464: A dream bedroom design exercise for the artists
And how to hide that TV.
Welcome to Magasin Interiors. In a dedicated monthly send, Xavier Donnelly shares his latest on-the-ground intel, dives deep into a timely interiors topic, and pulls together a useful edit of resources from his vast network.
First up…
Patterson Flynn and Charlap Hyman Herrero launched another collection of incredible animalistic woven rugs this week (we have one from their first run of a crocodile and it’s a prized possession). They've gotten even better in my opinion!
In other rug news, Christopher Farr brought on Rafael Prieto to create a line of rugs depicting swimming pools, which are also present in his new Mexico City guesthouse, which opened during Zona Maco this year (above).
The Irish furniture brand Orior hosted a St. Patrick’s day dinner in their Soho showroom. The furniture on display was, of course, beautiful, but I learned that they are also involved in a small empire of enterprises, either by direct ownership or investment, which include lighting, jewelry, and the co-working brand The Malin.
Earlier this month, just about every design-related person turned up to see Colin King’s Zara collection (I was impressed by the woven metal baskets) and then subsequently to attend a 100th birthday party for Verner Panton, hosted by Louis Poulsen and For Scale. At that party, we were invited to sticker several LP lamps — I feel I did my design duty by removing a few.
On a recent showroom visit, I discovered (and now need) the silver travel coffee mug with straw from Cristofle.
What kind of bedrooms do artists dream of?
The bedroom is a fundamentally private chamber that, over time, has become less of a site of sleep than it is a stage for interior life. If the kitchen was broadcast outward in the late 20th century, the bedroom remains a largely inward-looking space.
Bedrooms are endowed with a subtle but complicated responsibility: They are expected to soothe and seduce, to restore and to transport. Like our lives, our bedrooms are expected to be both deeply idiosyncratic and yet increasingly orderly and tidy. They are asked to hold not just the body at rest, but the mind in drift; there is a bed, yes, but also necessary literal and symbolic repositories for memory, fantasy, and the tactile traces of a life lived elsewhere (not to mention our clothes, accessories, and other random, practical things needed for daily life). And yet, bedrooms are rarely the kind of space that truly dissolves the boundary between waking and dreaming.
To access that more elusive register, I turned not to designers, but to artists whose practices already operate in that liminal zone. Artists are attuned to reverie, materiality, and the strange logic of memory. I posed a simple question: What is your dream bedroom? The responses resisted coherence. They arrived as fragments, atmospheres, gestures—a scent, a remembered light, a bed that feels less like furniture than sculpture. As with any true dream, there was no stable image to render, no single perspective to fix. Instead, I translated each into a sketch, guided as much by intuition as by description, attempting to give form to spaces that, by their nature, resist being fully seen.
R.F. Alvarez
The Texas-based artist is known for his emotionally charged figurative paintings that combine seductive queer scenes with raw, tactile surfaces (which you can see at Megan Mulrooney Gallery in LA).
On his dream bedroom: A good bedroom feels like a secret. I think the bedroom should have its own color—something immersive and different from the rest of the house, something you bathe in as you enter it. It should have windows that can open up and let in fresh air in the morning. I like windows that face east so that you are confronted with the day as it arrives. A good bedroom has a small desk—a place where you can wake up in the middle of the night to write down ideas, or where you can escape to when you want to be alone. I think a good bedroom also has books on the floor, ones you can pick up and flip through before bed. And of course, art. Paintings, posters, photographs. Things that you can linger on as you nod off.
What to buy for it: Nordic Knots curtains (in a rich color), an 18th century hand-painted hanging corner cabinet, a Texas Star terracotta planter.
Pauline de Roussy de Sales
Pauline’s riotously playful work depicts global scenes of glamour and gaiety with intensely detailed compositions of singular style.
On her dream bedroom: My ideal bedroom would be airy and open, yet also warm and cozy. There would be a mix of southwestern hacienda-style architecture with classic 18th century French furniture. The room would be filled with fantastical objects and curios, treasures collected from travels, and furnishing sourced from antiques markets and online vintage sites.
What to buy for it: A pair of Staffordshire porcelain dogs, a rattan table lamp, a pair of Louis XV-style cabriolet armchairs in pink velvet, and an English-style barley twist etagere. (You can also include Pauline’s work in your space via her lovely collaboration with Tulip Shades.)
Andie Dinkin
Andie’s brilliant paintings and drawings are mysterious and surreal, combining a dizzying array of references and characters to create richly hued dreamscapes. Her solo show, “In the Spirit World,” is currently on view at Charles Moffett Gallery.
On her dream bedroom: It’s feminine and bright, with an ocean breeze coming through a big window. I like to decorate with finds from estate sales and flea markets, and I’d hang art created by my friends on the walls. The room is colorful, with lots of textiles and plants. I’d have a dressing table with a mirror, as well as a place to display my collection of antique perfume bottles.
What to buy for it: A lemon silk upholstered footstool, an antique adjustable desk lamp, a vintage 1970s Wedgwood cream-on-black tray, and a classic Hermès ashtray. (Check out Andie’s amazing collaboration with designer Beata Heuman—a custom woven ottoman based on one of her paintings.)
Thomas Barger
Thomas’s sculptural practice is a layered inquiry—emotional, intellectual, and spiritual—anchored in technical discipline, storytelling, and a subtle sense of wit.
On his dream bedroom: My ideal bedroom makes me think of watching movies like Under the Tuscan Sun or The Notebook in my parents’ bedroom with my hands on the remote, just in case they walked in. These movies were formative for me and still are part of my dream bedroom life: In The Notebook, after all, Noah fixes up an old house for Allie with a studio next to the bedroom. (And in Under the Tuscan Sun, Frances fixes up an old house and in the process falls in love again.) I love these stories about creating beautiful homes with a can-do attitude. My ideal bedroom would be an old dump of a house in the country that I fix up—most likely not in NYC.
What to buy for it: A vintage quilt as a wall hanging from @catsonquilt, the Samsung Serif TV on a stand (yes, he believes in a TV in the bedroom), a 1930s multicolor oval American braided rug.
Gigi Ettedgui
Painter Gigi Ettedgui’s work unfolds as an intuitive exploration of memory, material, and gesture—where layered surfaces and a sensitivity to composition converge into works that feel both immediate and deeply considered. You can see her work at two upcoming shows this spring, one at Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge opening in April, and another at 15 Bateman Street in London, opening in June.
On her dream bedroom: I find Jean-Michel Frank’s bedroom on the Rue de Verneuil in Paris astoundingly beautiful. For me, it shows true style and vision, and the creativity with which you can recreate the same space forever. I adore François Catroux'’s Paris bedroom, the juxtaposition is so powerful between the simple and the decorative to create a truly sophisticated, stylish and sexy bedroom. My bedroom in Paris is painted a pink that feels welcoming and feminine, and a window looks out onto a beautiful blossoming tree in my courtyard. The room is eclectic, but I am still fond of it as it reminds me of being a Parisian girl in my twenties. And I love the romance of the Jim Dine hearts above my bed, given to me by my parents.
What to buy for it: An early 19th century artist’s table, a classic wooden artist’s easel (even if realistically, there can be no painting in the bedroom), Connolly cashmere and velvet bedroom slippers, and a Greek rescue dog on the bed.
The Directory — TV Design Solutions
Thomas’s comment about TVs in the bedroom got me thinking about how to display TVs in general. This is less a directory than a list of ideas for how to incorporate the pesky black rectangle into your interior.
TV covers
At Ash, we create custom fabric coverlets for the TVs in the guestroom, generally from the same fabric as the curtains or bedhangings. I still think this is a nice way to soften a wall mounted TV. Your local tailor will be able to make this for you, or you can order one of the many options on Etsy. You can also just throw some fabric over it.
TV Stands
I personally don’t love the idea of a wall mounted TV, so I think a stand can help make a TV feel more intentional and less like it’s floating. My TV is a discontinued LG model with a built-in stand. The Samsung Serif also has a built-in stand, but you can also buy nice-looking stands from places like the Finnish Design Shop, Industrial Konzept, (another option here), or Etsy.
Cabinets
You can always do as the English do and shove your TV inside a cabinet where you can close the doors. There aren’t a lot of ready-made nice options for this out there (an exception being this one from Ballard Designs), but I have seen people successfully convert an antique hutch or wardrobe to accommodate a TV.
Folding Screen
I used to hide the TV behind a folding screen that I’d painted a sky on. It was sort of annoying to move it all the time, but it looked nice when I had people over (I’ve noticed that even when it’s off, people still stare at a TV screen). The good news is there are plenty of beautiful folding screens and dividers available online.
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Love this and here for more interior design content !
such a great read as someone who is contemplating their bedroom styling, and the sketches are exquisite!!