.”
A wall nook makes an ideal spot for a flat-screen television. Instead of supporting a heavy built-in that could dominate the room, the wall is lined with a thin walnut veneer and just a few drawers at its base. An Eames lounge chair and ottoman in black leather and walnut brings an icon of midcentury design to the space.
A collection of black-and-white prints by photographer Thomas Barbèy hangs above the bed. One is of a golfer hitting a ball off an airplane wing. “The homeowner is an avid golfer and a lover of surrealist art, so this print was the perfect combination for him,” Magon says.
Two white cotton wraparound bolsters on the headboard allow the homeowner to comfortably sit up in bed to read a book or watch television.
The room’s one dose of color comes from the salmon-red stripes on the gray wool blanket folded at the foot of the bed. “Even this little bit of color is pretty subtle,” Magon says. “It’s a shade of red that blends well with the wood tones we selected for the space.”
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Who lives here: A single man
Location: Houston
Size: About 250 square feet (23.2 square meters)
Designer: Contour Interior Design
Designer Nina Magon says that, although black and white was the agreed-upon color palette from the get-go, adding a bit of warmth with wood was necessary to keep the bedroom from feeling too sterile. Still, to keep the space light, bright and modern, no heavy wood furniture was used. On one side of the bed, a sculptural dresser features wood drawers floating in a skeletal black metal frame. On the other side, an actual wood sculpture from Moe’s Home Collection gives a touch of nature and a boatload of visual interest to the room.