Bedroom with a sepia bird mural and a polished marble floor

A mural of bamboo, palms and birds in sepia, sized to the headboard bay. When ordering, check where the birds land in the drop layout — if they sit right behind the headboard they're lost, and they're what gives the drawing its value. Matt finish, so the cove light doesn't raise highlights across the top.

A cylindrical woven lantern on a long fabric flex, hung as a pair either side of the bed. The open weave lets light through sideways, and that's what lights up the slat strips beside it. Use a warm filament bulb at low output — under white light the fibre loses its honey tone and reads grey.

A tall curved headboard upholstered in undyed fabric with no tufting, on a matching upholstered base. In front of a drawn mural, tufting and studwork add a second pattern that gets in the way; a flat face acts as a frame. Choose a coarse linen-like weave over velvet — under warm grazing light, velvet shifts colour depending on the side.

Flat-woven jute in a natural tone, wide enough to project past both sides of the bed. On a polished floor use an anti-slip underlay — jute skates on marble and rucks up when you make the bed. It's a little scratchy barefoot: if that bothers you, look for jute blended with cotton or wool, which is softer underfoot.

A set of cushions in brown and taupe, woven in relief and with no print. They're the only dark note on an otherwise undyed bed, so they anchor the eye between the pale headboard and the mural. Three different sizes stacked largest to smallest works better than four matching ones, which read as a hotel bed.

Slats sold individually so you can build the band to an exact size rather than buying a closed panel. It works out better when the gap doesn’t match any stock format, which is the usual case between a mural and a corner. In exchange you have to set out the spacing one by one: what makes a band look factory-made rather than homemade is every gap measuring the same, so cut a spacer block and use it between each slat.