Décor can reflect gender in very direct ways. While today’s bedrooms look more gender- (and everything else) neutral to me, these two send out a very different message. Both seem to have a real guy-thing going and I’m intrigued by design elements that help them transmit that vibe.

Belgian fashion designer Edouard Vermeulen’s stunning guest room [above] seems inspired by men’s shoes – the old-fashioned reddish-brown cordovan leather kind usually worn by the pre-Nike generation. Those leather-covered side chairs and Baroque-style bureau even look shoe-polished, no?

A bleached-white wood floor and white ceiling frame the walls and provide drama through the play of dark and light. A soft peach-color bed cover and wing chair add variation without contrast.

The second bedroom was in a famous London house that once belonged to the 19th century dandy Beau Brummell (TCM sometimes airs the 1954 namesake movie starring Stewart Granger and Elizabeth Taylor). The aristocratic couple who owned it for some fifty years kept separate bedrooms. This is his.

Back and beige striped wallpaper makes me think of men’s suit material or ties. That sets the mood and provides a handsome backdrop for ebony accents of framed art on the bed wall. The lone incongruous note is the rattan headboard that reeks of an inexpensive replacement for something that may have worn out.

Floral striped curtains and bedspread are definite softeners but the dark wood tones of the table and bureau clearly say “men’s club.”  Another light floor – this time pale wall-to-wall carpeting – seems key to keeping such darkish rooms from taking on cave-like qualities.

What if the traditional furniture was stripped out of these rooms but the color schemes were preserved and more modern pieces moved in. I’m not sure the effect would be any different though it makes for an interesting conversation.

(Sources:  Maison Francaise 2-3/05; WOI 3/05)

Tags: brown bedrrom walls, masculine bedrooms, pin stripe wallpaper