Mountain House Reveal (Yes, Another One!): The Coziest Upstairs Guest “Bunk” Bedroom

I bet you thought mountain house reveals were over? WRONG! We’re back in the upstairs guest bedroom, which we sort of showed you in this post, but now it’s fully done. We got weird with this one, and I’m so happy we did. A king and a queen bed in here, first on accident and then intentionally. Here’s how it went down: we messed up in the design process and didn’t make the windows wide enough to put a king bed in between the windows. We thought we did, but I think we didn’t account for the frame (this and other lessons in my next book that my team and I are spending 8 hours a day writing right now). So any king bed would hit the frame in the most awkward accidental way.

If you know me at all, you might know that I hate when things barely touch awkwardly (generally in life, actually). It needs to look intentional, so they can overlap just not barely touch. We started looking for wider beds to rectify this, in search of a headboard that would go so far over the window that it would be obvious that we weren’t trying to make it fit in between. Julie reminded me about the extra wide king bed from Thos. Moser that we used in the Portland project, and we were like “oh dear, that’s our bed.” We thought about all these DIY headboards that could have been a janky solution, but truly this bed made the most design sense (and needed to look good because it was going to be in a magazine, and on the blog, of course).

So we reached out to see if they’d work with us again. But first, a bit about the company: Thos. Moser has been around for decades—generations almost says it better; read about the history here. I’ve loved them since I was a stylist in New York, 15 years ago. They are a heritage, artisan furniture company based in Maine that makes their beautiful products right here in the US. It’s how we used to make and buy furniture: from a furniture maker that made high-quality classic pieces, then we’d pass it down from generation to generation. We reached out and pitched the trade, knowing that this bed was beyond our budget (that is how a lot of these partnerships work). If you have the budget, please support companies and makers like this. I didn’t due to being so far over budget on this house, but I’m proud to be able to support them in the ways I can, like exposing their work to our large audience, getting them press, social media and, best of all, photography for their usage. We work hard to create beautiful rooms for makers and brands we love and Thos. Moser is truly one of them.

Okay. Back to the dilemma. They didn’t have a king made (they are made to order, after all) at the time, only a queen, but we (all of us) REALLY wanted to try to get it in the House Beautiful feature. So they shipped the queen and we shot it here:

We could only shoot this vignette and not the pulled back room because the queen headboard did hit the windows awkwardly so we cheated it to the side so it would “clear” the window frame and just shot this side (a little smoke and mirrors).

Meanwhile, we put the king mattress that we originally had on the floor on the other side of the room and guess what? All summer long this room, with two big beds, got more use from families than any other. All our friends and family with small kids loved that they could sleep near them. It’s almost a grown-up (and more beautiful) bunk bedroom. So when the king was ready and arrived, we realized that both would fit—the king between the windows and the queen by the closet. It would mean little space for too much else, but at this point we realized that we were so over budget that indeed we would be renting out this house and having more places for people to sleep comfortably is a huge selling point.

It works and is somehow still so open and calming because everything is cohesive. All the wood matches, and the tones of the textiles and carpet all coordinate so well. Having the beds be lighter, visually (they are EXTREMELY heavy by the way, in a good way that you know will last probably hundreds of years) helps keep it feeling big despite having two beds.

Now, trying to coordinate bedding on both so that they worked well without matching was a challenge that took me, Emily Bowser and Julie WEEKS to figure out, but we did and we loved how it turned out. We tried to have the same amount of “visual weight” on both beds so it felt balanced and we used the same types of textiles on each so they coordinated but mixed up where they went. One bed has that pretty mauve on the pillows, the other on the blanket.

The window shades, which are Hunter Douglas from Decorview, are blackout shades, on remotes and super simple and lovely.

As for the wall-to-wall carpet…well, I never thought I’d do beige wall-to-wall in my life? But here we are. It was supposed to be light gray but we accidentally ordered the wrong colorway (ha a lot was happening fast, guys) and when it arrived, we were actually so pleasantly surprised and love it way more. It’s from Stark Carpet and we hacked it by putting 2″ memory foam underneath it (density 7 lb which was about $200 more to install than a standard install pad), so while it’s a low pile, it is EXTREMELY comfortable. Bouncy, even.

We knew that we wouldn’t have a ton of space for lamps, and wanted to add something architectural to the room, so we ordered this sconce from One Forty Three and we love what it did to the room. It’s quiet but really interesting (please note the wood ball on the bottom arm, which ties in with our light wood throughout).

For anyone who wonders if nightstands have to match, the answer is no, not really. Here, we used two sets (one for each bed), though it’s a visual lesson that they could also be mixed and matched if there were just the one bed. The round wood ones above are from IKEA (which are so great and obviously affordable). Once the king bed came in, we didn’t have room for that sherpa chair (from Target and awesome), sadly.

On the other side of the room, we have two smaller nightstands (mostly for a glass of water) from CB2. We hung these awesome sconces from Humanhome that saved space but provide the light that those guests would need. The cord hangs and attaches to the wall (and you turn them on/off from a button on the floor).

I repurposed my Jane Denton pieces from Birdie’s old nursery here and, of course, still love them. Between those and the mirror and sconces, that’s all the room really needs. It’s soft and minimal.

The closet doors are by Ross Alan and yes you have space to open them. We put a dresser inside for the guests to be able to put their clothes away.

Excellent bed styling ladies. Pulled together, cohesive yet soft and inviting. The shams in that photo are actually euros that we cheated for the shot, so if you are on Pom Pom at Home’s website, know that they don’t exist in standard or king size (although we think they should and technically, if you’re handy with a sewing machine, you could just size them down).

This room has its own bathroom (reveal here) and while I love no room more than our master bedroom, this room is fought over.

That beautiful vase is from Sheldon Ceramics (how perfect is it?) and fun fact, those branches lasted for months and are dried so we didn’t even have to buy new ones for this shoot.

There you go. The most beautiful bed in the world in what might be the coziest bedroom I’ve ever designed. Come back tomorrow for another mountain house update (we played around in the kids’ room and did something maybe a little controversial??). See you tomorrow for that.

Resources

Furniture: 

Foreside Queen & King Beds by Thos. Moser | Small Ivory Hex Nightstands by CB2 | Tiered Wood Side Tables by IKEA

Bedding & Decor:

King Bed Area: Swing-Arm Sconce by One Forty Three | Round Mirror by CB2 | Mini Nub Dish by Ben Mendansky | Terra Cotta Vase by Sheldon Ceramics | Table Lamp from Finnish Design Shop | Lumbar Pillow from Filling Spaces | Shams from Pom Pom at Home | Blush Pillowcases from Target | Linen Blend Duvet Set from Target | Berry Quilt from Pom Pom at Home

Queen Bed Area: Plug-In Sconce by Humanhome | X Art (above bed) by Jane Denton | Art (above bed) by Jane Denton | Lumbar Pillow from Filling Spaces | Berry Shams from Pom Pom at Home | White Pillowcases from Target | Cream/Gray Duvet Cover from Pom Pom at Home (similar) | Diamond-Stitch Velvet Mauve Quilt from Target | Blush Blanket from Pom Pom at Home

Hardware & Finishes:

Closet Hardware by Schoolhouse | Door Hardware by Rejuvenation | Light Switch by Forbes & Lomax | Pure White Paint by Sherwin-Williams

Windows & Doors:

Hunter Douglas Room Darkening Solera Soft Shades from Decorview | Treemont Stria Carpet by Stark Carpet | Contemporary Windows by Marvin | Beechwood Doors by Ross Alan Reclaimed

And lastly, I wanted to give Thos. Moser another shout out (this post isn’t sponsored, I just really love them) and show you all my other favorite pieces, some of which haven’t changed since I loved them 15 years ago. If you are in Freeport, Maine, New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., or San Francisco, you can check out these pieces for yourself at their showrooms.

1. Foreside Bed 2. Wishbone Extension Table | 3. Hoop Mirror | 4. Hancock Table | 5. Continuous Arm Chair | 6. Dr. White’s Chest | 7. Eastward Bench | 8. Table Minimus – Oval | 9. Ellipse Arm Chair | 10. Vita Blanket Box | 11. Continuous Arm Bench | 12. Pencil Post Bed | 13. Continuous Arm Rocker | 14. Hartford Sofa – One Place | 15. Foreside Mirror

***photography by Sara Liggoria-Tramp, design by me with assistance from Julie Rose, styling by Emily Bowser and Julie Rose