Dreamy Daybeds

A New Year is quickly upon us…..where better to ponder those new resolutions and goals than in a place that merges comfort and style for some daytime repose than in a luxurious day bed.

With a nod to the past and an eye on contemporary design, the daybed calls forth our nesting instincts. More intimate than a settee, yet more formal than a bed, this venerable form invites us to relax, recline, and indulge in a little daydreaming.

A daybed can second as a couch, or as a spare bed, look and feel amazing doing any of these tasks.
Vicente Wolfe via Elle Decor

 
Tracy Morris Designs stunning French antique daybed.

 
A place for sweet daydreams. Stephen Shubel via Southern Accents 
 
A daybed is the ultimate indulgence, but it also remains a versatile piece for resolving design dilemmas.  It's a confident name, daybed, a shameless admission of luxury and leisure. After all, what other piece of furniture suggests that its user engage in some activity at a particular moment in time?  To sleep when the sun is out ... how cheeky.   According to Tulsa designer Charles Faudree, the rules of placement are hardly rigid. "I love one in the middle of a room, where people can sit on both sides of it and face in all directions."

Solis Betancourt 

Photo Left:  Mary MacDonald                                              Photo Right: Katie Stassi from Cote De` Texas

Because of the daybed's sculptural nature, it can handily stand alone, where a bench or banquette might have gone. "It can work in hallways, if the dimensions are not too deep, or on large stair landings," says Trimble. 

 Designer Shannon Bowers for long time friend Stacy Hyde’s home a custom designed slip covered settee.  Photo Dallas News

Stephen Shubel

 Other manifestations of the form included the baldachin-draped "Turkish bed"  which by day was placed horizontally against a wall, thereby converting into a couch. Similar arrangements were made for the alcove bed, which was highly decorated only on one side, and the well-padded fainting couch, a late-Victorian conceit. And Sigmund Freud's famous "consulting couch" was actually a daybed with a scroll and pad at one end, backed with loose cushions and pillows and draped in a richly patterned woven rug.

Photo Right:   Habitually Chic on stylish fashion designers.   Prerequisite for chic fashion designers to own fabulous flats in Paris. Or maybe living in the city of lights is what inspires them to create swoon worthy outfits every season. Erin Fetherston, has an apartment in Paris   Photo from Domino

Veranda  Kathryn M. Ireland Home bouclé on daybed cushion. Antique fabrics on pillows.  Inlaid side table from Dan Marty Design.   Jean-Paul Beaujard   
In the elegant airy living room, whose ceiling reaches 25 feet, stands a Jansen daybed. The chandelier is 1950s French; the rug, from the same era, is American.  In the Heart of Paris, a Duplex Embodies the Essence of France   Text by Peter Haldeman/Photography by Marina Faust Published September 2006 Architectural Digest

Photo Left: via Cote De Texas Veranda and Kay O’ Toole : photos by Tria Giovan.      Photo Right:   John Willey House Beautiful March 2009  Another view of the Nantucket living room, the daybed is the perfect spot for watching sunsets and boats in the harbor.   Anyone there with me imagining it?

NEW OR OLD:  Many fabulous styles of daybeds today can be found…….new or old. 
Contemporary pieces can be geometric and spare or made to resemble antiques. The only guideline for selecting the right one is your personal taste. Look at the shape, the lines, the carving, the legs. Sit on it, lie down on it, feel the fabric. "It has to appeal to you visually," says Branca. "See it as a bed and as sculpture, and enjoy the elements of both."

   Wisteria: Luxurious Convertible Settee  We call this the settee with benefits. Straight up, it’s a luxurious Louis XVI rolled arm sofa.  

   One of my ultimate favorites the: hanna daybed from Oly

     Hickory Chair   Candler Twin Bed   A signature of Suzanne Kasler's (LOVE her!) work is dressmaker details mingled with upholstery.

Stunning  Swedish Banquette  

     What are and where will you be contemplating your New Years Resolution?

xo
Laura