By Linda C. Lentz

Light and airy, this 1,100-square-foot, third-floor master retreat, in a Denver town home by Debra Toney Residential Design and Development, is artfully divided into sleeping and sitting areas by a central fireplace—outfitted with flat-screen television sets on both sides to accommodate viewing from bed or sofa. Complete with 18-foot bar housing a small refrigerator, wine cooler, ice-maker, and sink, this comfortably urbane home-within-a-home reflects its natural setting with generous doses of sky blue on the walls, lush bedding, and upholstery. An adjacent deck opens to the incredible mountain views.

Suite Dreams
As master baths assume the aura of spas, kitchens mimic those of the finest restaurants, and living rooms morph into mini-theaters, it should come as no surprise that bedrooms are taking on the amenities of luxurious travel accommodations.

“I’m finding that a lot of my clients are treating the master bedroom like a hotel suite,” says L.A. designer Michael Berman. “There is always a request for a comfortable seating area. And with the onslaught of flat screens, we’re doing a lot of in-wall televisions concealed by remote-controlled artwork that lifts up and over them.”

Essentially, Berman sees the master bedroom evolving into an extension of the living room, albeit a more personal refuge in which adults can relax. “I have clients who even gather with their kids on the king-size bed to watch a movie, so the master bedroom becomes a cozy extension of the family room.”

Denver-based designer and builder Debra Toney admits, “It’s not unusual for us to put in two masters.” Often this means one large suite and one junior that could easily substitute as deluxe guest quarters. The decor almost always includes well-lit reading spots with inviting chaise longues, and area rugs atop exotic wood floors of, for example, bamboo, mahogany, or Brazilian cherry.

Seductive Trappings
Plush, down-filled couches and ottomans positioned around a fireplace, an antique desk, and a custom cabinet holding the de rigueur flat-screen TV, audio/video equipment, and books are among the furnishings New York City-based designer Jamie Drake was asked to include in the sitting room of a master suite in an 1856 Greek Revival house.

Clearly delineating activities, Drake created a somewhat removed sleeping chamber just two steps above this hospitable arrangement. According to Drake, “This suite is exactly the type of retreat our clients are requesting, a self-contained oasis of comfort, style, and function—the key components being sleeping spaces, lounge seating, media equipment, great dressing areas and baths, often laptop desks, and even small coffee and juice bars.”

Color, of course, sets the tone. Here Drake used a serene celadon and apricot throughout. With similar intent, Toney leans toward natural tones. “Because we’re in Colorado, it’s important for me to have my interiors and exteriors harmonize. So we use a lot of sky blue and brown.” Berman, meanwhile, favors restful shades similar to those found in the saturated background of a John Singer Sargent oil painting: deep greens, blues, and even charcoal-hued taupes.

As for materials, Berman claims that rich, furniture-quality finishes typically found in rooms where guests are entertained are migrating into bedrooms, with the likes of walnut floors, rosewood cabinets, wool draperies, velvet-upholstered walls, and tea-papered ceilings.

“People are going crazy about wallpaper,” says Berman. In particular, he favors treating the ceiling as the papered surface and then just paints the walls. The effect, he believes, is an unexpected luminous patterning usually reserved for dining rooms.

Pragmatic Aesthetics
“What we don’t do is plan for massive dressers,” claims Toney. “Most of the time, the closets are so huge that having a dresser is unnecessary. This is great because it cleans up the space.” Likewise, Drake combined three closets and an old luggage room to carve out a dressing area in an older home. Berman, too, embraces the walk-in closet as the pragmatic nucleus of today’s home. But he still integrates functional dressers, highboys, and chifforobes into his layouts. “Vintage chests from the French Deco or Anglo-India eras really stand out as fabulous art pieces,” he notes, “especially in modern interiors.” As a contemporary counterpoint, he suspends lighting over bedside tables to ease the clutter.

“You spend 8 to 10 hours a day in the bedroom, whether sleeping, watching TV, or reading,” says Berman. Accordingly, he reports, this comfort zone has become a priority on today’s decorating agenda. “Funds were always earmarked for a home’s more public spaces,” he says. “But now furnishing the master bedroom is just as important.”