How to Decorate a Plantation Bedroom

A potted palm adds a tropical accent to your plantation-style bedroom.

Plantation-style decorating can be traced backed to the 1800s when the British colonized, among other places, the East and West Indies, where they built large plantations dedicated to the sugar and rubber trades. They soon found that the furniture and household goods they had imported from Britain were not a good fit for the islands’ tropical climates. Plantation decor is a mix of laid-back island and traditional British style that you can bring to your bedroom even in the coldest climates.

Things You'll Need

• Wood flooring
• Coir, sisal or Oriental area rugs
• Painting supplies
• Wallpaper
• Wainscoting
• French or sliding glass doors
• Sheer curtains, plantation shutters or bamboo shades
• Ceiling beams
• Four-poster bed
• Mosquito netting
• Sheets and pillowcases
• Blanket
• Comforter
• Duvet cover
• Side tables
• Steamer trunk
• Vintage suitcases
• Slipper chair, wood framed chair with wicker seat and back or wicker chair
• Table lamp
• Potted palms
• Terra-cotta pots
• Orchids
• Ceiling fan
• Animal and ocean prints

Instructions

1. Lay a wood floor with a highly polished finish. Accent it with area rugs made from natural fibers like coir and sisal or opt for a luxurious Oriental carpet.

2. Paint your walls with soft island colors. Choose hues like seafoam green and sunset pink. Wallpaper in tropical prints like those with palm tree motifs are also a good choice. Create an accent wall with wallpaper and paint the other three walls. Mix European traditional style with island flavor by installing dark, raised-paneled wainscoting halfway up the walls and papering or painting the wall’s top half.

3. Let the outdoors in with French or sliding glass doors. Dress them with white sheer curtains that waft in the breeze. Add privacy or block the sun’s heat with plantation-style shutters or bamboo shades.

4. Introduce architectural details if possible. Install ceiling beams. Remove the ceiling to expose the rafters.

5. Choose a four-poster bed crafted from mahogany or teak or finished with a deep mahogany stain. Drape it with mosquito netting. Dress it with crisp, white sheets and pillowcases trimmed with crocheted accents. Add a white cotton blanket. Warm the bed with a down comforter in a linen duvet cover of pale yellow, blue or seafoam green.

6. Flank the bed with side tables made from teak or mahogany or more common woods like oak and pine finished with a dark stain. Choose tables embellished with gold hardware and intricately carved legs. Place a matching bench at the foot of the bed. Consider a steamer trunk or stack of vintage suitcases evoking the long travels the British endured to reach the islands.

7. Create a reading area. Place a chair in a sunny corner. Choose one with a sloped-back wooden frame featuring graceful twisted legs and a wicker seat and back, opt for a slipper-style chair with an upholstered seat or go with a wicker rocker. Pair the chair with a casual wicker table topped with an antique wrought iron table lamp with a stained glass shade.

8. Accessorize with island accents. Group potted palms of different sizes in terra-cotta pots in front of a window. Top occasional tables with orchids. Suspend a fan from the ceiling. Choose one with simple wooden or wicker blades. Hang botanical, animal and ocean prints on the walls.

References

• Realtor.com; Go Tropical; Diana Lundin
• Furniture Styles: British Colonial Style Furniture and Decor
• British Colonial Imports: British Colonial Collections -- Chairs