How to Decorate a Bedroom in a Victorian Romantic Style

Retreat to your romantic Victorian bedroom when you need a break from the stress of the modern world. Once a social room as well as a functional one, the bedroom in Victorian times was often used to entertain callers. While the steps for your new bedroom may look like a lot to do, they’re not complicated and can all be accomplished in a few hours. Adding a vanity and other feminine accessories will give you the finishing touches for a lovely bedroom.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Safety ladder
• Ball of twine or string
• 4 thumbtacks
• 4 inexpensive curtain rods; two which are the same length as your bed is wide, and two which are the same length as your bed
• 10 cup hooks
• 4 sheer drapery panels, 45 inches wide by 84 inches long
• 2 matching sheer panels, as wide as you can find them and also 84 inches long
• Hammer and small finishing nails
• Soft lead pencil and a yardstick
• Two reels of fabric ribbon
• Sewing scissors
• Silk flowers for four small nosegays
• Reel of inch-wide velvet ribbon
• Small vanity or table and chair or stool with pillow
• Mirror large enough to see your entire face
• Sturdy hanger for the mirror
• Small tablecloth
• 1 yard of lace that goes well with the tablecloth

1. Creating a canopy effect for the bed turns it into a romantic bower. Directly above the four corners of the bed on the ceiling, mark each corner with a pencil on the ceiling. Screw in cup hooks at each of the four courners above the bed. Place another cup hook on the ceiling midway between the two corners of the long side of the bed. Repeat on the other side. Put two more cup hooks above the head of the bed and two more above the foot. Gather the sheer panels onto the short curtain rods and hang one rod at the head and foot of the bed by the cuphooks. Gather more sheer panels on the two long curtain rods and hang them from the cuphooks on the long side of the bed.

2. Make four nosegays from the silk flowers and the ribbon, leaving plenty of ribbon trailing from each pretty bunch of flowers for a romantic finish to the bed's sheer panels as well as any sheer panels you've used as matching window treatments.

3. Choose where you want to place a vanity table and chair. Push the small table or vanity up against the wall you select, and sit on the stool or chair in front of it. Hang a vintage mirror above the vanity for a classic Victorian touch. Use a yard of lace on top of the tablecloth for a frilly finish. Set the chair or stool in front of your new vanity and put decorative pillow on it. Arrange framed pictures, photos, perfume bottles and atomizers all around the edge of the vanity. Put a fancy hairbrush and comb set in the middle of the vanity top for a real Victorian touch.

4. Cut a 4-foot length of the velvet ribbon and hang it beside the doorway into your bedroom, using the hammer and three small finishing nails at the top of the ribbon so it rests flat against the wall. Now make a large bow of the ribbon and thumbtack it to the top of the ribbon, hiding the thumbtack inside the loops of the bow. Use more of the finishing nails to hang several small framed pictures or photos, driving the nail through the velvet ribbon into the wall to hold the picture securely.

5. Add all the accessories you like. The Victorians were very fond of cluttered tabletops and layer upon layer of soft, rich fabrics. Your romantic bedroom would be the perfect place for a chaise lounge, a curved-back sofa or a window seat. Watch store sales, yard sales and thrift stores for a lady's armchair and footstool in a pretty patterned material, or antique-style lamps with lampshades that look like stained glass for your bedside. An old-fashioned floral rug would be a great touch as well.

Tips & Warnings

• Pile lots of lacy pillows in front of your bed pillows and add an afghan at the foot for another Victorian romantic touch.
• Got a large bedroom? Consider adding a lady's secretary--one of those tall, graceful desks with a fold-down writing area. Or perhaps you'd like an armoire to hide a TV and stereo.
• Scented candles can add to the atmosphere, along with potpourri in pretty jars.
• You could also have wall sconces beside your bed with crystal drops hanging from them.