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Tuscan Style Decorating
Bedrooms, Part II: Create the Look!
Use Tuscan style decorating to create a seriously charming bedroom ...
... and start with these photos, ideas and accessories from original Tuscan interiors.
Tuscan Style Decorating for Bedrooms, Part I was all about creating bedrooms in a traditional Tuscan style.
But that approach may not work so well for you if you...
- live in a modern apartment with a view to skyscrapers, or
- don't like black wrought-iron beds, or
- aren't that partial to the color white, or
- would like something a bit more romantic, or
- want a contemporary (but still Tuscan) look for your bedroom.
This page will show you how to create Tuscan interiors from scratch, without first having to build an ancient Tuscan farmhouse around them (ahem ...).
'Town-House' Tuscan Style Decorating
When it comes to decorating bedrooms in a Tuscan style, you'll get the most typical and distinct look if you use iron bedsteads.
But this doesn't mean that - your bed needs to have both a head and a foot, or
- that any of it has to be black.
Essentially, all you need is
- a frame or base for your mattress, and
- something that will look convincingly 'Tuscan' as a bedhead.
The picture above shows a Tuscan bedroom in a townhouse in San Gimignano. The room has a thoroughly modern feel to it, even though it is decorated very much within the traditions of old Tuscan interiors:
The walls are still white, but the graceful, iron bedhead has been painted white as well.
The bedding has received a full color makeover, with a modern-style comforter in blue and decorative cushions.
The wardrobe is new, but just like the ones that are used in traditional Tuscan style decorating, it is- fairly large
- angular and simple
- freestanding, and
- made of medium/dark brown wood.
The owner has softened the austere, high-contrast look by adding the birdcage and the hallstand – both echo the playful, elegant white lines of the romantic bedhead.
 The beautifully traditional window treatment (essential when you're decorating Tuscan style) is a full-length curtain made from panels of fine white cotton, connected by strips of lace (have a look at the close-up photo, below right).
This type of cotton curtain is very common across much of Italy - not just in Tuscan style decorating.
Cotton weaves offer some protection from the relentless, briliant summer sun. However, if your room is a bit on the dark side, or you live in a distinctly 'non-Mediterranean' part of the world where the daylight is much softer ...
... you'll be able to salvage more daylight with a more translucent fabric at your bedroom window. For example, a flat panel of sheer lace would work beautifully with Tuscan interiors, too.
'Iron-Free' Tuscan Bedrooms
Wrought-iron beds can look great, but they aren't essential for decorating a Tuscan style bedroom.
Many Tuscan bedrooms have wooden bedsteads, like the one in this picture (it belongs to the wardrobe on the page about traditional Tuscan bedrooms.)
This bed dates from the turn of the 20th century; it was made in Tuscany in the "Stile Liberty" - so named after the London department store, Liberty & Co., which was wildly popular with the art nouveau crowd in Italy at the time. (Liberty's still produce some of the original fabric prints!).
The photo below shows a detail of the bedhead, with its sparse, beautifully carved design.
 As you can see, the original beds were not exactly kingsize.
So the owners took them apart, had a new bed base made from the same type of wood, and then fixed the two old bedheads and feet to the new base.
The proportions work really well – a great idea you could try, too, if you come across antique bedsteads that were made for people smaller than you & yours!
Come to think of it, you could take this further still, and opt for creative Tuscan style decorating that doesn't require any original Tuscan furniture at all …
… so how about making the head & foot of the bed yourself, or having them made, from a simple length of wooden board?
You could go for a straight, rectangular shape and add a 'Tuscan' detail, like a small inset tile, or you could cut out softer and rounder lines, as in the little picture to the left.
Wax the wood, or polish it, or leave it completely untreated. And then …
… Pretty It Up.
Shower the bed with white cotton bedlinen, fringed with lace.
Use some antique pillowcases, of different sizes if you want, and stack them against the bedhead.
If antique ones are hard to come by, mix modern ornate and plain ones to create a scrumptious, lush, summery display of Tuscan style decorating.
 Cover the bed in a white cotton jacquard bedspread (the style is sometimes called "matelassé"), or choose a textured coverlet in a solid, light color.
If you can get something handcrafted, either new or antique, that would be even better - as long as it's made of cotton, in white or a light color.
It doesn't have to be Italian to look the part!
Here's a more detailed close-up of the coverlet on the Stile Liberty bed above.
The blanket was sourced at a local Tuscan flea market; it dates back to the early decades of the 20th century (and I dread to think how many weeks it took to crochet!)
If you can get something similar in white, cream, or another soft color – grab it, and don't let go! Find a way to integrate it into your Tuscan style bedroom, even if you're using a quilt or a comforter on the bed.
Romantic Tuscan Style Decorating
So you've read this far, and decorating Tuscan style might still look a bit, erm, white to you.
Well, a frugal style like this usually works a treat in Tuscan interiors, with views like the one to the left (by the way, I was told this was "bad" weather, and everyone was complaining about it!)
Anyway ... if you happen to live in an urban environment, you may want a little more color - or even a little more 'romance' on the inside of your Tuscan bedroom.
So here are a few ideas:
1. Paint the walls. In Tuscany, with so much color and heat outside the houses, white walls actually help to cool things down a little inside. But in Berlin, Brussels, or Baltimore, a yellow umber or pale terracotta colorwash can provide some much-needed warmth.
2. Color the bed spread. In Italy, I've occasionally seen quilts in florals, and a few in deep burgundy reds. Golden yellows and mid-tone blues or greens are used sometimes as well.
3. Hang drapes around the bed. This is not generally done in rustic Tuscan style decorating, but that doesn't mean you can't do it. You could hang a bed curtain from the ceiling or from a bed crown, or from a canopy-style bed frame.
The photo to the right was taken in a small, pretty Tuscan interior design shop (La Bella Toscana in Bolgheri), and it shows the way things are going in Tuscan home design (I've seen similar styles in other modern Mediterranean interiors): - Lots of neutral colors
- a few color 'splashes' on textiles and/or accessories
- colorwashed walls that recall natural surfaces (rock/brick) or exterior Mediterranean paint colors
- iron tester or four-poster constructions
- and coarse or translucent linen/cotton drapes around the bed.
It is, of course, possible to go much more opulent than that.
If an opulent Tuscan bedroom is what you're after, have a look at the chapter on Tuscan style decorating in a Palazzo (coming soon!)
In the meantime, you could read more about Tuscan Style Decorating,
or ...
... return to the Dream Home Decorating Homepage.
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