How to decorate a bedroom inspired by Emily in Paris
Emily in Paris.
Unapologetically optimistic and feminine. Declared boldly in various pink fashion confections, patterns, and glam meets boho individuality. With a bit of Audrey Hepburn’s inspiration in the head-turning ensemble in the Paris Opera Garnier scene.
Emily is so passionate about life and work, However, she does not take herself too seriously. She navigates a new culture and language with many faux pas’ in her work and personal life. Watching Emily botch client relations and then scramble to fix everything with her people-pleasing ways is half the fun of each episode.
For the uninitiated Emily in Paris is a Netflix series created by Darren Star. The main character, Emily Cooper (played by Lily Collins) is unexpectedly offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transfer from her marketing agency’s Chicago office to their Paris office for 12 months.
This month’s Storied Spaces is the bedroom imagined and inspired by the fashion-forward Emily Cooper of Emily in Paris. Deeply personal and individual.
The Bed for How to Decorate a Bedroom Inspired by Emily in Paris
Taking cues from our muse Emily and imagining she wants her bedroom to feel feminine, quirky, and cheerful.
Keeping in mind feminine, quirky, and cheerful using these tenets to create a bedroom makeover for Emily in Paris.
Since the focal point for any bedroom is the bed let’s start there. The bed needs to be scaled properly for the space and not only be functional but aesthetically pleasing. Bed options are upholstered headboards or wood headboards, or four-poster beds. For Emily, an upholstered headboard is selected for its au current nature.
Since one of our design tenets for the room is feminine let’s look for a headboard that has some feminine curvature to it. Since we know pink is Emily’s favorite color, an upholstered headboard, in some shade of pink, and curved would be ideal. We don’t find a pink headboard but this one seems to be Emily’s favorite shade of lipstick, so we are on the right track.
Next, still focusing on the main focal point wall with the bed we can decide what finish we want the wall behind the headboard to be. Since our first upholstered headboard choice is not pink but more in the red, pomegranate family we still have an opportunity to make a statement with the color pink.
The Wallpaper for How to Decorate a Bedroom Inspired by Emily in Paris
With the popularity of wallpaper and the gazillion options in color, pattern, and texture available we can begin there. Referencing back to the tenets of feminine, quirky, and cheerful this is what is kept in mind to narrow the search for wallpaper.
This is also where you get to be a voyeur into my thought process. I know the aspirational city is Paris and that our muse is very fashion-forward.
Therefore I will look for a chinoiserie patterned wallpaper that is French since Miss Emily is the high-priestess of pattern mixing in her wardrobe.
Chinoiserie / sheen-wah-zuh-ree /
Noun
French
- a style of decorative or fine art based on imitations of Chinese motifs.
Now we are on a roll! *Pun intended!*
We have this juicy pomegranate upholstered headboard and we find a French motif wallpaper with a chinoiserie pattern with a lovely blush pink background and nearly a perfect berry accent color in the pattern throws a kiss to the upholstered headboard sitting in front of this beautiful wallpaper.
I’m telling you this is a fist-pumping moment to bring this love affair to life.
The chinoiserie wallpaper is our hero, a statement-making element that grounds the room and creates the color story for the space. This chinoiserie pattern not only offers up additional colors to delight the eyes but births a color palette.
If a chinoiserie pattern doesn’t speak to your soul maybe a flora and fauna, animal print, or geometric pattern will. Choose something that is multi-colored that will provide a color palette. Remember, the textile artist has already created the color palette for you so one color will automatically, ‘go’ with another color in the scheme.
The finesse comes with how much and where to use the color palette.
Let’s see where we are in creating our Storied Space for the Emily in Paris bedroom.
We have a beautiful, sinuous velvet upholstered headboard in a bold color. Check.
We have a chinoiserie patterned wallpaper which adds visual and textural interest. Check.
The Nightstands for How to Decorate a Bedroom Inspired by Emily in Paris
Now let’s look for some functional items like a nightstand or dressing table for our muse, Emily in Paris. The French are known for mixing the old and new and here is a match-making opportunity to pair a distressed, vintage, or found table with a new plush upholstered bed.
Mwaah…a match made in decor heaven with the patina iron base and wood top table. 
Along with a vintage-inspired bronze mirror for makeup and OOTD selfies. 
The Light fixtures for How to Decorate a Bedroom Inspired by Emily in Paris
Light fixtures offer the opportunity for function and style. Our uber-feminine Emily does not shy away from bling and baubles and the chandelier for her bedroom does not either. The cage-like brass structure is mimetic of the Eiffel Tower and offers light and fantasy to the room.
The Area Rug for the Emily in Paris Bedroom
We bring our color palette down to the floor with an area rug. A traditional open scroll pattern was suggested for the area rug repeating the occupant’s favorite color. The large open pattern of the rug does not compete with the smaller detailed chinoiserie patterned wallpaper.
The Accessories for Emily in Paris Bedroom
Back to the bed, with a series of solid and patterned decorative pillows to mix and match to contentment.
If you look closely the wallpaper has some light blue, green, and yellow so any arrangement of pillows in these color families will bring cohesiveness. 
For accessories, we know that in her wardrobe Emily is a little over the top so, of course, she would be a maximalist when it comes to home decor but we only added in a few key ideas to consider for accessorizing your own Emily in Paris bedroom.
We started with a female bust as a nod to femininity and the historic architecture of Paris. The bust would look nice sitting on the nightstand on top of a pile of fashion books. A black finish on the bust was selected to bring out the subtle black outline in the chinoiserie pattern in the wallpaper.
The artwork is a portrait of a fashionable woman with a fairly solid background to give the eye some relief between it and the patterned wallpaper where the art is to be hung on the wallpaper. The black and brass frame is a hat tip to the other brass and black finishes of the chandelier and the bust, respectively.
Finally, the black and white hair-on-hide ottoman serves as a linear approach to the traditional black-and-white French stripe. A perch to apply lipstick in front of the dressing table or to try on the perfect stiletto
I hope you enjoyed this Storied Space of Emily in Paris’s bedroom.
Download the complete Emily in Paris Design Guide by clicking the image below for paint colors and the resource product list.
