Design thoughts: the Mad Men master bedroom

I am counting the hours until the season premiere of one of my favorite shows, Mad Men.  In honor of the big event (Sunday at 10 pm on AMC), I am featuring the bedroom of Don and Betty Draper…perhaps in memoriam, as I have read that they are divorced in the new season.

The room from the Mad Men set actually feels quite familiar to me, as it looks very similar to the bedrooms in my husband’s grandmother’s home (which was built and decorated in the mid-60s).  Note the wall to wall carpet that flows out into the hall, the gauzy and frilly curtains, the tufted headboard, and the bedspread that fits over the pillows.  How many times have I made a bed with a bedspread like this – as a child of the 70s, my own bedspread was designed like this!

As far as the bed is concerned, many designers would consider it a ‘no-no’ to place the bed this way in a room – where the bed is to the side of the door.  When my designer and I were talking about furniture placement for the new house, my designer emphatically stated that she does not like to walk into a room and run into a bed; she prefers to have the bed placed so that you face it when walking into the room.

A view of the other wall…looks like a laundry hamper, and perhaps a vestibule with a closet?
 

A view into the master bathroom.   By today’s standards, this is a very small master bathroom.  I wonder if this is how most houses were built back then?  My architect actually prefers for master bedrooms and bathrooms to be ‘normal’  (even cozy in some situations); so many homes built in the past 20 years have cavernous master bedrooms and bathrooms that are simply not necessary. 

Personally, I could not deal with a toilet in right in the middle of the master bathroom.  Now that I think of it my parents’ master bathroom in Connecticut was very similar to this bathroom.

I searched and searched and had a hard time finding images of the other side of the master bedroom, and this is all I could come up with. It appears that a window is on the wall opposite the bed, and a dresser is on the other side of the door to the closet/bathroom.  If anyone has an image of the other side of the room, I would love to see it!

So, back to the bed wall.  I can understand now why the bed is placed this way in the room – with the windows and doors on the other walls, there really wasn’t  any other option. 

I can’t say that the Mad Men bedroom is my design inspiration, but for those who want to take it one step further, Club Furniture has created a Man Men inspired bed called the ‘Draper Bed’. 

It makes me wonder, what will Betty’s bedroom look like in her new home this season? All sorts of things to look forward to in the new season of Mad Men.  Will you be watching?  What do you think of bed placement in a bedroom?

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