O bed! O bed! delicious bed!

21/05/12 10:40 PM

“O bed!  O bed!  delicious bed!  That heaven upon earth to the weary head.” 

 Thomas Hood

 As we start working on gathering the furnishings for our bed and breakfast, the first thing that came to mind was the bedrooms. More important, the bed. The bed is the anchor piece of the room. From it all other pieces will be selected and the overall impress as you walk in the room will come from it. So it is very important to choose the right bed for whatever statement you want to make for that room.

With this in mind, we started looking closely at beds about seven months ago. The plantation has four bedrooms, two master suites upstairs and two junior suites downstairs. The first thing we decided was the names we wanted for each room. Those came around August or September of last year. We had been doing a lot of research on the history and families that called this plantation home, so we decided to name each of the rooms in honor of those families who worked to create the plantation we know today. (I can’t tell you the names just yet because it would be a dead giveaway of where this house is and what the name is. Legal stuff… Argh!) The one thing we decided as far as furnishings was to create each room as a step back into that family’s time period. But we also want the room to have that “Wow” impression when you walk in. So as we looked, we tried to keep both ideas in mind. Thank goodness we decided to work with an interior designer. I would never be able to do this on my own!

So we wanted to share with you some of the beds that have fueled our inspiration. They are from all our travels as we researched other plantations and their decor. I can’t say these are going to be what we have, but you can see what we are shooting for.

Nottoway Plantation Louisiana

Houmas House Plantation Louisiana

Destrehan Plantation Lousiana

Berry Hill Plantation Virginia

Nottoway Plantation Louisiana

Houmas House Plantation Louisana

Destrehan Plantation

Berry Hill Plantation Louisiana

Houmas House Plantation Louisiana

Nottoway Plantation Louisiana

Detreshan Plantation Louisiana

Nottoway Plantation Louisiana

“The bed has become a place of luxury to me!  I would not exchange  it for all the thrones in the world.”      

Napoleon Bonaparte

Posted by Michelle Darnell | in Year of the Virginia Historic Homes | 46 Comments »

46 Comments on “O bed! O bed! delicious bed!”

  1. How beautiful!! I can’t wait to find out where this is going to be. Maybe we can visit sometime.
    thanks for your likes.

  2. Thank you! We can’t wait to tell you. I have to guard myself for not revealing too much. I hate legal stuff!

  3. Good luck on the selections.

  4. Thank you, we are going to need it! Too many really nice pieces to pick from.

  5. Colleen Says:

    Those all look like fabulous choices. And I definitely agree with Napoleon!

  6. Thank you! I do too. There is just something about a beautiful and comfortable bed!

  7. Maggie O'C Says:

    Gorgeous! Gorgeousgorgeousgorgeous!!!
    I’m like Princess and the Pea with good beds and mattresses, you are on the most beautiful right track!!!

  8. Thank you! We have the interior designer searching for us now. So we should get some really good pieces! You’ll have to come try them out once we open!

  9. Maggie O'C Says:

    One of my best friends lives in CVille so maybe sometime when I’m out visiting her! I’m looking forward to following your progress.

  10. Are you a quilter? You really should take classes if not; your beds would look so good with a hand made quilt!!! (It’s not like you have anything else to do, is it??!!)

  11. No, I have to say I am not a quilter. Sadly, I have a very hard time even sewing a button on and it staying. My place is more in the kitchen. You are right, time is not going to be too readly available once we get the go ahead. Then it will be everything we have just to hang on!

  12. Ken Judd Says:

    Great stuff. I collect antique furniture love your post.

  13. Thank you! We use to have several pieces too, but I let them go when the kids came along. So now we can start all over again!

  14. colleen74 Says:

    Omg I LOVE the bedrooms! So cool & historical

  15. Thank you! They were so beautiful and the planations that they were in were so inspiring!

  16. Oh my this sounds so exciting! Can´t wait to find out more 🙂

  17. Thank you! We can’ wait to tell you!

  18. oceannah Says:

    Well if you stay within the context of those pictures, surely you cannot go wrong. They’re all simply gorgeous!!!
    *anna

  19. I really do want to keep close to these. It’s just finding them that is going to be hard.

  20. oceannah Says:

    It’s all in the hunt 😉
    *anna

  21. I am finding that out!

  22. gglarue Says:

    Beautiful!

  23. Thank you! They were very beautiful. I wish I could have taken some home with us! Maybe we can find some like them to place in the plantation!

  24. Marisa Says:

    These are so lovely!

  25. Thank you! We really hope to have some like them once we start purchasing ours!

  26. I really like the beds at Houmas House and Berry Hill. I am looking forward to your reveal.

  27. Thank you! Houmas House was one of my favorites. But I have to say that Nottoway was my top favorite. We are so excited about the reveal. We just hope we can get the legal stuff done soon as we can share it with everyone!

  28. garybuie01 Says:

    I feel like having a doze after looking at all those scrumptious beds!
    Christine

  29. Thank you! The first one is the one we slept in while we were there. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be comfortable, but as soon as I hit the bed, I was in heaven! I had a hard time getting up.

  30. Meredith Says:

    Can’t wait to find out your location!

  31. Thank you! We can’t wait to tell you! Soon… hopefully really soon!

  32. bishop9396 Says:

    I am intrigued…You have piqued my interest. I have often considered pursuing the Bed & Breakfast lifestyle. My vision includes a large kitchen garden to supply the freshest of ingredients. I spent some of my military career in Hopewell, VA – Fort Lee, and love the Virginia countryside. I look forward to the unraveling of the mystery.

  33. Thank you! You are going to love the kitchen in this plantation! It’s not a garden kitchen, but we have a view of the river. It also has two of most of the appliances. Two stove tops (gas and electric), two ovens (convections), two dishwashers, and two warmers. It also has a microwave, trash conpactor, a five shelf wine cooler, an icemaker and oh yeah, two sinks on either side of the kitchen. I think I am in heaven! But I am with you, fresh is best! I hope we can ravel the mystery soon!

  34. I love the Berry Hill bed–I’m a hige fan of tasteful prints!

  35. Berry Hill is really a great place! Check back today or tomorrow. I am working on a post about that plantation.

  36. huge*

  37. These beds make me think of an American colonial version of the exquisite gilt beds I saw at Versailles! Best of luck with your search.

  38. Oh wow! I would love to see that! Thank you!

  39. Your B&B looks very nice!

  40. Thank you!

  41. All beautiful!! Thanks for stopping by my blog! 🙂

  42. Thank you! We look forward to seeing more of your blog! Thank you for reading ours!

  43. Thanks for checking out my website earlier. Wow, these bedrooms look beaufitul! I can’t wait to see how your plantation looks like. I think the details of your plantation may be great inspirations for a new cake! 🙂

  44. Thank you! We look forward to reading more of yours! We also can’t wait to share the whole picture soon.

  45. abraalani Says:

    All of these are beautiful! What a fun and interesting endeavor you’re taking on, starting a bed and breakfast! I love that you chose to go with a southern theme (of course being in the south, that makes sense) and naming each room as all the old plantations themselves were named.
    I’ve personally never been to the south, but your blog is making me want to get down there already!

  46. Thank you! My grandmother, who was a grand southern lady, taught me from an early age that history and your past was important. I can remember her taking us to the cemetrey way out in the country. As she would clean the grave sites of all of our family, she would tell me over and over who they were and how they were related to us. She would also include personal stories for those she knew. One of the last things she told me before she did was that I would be the one from now on that would keep the history of the family and not to let it die. This plantation is just taking someone elses history and “keeping” it alive.