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Tuscan Decorating Style
Bedrooms, Part I: Traditional/Rustic
A rustic Tuscan decorating style works for large and small bedrooms. It is simple, versatile, and beautifully fresh.
 The pictures on this page were all taken in old Tuscan farmhouses - houses that have been in the respective families for generations.
Some of them are still used as working farms (with olive groves, vineyards, and large kitchen gardens).
The houses still retain most of their original features...
... and the owners are using a traditional Tuscan decorating style to continue, in spirit, the characteristic simplicity of their ancient homes.
They have stuck to some basic 'rules' for Tuscan interiors:
1. The interior walls are whitewashed.
2. They're minimally decorated, mostly with framed old family pictures and prints (many of the prints have either a botanical or a religious theme).
3. Most beds have robust, blackened wrought-iron frames.
 4. All of them are covered with simple white matelassé blankets (no quilts!).
5. The bedlinen and the window treatments are an all-white cotton affair.
Here are some ideas for the kind of bedside tables you might want to use in rustic Tuscan interiors:
Bedside
Tables
The nightstand to the right is typical of the traditional Tuscan decorating style.
It is quite high; about 30cm higher than the top of the mattress. Made of brown polished wood, with sparse decorative detail, it is topped with a slab of white, veined marble.
The next two pictures show a quirkier take on the theme of bedside tables (and might give you some new Tuscan home decorating ideas):
They're both made from antique wash stands.
The one to the left still has the original porcelain wash bowl sitting in the top ring, which in turn holds – slightly askew – the reading lamp, as well as all the kinds of stuff you'd want close by at night.
Underneath the bowl, you can still see the little  enamelled tin plate that used to hold the soap.
The small round mirrors on the wall 'echo' all the circular shapes below – a nice touch that visually pulls the space together.
The washstand to the right is another example of how you can play around with the traditional Tuscan decorating style. The iron stand has lost (or been stripped of) all things to do with washing.
The empty top ring was turned into a table with the help of a thick, rough terracotta floor tile.
And the metal plate near the floor, underneath the soap dish, where the large jug with water used to sit in the days before running water and bathrooms, is now home to a small but perfectly formed ... candleholder.
Accessories
Beyond the all-natural color scheme of a rustic Tuscan decorating style, the owners of this farmhouse have added a few lovely details that give their home a contemporary, fashionable twist.
On the bed in the background, there are a couple of cushions covered in a floral print.
Do you see the ones I mean? They're red, pink, violet, with a bit of yellow and green, on a white ground.
The same fabric reappears on the wall, as an 'upholstery' fabric for several of the mirror frames.
I really like this idea. The simple geometric shapes of the fabric-covered frames are softened by the padding, and the frames are wide enough to set off the lively, large-scale print.
At the same time, they perfectly complement the more ornate and gilded frames in the group.
The printed fabric connects the wall decor with the bed and creates a unified, very feminine space.
Tuscan Style Furniture for Bedrooms
The chest of drawers in the picture to the right does not look very rustic, really, but it works perfectly within a simple Tuscan interior.
The owner has 'crowned' it with a beautifully carved Italian mirror, and decorated the white marble top with antique hairbrushes and white porcelain.
This isn't generally the kind of decor you're likely to find in smaller farmhouses, though.
The traditional Tuscan decorating style for rustic bedrooms is mostly on the frugal side, with very little ornament at all.
Take, for example, the wardrobe in the picture to the left: It's about 120 years old. Dark-stained wood, good proportions, a bevelled mirror set into the door – that's all.
This is the kind of beautifully simple, almost austere Tuscan style furniture I have come across on several occasions in smaller farmhouses.
You can find similar pieces all around Europe, and in many other parts of the world. Alternatively, you could have a wardrobe like this made to order without problem.
Now, if you would like to design your interiors in a slightly more 'citified' Tuscan decorating style, keep reading - you have a host of further options at your disposal.
For example, the photo to the right shows part of an art nouveau bedroom suite (bed, wardrobe, nightstands & chest of drawers) in wood.
It was made in Tuscany around the turn of the 20th century; in Italy, the style is called Stile Liberty.
You'll find more information about this, and about how to create the look and use accessories in Tuscan bedrooms, in Part II of this mini-series about the Tuscan decorating style.
In Part II, you'll also find lots of ideas to use in contemporary Tuscan interiors.
In the meantime, for more information about Tuscan style decorating, you could check out the article about Tuscan color schemes, or …
... return from Tuscan Decorating Style for Traditional Bedrooms to Tuscan Decorating Secrets, or...
... return to the Dream Home Decorating Homepage.
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