Article by Vivion O’Kelly, photos courtesy of UDesign
All bedrooms in this feature are designed by UDesign, developed by Bright.
What is it about a 5-star hotel bedroom suite? What makes spending a night in such luxury such a wonderful experience? Why can’t we have the same at home?
Well, we can. It’s just a question of design. A question of getting things right, of making the best use of available space, putting the right furniture and fittings in the right places, choosing the right colours and using the right lighting to create atmosphere. And then adding that something extra that most of us have never thought about. It’s called creativity, and it’s what we do here in Bright. Below are ten of the top bedroom suites we have featured in our magazine over the past two years, and all of them show how you can have exactly what you want, even before knowing exactly what it is you want. Great design, it must be remembered, anticipates taste and trends.
1- The Belgravia Suite
Five-star hotels, eat your hearts out! It would take time and effort to find a five-star hotel with such a magnificent bedroom suite as this. Quite simply, it oozes opulence. No flashy gold fittings or vastly expensive wall coverings, but quality of construction and creative design makes this suite look as if it were built for a king. The smoked mirror ceiling and gold leaf wallpaper works beautifully against the browns and whites of the rest of the suite, while each piece of furniture, designed and made by UDesign, becomes an essential part of the whole.
A beautiful lounge area, his and hers bathrooms and walk-in wardrobes complete the suite, whose illumination is, itself alone, a work of interior design at its very best.
2-The Concept Suite
Less opulent than the first, perhaps, but every bit as elegant and stylish is this bedroom and bathroom suite built as part of the award-winning Villa Alcuzcuz, set in the hills above the coast just west of Marbella. Knowing what works in harmony is the key to design excellence, and we see it here in this bedroom suite, where the perfect balance between the visual and the functional has been achieved. The backlit, textured wall behind the bed is subtle enough not to dominate, and the colours of the bedding match the art on the wall. The gorgeous views towards the Med can be enjoyed as you wake up.
3-The Mediterranean Suite
Natural materials, wood and stone, for a natural setting: this is the Mediterranean Suite. The essence of good design is knowing exactly how to use natural materials in such a way that the result is not simply rustic, but sophisticated and elegant, and that is the exact result here. This room, with its own fireplace, sofa, coffee table and television, provides the same level of luxury one would expect to pay a great deal of money for as a five-star hotel room. The photograph speaks for itself, but the real achievement of this design lies in providing the perfect setting for lying in bed in the mornings and looking out over the landscape leading down to the sea. Not only is the room a magnificent work of interior design, but it provides an unobscured view of a magnificent work of nature.
4-The Cortijo Suite
The design of the villa was inspired by the classic Spanish cortijo, and its master bedroom suite reflects the values of the rest of the house: calm yet vibrant, with the off-white bed and headboard set against an outsize floral mural behind. The white Capitone bed, the Flos lights and the custom-made bedside tables all help create an atmosphere of total luxury. Adjacent to the bed is a floor-to-ceiling wall of glass leading out to the terrace and providing instant access to the natural cortijo surroundings. The hanging ceiling lights, shaped like white roses, could almost be part of the beautiful wall covering. As we can see, no detail of this design has been left to chance.
5-The Penthouse Suite
In this stylish penthouse, the master bedroom enjoys an open-plan view over the lounge and kitchen on the lower level, creating an easy flow between both levels. The solid wood staircase, like a piece of modern sculpture, becomes an essential design element of the dining room. This bedroom has its own terrace on one side and a view over the sea on the other, with natural light streaming in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, minimalist in design. The dark marble with inky wood and a touch of neon lighting gives it all a somewhat masculine, urban feel, but whoever uses the suite – male, female or both – will delight in its chic minimalism.
6-The Rainbow Suite
Okay, so you might think the colours in this bedroom are dangerously close to an overdose of LSD, but compared to the purple chairs in the dining room and the bright pink sculpture by Jeff Koons in the garden, it’s really rather muted in tone. The secret, of course, is in the choice of colours used and their exact tones, not just in the bedroom suite, but throughout the villa. Great design means knowing, among other things, which colours work with which, and here they got it just right. A fairly simple room with classical elements on the walls and ceiling, this is a bedroom suite for the artistically sophisticated who is not afraid of a bold statement. It is, in itself, a work of art.
7-The Olive Suite
Inside out, outside in. The UDesign philosophy finds its ultimate expression in this amazing bedroom suite, where the outside is very much inside the house. The olive tree is not simply decoration, but a real 75-year-old tree walled in a cube of glass that the entire building was designed around, open to the sky and illuminating the entire room with natural light. When nature decides to water the landscape, one can lie in bed and enjoy the rain from close up without getting wet. There is no need for much more decoration in the room, and the rather simple bed has been designed to sit on the floor, Japanese style, underneath a wall of rock, as a permanent reminder that nature reigns supreme in this extraordinary work of interior design. The same simplicity of design is carried through to the bathroom area, adding up to a picture of subdued sophistication.
8-The Manhattan Suite
Sometimes a bedroom is just a bedroom, and sometimes it’s not. This bedroom suite is a lot more than a place for sleeping in, but a place to retire to not long after the sun goes down, or remain in long after the alarm clock has gone off. This is a room for living in, which also happens to be a bedroom. Architecturally, it is a modern Baroque living space with high ceilings and symmetrical lines, the bed facing high windows overlooking the city and the lounge area a complete sitting room that makes an invite to your bedroom something more than an indecent proposition. The tall wallpapered panels on both sides of the fireplace provide just the right contrast to the emerald coloured bed and footstools, with two splashes of wine red in the round coffee tables reflecting some of the colours in the wall panels. Next time in bed in the Waldorf Astoria, think of this bedroom suite and what might have been.
9-The Hudson Suite
This bedroom suite is an understatement of great interior design, from its subtle light browns, greys and off-whites to the dark tones of its window frames and wardrobe. The huge windows allow for magnificent views over the Hudson River flowing by, especially in the bathroom, where one can lie in the free-standing bath and imagine oneself to be floating in the river below. The sleeping area is separated from the bathroom by a room divider with hand basins on one side and a vanity unit on the other, which can also serve as a work space for a computer.
10-The Tangier Suite
Like a traditional Moroccan villa surrounded by high walls for the utmost privacy, this bedroom suite cuts itself off from the rest of the free-flowing space in the apartment to provide an oasis of peace and quiet. Decoration is kept to a minimum, allowing the contrasting tones of the walls, floor and bed against the dark eucalyptus panels over the headboard, windows and doors to provide visual interest. The beige tones of the bed itself are offset by the light pink of the bed covering, and the absence of patterns anywhere in this space make for a very relaxing ambience. The bathroom is a work of visual art, the circle of reindeer moss over the curved bath like a green moon in the night sky. Few hotel rooms can match this sophisticated bedroom suite.