How can you create this elegant yet inexpensive look in your own bedchamber?
Walls and floors
Since the room will be a background for art works and tasteful effects, make it as far as possible a neutral background. Choose a gentle off-white for walls, ceilings, and woodwork. A stained or painted wood floor is ideal -- consider stenciling a lacy design around the edges of the floor. If you prefer carpet (or are stuck with it), use a soft, light neutral tone that coordinates with the rest of your decorations. Cover the center of the floor with a rag or hooked rug in soft golds, pinks, blues, and greens.
Furniture
The key to the look is a style called "cottage furniture." Cottage furniture was inexpensive painted pine furniture, usually in a simplified version of the current "high style." If you squint at the photo of Poor Richard's Inn, you'll see a cottage dresser-with-mirror that imitates, much simplified, the Renaissance Revival style.
Cottage bedroom suites with this Renaissance Revival shape are still fairly easy to find, at least in the northeastern United States. If you can't find one, or the shape doesn't appeal to you, look for simple, squarish furniture that isn't too bulky. (Maine Cottage's contemporary furniture, especially the "Island Morning" bedroom, is a good guide to the right look and proportions.) Scour flea markets for bargains, as many an ugly brown-painted dresser cleans up nicely when repainted in cream with gold trim, and dressed up with glass or china knobs. (If your dresser lacks a mirror, just hang above it a large mirror in a simple gold or off-white frame.)
If your furniture is very plain, consider dressing it up by adding pictures or simple floral designs to flat surfaces. You can imitate Amy March by trying your talents at painting freehand; you can use stencils; or you can even decoupage designs. (Passages gives a handy guide to decoupaging furniture.) Try Watteau shepherdesses, Renaissance-style angels, or stylized flower designs.
Add a comfortable wicker chair for sitting with a book. If you want additional seating, old side chairs from the 1860s onward are easy to find. (It was common practice to haul small chairs wherever they were needed; the side chairs you'll see in Bronson Alcott's study also appear throughout Orchard House.) Paint battered or mismatched chairs to match the rest of the furniture.
