Kristen Rivoli: Travel-Inspired Bedroom

July 2, 2013

People look for all different styles when creating their bedroom. Most often the request is a place of respite, relaxing, peaceful…a getaway from the busy day-to-day activities. Sometimes a client’s request is to include objects or design styles from their travels, which lends a personal feel to any home. The trick, however, is not making it look like a staged set, but a space that shows collected pieces in a stylish and purposeful way. I Below is a master bedroom I created for last year’s Junior League of Boston showhouse, in which I wanted to represent a client’s travels to Morocco in the feel of the bedroom.

Photo by Greg Premru

The window treatments were meant to create the feeling of being in a tent under the beautifully cast light of a vintage Moroccan lantern. I ound a beautiful antique wooden campaign chair at Barn 17 in Somerville, Massachusetts, and bedside tables with classic Moroccan doorway details for the legs at Charles Spada in the Boston Design Center, that added to the overall look and feel of the space. 

Photo by Greg Premru

Photo by Greg Premru

There are many other ways to add Moroccan flair to a room, many manufacturers have designs and styles of that genre in their lines, like Schumacher‘s wallpaper & fabric from Martyn Lawrence Bullard that draws upon his travels to Morocco and India. Pieces like the vintage lantern can be found on an amazing website mycraftwork.com, which brings beautiful and luxurious pieces from Morroco to the United States. 

Photo courtesy of Schumacher

Photo courtesy of Schumacher

Photo courtesy of MyCraftWorkLLC

The key to making it all work is to use several pieces mixed in with your own furniture so it does not look over the top. When you’re finished, you’ll have a room you’ll look forward to retiring to at the end of a long day that will transport you back to that fabulous trip you took, you’ll feel like you never left.

-Kristen Rivoli

Kristen Rivoli is an award-winning interior designer based in Winchester, Massachusetts. Her work has been featured in New England Home, Boston Home, Boston Globe Magazine and more. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook

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