DILEMMA
How can I make my bedroom more than simply the room in which I sleep? I want it to be casual and relaxed-not too done or decorated.
–Mary Ann Quick, Chicago
SOLUTION
“Soften the whole look and make it very inviting. Keep fabrics in neutral tones of gray, beige and subtle green, such as celadon and sage. Do a duvet treatment for the bed with a variety of European squares and rectangles across the back. Simple Roman-style shades for the windows won’t call attention to themselves.”
MORE ABOUT MAIDA QUANSTRUM
Background: Maida Quanstrum is a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and has been an interior and textile designer for 14 years.
Pillow talk: Custom pillows are one of Quanstrum’s specialties, and useful in creating luxury. For one client’s bedroom, she hand-sewed 500 pearls onto black antique silk velvet to make stunning bed pillows at $1,600 each. Other designers call upon Quanstrum for her skilled fabric treatments of customized and comfortable master bedrooms. “We live such busy lives, it is very appealing to everyone at this time to have master bedrooms that are bastions of respite,” she says.
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More suggestions about how to make a bedroom into a sanctuary: Add a fireplace or custom millwork around an existing one. place a chaise longue and arm chair by a window. Buy a four-poster king-size bed. Install custom carpeting and window treatments made from natural fibers in tea-stained colors. “Your eye reads them as bright, but they’re calmer,” Quanstrum says.
Special access: Quanstrum creates a retail line, “Maida Lin Custom Interiors,” exclusive to the Cambium showroom at 119 W. Hubbard St. Through Quanstrum’s in-store vignettes, clients can see how several different fabrics work together. “I really love detail, and I think that is what the line at Cambium can offer,” she says.
Price range: Duvets and bedspreads run $500 to $1,200, while pillows and throws cost $100 to $500.
Call: Cambium at 312-832-9920. Or contact the designer at “Designs by Maida, Custom Interiors,” P.O. Box 34511, Chicago, Ill. 60634; 773-836-1300.