By Dana Mercer — empty nester, linen devotee, and light enthusiast in Asheville, NC.
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For years I had one overhead light doing all the work in our bedroom. When I finally layered three light sources, the room felt completely different — and so did my mornings.
Read the post →For years I had one overhead light doing all the work in our bedroom. When I finally layered three light sources, the room felt completely different — and so did my mornings.
I mounted our first bedroom sconces too high, then too low. The third try, I followed the 60-inch rule — and finally understood what all those beautiful bedroom photos had in common.
I spent years buying new lamps and fixtures, searching for that cozy feeling. Then I spent one weekend installing dimmers on every switch in the cottage — and finally found it.
The bedroom was the last room I tackled and the one that mattered most. Linen bedding, a pair of sconces at the right height, and the overhead light finally on a dimmer.
Empty nesting gave us back a room. Instead of leaving it as a guest room with nowhere to go, I turned it into the reading retreat I'd wanted for twenty years.
I used to cook under a fluorescent panel that made everything look like a diner. Two pendant lights over the island later, and cooking dinner has become the best part of my day.
I thought empty nesting would feel like loss. In some ways it did. But it also gave me back the house — and I wanted to decorate it completely differently.
It started with one duvet cover. Now linen is in almost every room of the cottage, and I have stopped apologizing for the wrinkles.
For years the master bedroom was the room we fell asleep in. After the kids left, I decided it was time for it to become the room we actually wanted to be in.