Interior designer Brigette Romanek has won over clients like Beyoncé and Gwyneth Paltrow by taking bold risks. When the design house Schumacher heard she was considering a redo of her Los Angeles bedroom, they proposed a challenge: to create a space applying her edgy and eclectic sensibility using their most recent collections. Romanek responded by making a surprisingly quiet sanctuary.
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In the light-filled public areas of her Laurel Canyon home, interior designer Brigette Romanek is not shy about making bold statements with Pop-Art inspired furniture, African sculptures and audacious flower arrangements. But upstairs in her bedroom, Romanek is testing out her inside voice. The result is a visual purr.
Romanek’s answer to the Schumacher Challenge was to create a room that is at once traditional and absolutely modern, sweetly demure and playfully funky. She transformed what was once a simple space into what she calls “my own sort of cocoon, my safe place and my place of gratefulness.”
Tell us how you decided which Schumacher elements to use.
I had to come up with a jumping-off point, to find something that was going to inspire me and spark every other piece. I know Schumacher very well, but since this room is my own space, I was looking at all of their fabrics and wallcoverings with fresh eyes. They shared some new fabrics and sent tons of samples. I was like a kid in a candy store. I sat on the floor in my living room for days refining my selections. And then I came up with the story that I loved. It started with the wallpaper—a chinoiserie panel, Brighton Pavilion. I wanted to use it in a fresh way. I grouped it with crazy, fun furniture and it makes a bedroom that is unique and warm.
I have six Schumacher elements in here: the wallpaper, the fabrics for the headboard, pillows, curtains, sheers and bolster. I made the look more playful by using all different colors and incorporating some of the new leathers they’ve introduced.
How did the different elements you chose for the room contribute to its serene mood?
I design with eclecticism in mind. Good design should result in a space that you can love for years and years. Even if you change out a piece or change a fabric, the crux of what’s great is still there.
The goal here was to mix it all up. The sofa is a brand-new design and the patchwork leather daybed comes from the 1970s. The lights are 1960s Italian, the mirrored chest is a 70’s Paul Evans piece and then on top of it all, the incredible and classic Schumacher wallpaper. Each element has its own story to tell, but they all come together harmoniously and just work. I wish people could do that!
The layers really bring a design home and make it more personal. When I walked into this room after the wallpaper was up and all of the furniture and textures were in, I thought, Now the last layer, accessories! I kept these smaller pieces at my studio with favorite things that I haven’t used yet. I got to pull out a ten-dollar green vase that I bought ten years ago, and the white one I found walking by a store years ago. Getting to pull in these pieces that I’ve had and loved—it felt almost like they were destined. I try to put all these fantastic ingredients in a pot and come out with a great meal.
How do you feel about yourself as a client?
I think I’m pretty difficult. I speak through my designs, so I can’t always find my words. I’m not always articulate, so if I were a client, I’d probably be a frustrating one. But I love interior design. I’m obsessed with all the different things you can do. There’s no one way, one look, one idea. You get to create, and you get to embrace and enhance someone’s life and give them something that makes them feel better.
I get to bring beauty into the world. As my own client, I am a testament to that. I walk into this room and it’s just so joyous. I put on music and I can design or dance around, I can just lay here or read a book. I’m made better by the space.
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Produced by Tori Mellott
