When people are choosing bedroom furniture, two of their main criteria are comfort and style – in that order. People generally associate bedrooms with comfort. although storage is also very important from a practical point of view. It tends to play second fiddle to style. Ask anyone – “should your bedroom be comfortable, stylish or an effective storeroom?” and we all know what the answer will be.
Ask then to place these three in a particular order, and it will likely be as presented above. However, once they start using the bedroom, storage will likely be the highest on their complaints list. Even though that was the last on their minds when furnishing it.
Teenagers are Different!
young adult males will likely need lots of space floor space for storage and very little else. Until they get a girl friend and then it all changes to comfort and style with beautiful TV stands. But young men are a race apart as any parents know, so we shall restrict ourselves to conventional bedroom furniture.
Everyone knows that young teenage women have perfect taste and style. In furnishing a bedroom you have specific types of bedroom furniture: sleeping and storage.
Choosing Bedroom Furniture – The Bed
Among the former are traditional beds: single, twin, queen size and king size being the most popular sizes. You can add to that bunk beds and sofa beds for casual visitors. It is not possible here to describe the beautiful styles of bed available, but mention must be made of the fabulous Spanish Bay design by Homelegance, with raised ash burl veneered panels and antique brass hardware. Beautiful carvings are featured on each piece, including the magnificent dark cherry-veneered headboards on the post bed.
This is a fabulous traditional European romance style, but if you prefer something different a black Broyhill ‘Perspective’ bed offers a stylish ultra-modern design with geometric silhouettes. You may prefer something lighter, such as the white painted woodwork of Paula Deen Home furniture. Or how about a traditional bed by Signature, such as their Wyatt king bed with a scroll metal headboard and footboard.
When choosing the mattress, regard that as separate from the bed, and select a mattress that meets your personal needs, and those of your partner. That choice is beyond the scope of this article.
Storage in the Bedroom
These firms above are all well known American brands that offer the storage bedroom furniture to match the beds. As hinted above, storage is critical in a bedroom, and if you are the guy in your mixed relationship and ignore bedroom storage then you may be looking for another bed in the spare room! If you have no room, then join the dog!
An armoire or two is essential if you have no bedroom closet, and you will never have enough drawers. You may have had some foresight and included drawers with your bed, but you will still likely need a full chest of drawers and sometimes also a lingerie chest. Do not forget the dresser – that is essential for any woman and is something that most single men forget about. That will soon change (you hope!).
You will need a nightstand for each person for lamps, books, drinks and so on. Choose the height carefully, since it should be no lower than the height of the mattress – maybe two or three inches higher at most. Most beds, including those mentioned above, offer matching nightstands.
Women and Their Dressers
Dressers are best with mixed drawer sizes, and a lovely large clear glass mirror. Most women prefer to sit at their dresser rather than stand, so make sure it has a matching chair or stool. A matching ottoman would also be appropriate, offering further storage space benefit a lift-up seat. Although some now have drawers, you lose a lot of the storage space for large and bulky items by having drawers in your ottoman.
When choosing an armoire, make sure it is high enough to hold your coats and dresses without them touching the bottom. It should have space for suits, shirts, dresses, coats, ties and so on – in fact many purchase a ‘hers’ and a ‘his’. No prizes for guessing who needs the biggest! Make sure that at least one of these has a full-length mirror, unless you have one attached to your bedroom wall.
Choosing bedroom furniture is not difficult, but keep clear of the comfort, storage or style argument by taking comfort as a separate entity. Regard the bed as most important, but also take it that you will need lots of storage space. If you are a single guy it will all likely change anyway anyway.
