Winter in Melbourne - Bedrooms for Hibernation

This morning I got up at 5.30 am to do some running skipping jumping boxing and lunging in Fawkner Park.

It was 6 degrees and pitch black.   It takes a reasonable amount of willpower to drag one's body from a toasty warm bed in those circumstances, but I thought, as I usually do,  about early death, my obligation to live a long healthy life for my family, the need for toned thighs, better and clear skin, and how good I feel afterwards and I got through it.

For winter, I think a cave like bedroom is in order.    

Black used to be forbidden in the bedroom but no more.  In fact one could almost be forgiven for thinking that black bedrooms have taken over the world.  It is a pity black requires such a commitment, otherwise I could paint my bedroom black for winter, then white for summer.  

Black can be girly and feminine: 

Or masculine, simple and inexpensive.  These kinds of rooms bring back memories of degenerate university boyfriends.  Didn't they always have black bedrooms?
 

This is in a Parisian apartment:

In this London house by Neu Architects: 

I love this mid century style bedroom (this is for you Brismod):

And in Jules's home  - how amazing is this bedroom?

It could have gone so horribly wrong but instead it is superb.  Can I spend the winter here?  (Check out her blog by the way, I love it).

Here is another bedroom with pattern on the bed:

This is Jenna Lyons' bedroom featured in Domino and then on blogs globally, which has dark walls and floorboards: 

and here is another which is head to toe black:

Whilst this one uses parquetry to lighten the vampire lair feel.

And this one, a mirror:

Have you noticed that most of these rooms have lots of white highlights - in the linen, or side tables, or windows?    That is because too much black and we would indeed be chanelling Twilight.

Another common feature is to just paint one wall black.  Am not a fan of feature walls but I think it works in a bedroom in the area behind the bed. 

Or this approach in a Swedish hotel, which uses slatted boards on one wall:

And this one, just a circular panel:

But beware: go too far and you may turn into a character from Scarface and end up with a bedroom like this.  If you get to this point, you have taken the look way too seriously.   Or you are a gangster.  If the latter, sorry I offended you. 

(By the way I have had to introduce comment moderation as I was getting so much spam mainly from Taiwan.... How does spam get around the word id thing? I don't get it.)



(1) via Urbanstylevibes (2) Little Woodstock on Flickr  (3) Elizabeth 85 on Flickr (4) Domino (5) Apartment Therapy (6) Luis Mechiche via Remodelista (7) Living Etc (8) Flickr (9) The Diversion Project (10)(14) Lonny (11) Domino (12) Candian House and Home (13) Apartment Therapy  (14) Luis Alberquerque (15) Design Sponge (16) via Remodelista  (17) Ilse Crawford (18) modresdes 

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Sunrise House

My recent nostalgia for the black kitchen of my childhood has made me more alert to black kitchens. And then they seem to be everywhere. And so my moaning about the bland whiteness of many kitchens failed to take account of a wonderful factory (lolly in fact) conversion here in Melbourne virtually on my back door step in Prahran.

This is the home architect Stephen Jolson has created for himself and his family. The work architects do for themselves is always so interesting, a true reflection of their soul and innermost thoughts, rather than some (potentially tasteless) client's dreams or desires.

This conversion includes a grassy lawn on the first level, fingerprint recognition entry (is that for real? If so I want it for my house), a television which emerges from the ceiling to hang next to the fireplace, separate playroom and an outside steel bonfire which is lit by remote control.

And isn't this black kitchen something else? The image to the left is a blown up photograph of vats from the confectionary factory - behind it is storage and other kitchen collateral.

He has really nailed this area, I think, by incorporating the old rustic dining table into the space.

I do wonder however if the black would smudge. We have black cabinetry and it does tend to show fingermarks a bit.

He is a bit partial to all white as well as all black. Although as he says, it is a warm white, not cool.

And here is some work he did on an apartment in East Melbourne (Claudio Silvestrin in collaboration with Carr Design Group and Stephen Jolson).

Isn't it funny, both kitchens have the same black bowl on the bench! Maybe it's a good luck charm.

And of interest to me given my current project to fix my son's room, is the bedroom he has created for his 4 year old son.

Check out more of his projects here.

He has a design philosophy which I fully endorse. As he said in an interview:

'I don't want to have to look at a huge plasma television. I'd rather look at the texture of the timber or the fabric and rugs. Similarly, with the kitchen, it's a piece of joinery, not a kitchen. It has all the practical functionality of a kitchen and heaps of storage but not one appliance is a feature.'

(except that bowl, I should add).

(Images: (1)-(3) (5) The Australian (4) Interior Design Awards )

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Oh for a Black Bibliotheque

I wrote here recently about my white library, which I truly love. I could almost go so far as to say it has Massively Improved my Life.

When we did the library we talked about joinery colour a lot. Magazines and interior decorators will tell you that white is 'crisp' and 'modern' and that timber finishes can be 'dated'. We ultimately decided on white because it went with the rest of the back of the house which is very modern.

But what about Black?

Black is a big deal in Melbourne. Other Australian cities often joke about Melbournians and our black clothes. Whilst we may not wear black all our lives, we all go through phases where we wear it a lot, and it is of course largely suited to the weather (except for those 45 degree celsius days and then it is not so great). I clearly remember my phase of wearing black skirt, black boots, black T-shirt with the words 'Destroy Disorientate Disorder' printed on it. That phase went for about, oh, 5 or so years.

Indeed, a tailored black suit worn to work is par for the course in Melbourne. Noone bats an eyelid. However when a friend of mine moved from Melbourne to Sydney for work and wore her best black suit on the first day, to a tee, everyone she saw that day said (Cue: sad expression) 'Oh do you have a funeral to go to?'.

So, bearing that in mind, I do wonder why we never even considered black for our library. I have been looking at my shelves and wonder- what if they were black?

It looks fantastic I think, particularly when set against some crisp white:

Images (1) Point Click Home (2) ,(5), (6) Living Etc (3) Cote Maison (4) Marie Claire Maison

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