Designing the Bedroom |Hour 1

it were, for your home. We're talking about your bedroom, bedrooms today, bedroom design, bedroom talk, boomb chick a boumb bomb. Now, it doesn't have to be it does not have to be that way, although it's not a bad thing anyway. We're gonna talk bedrooms today, and of course also we're going to be taking your calls. Let me give you the number right now, eight three three two. Ask Dean A three three the numeral two. Ask Dean A three

three two Beep ask Dean. It's just that simple. And of course, you know, as it is every show, regardless of what I have selected as my main topic of the day, when it comes to calls, it's free for all. You get to decide anything that you are scratching your head about your home today, design, construction, DIY stuff. It's all fair game inside, outside, landscape, interior, scape decor, fluffing pillows, whatever the case may be. A three three two ask Dean.

The phone lines are open right now. Producer Richie, he's standing by. He's gonna take your call. He'll tell you everything you need to know. Pop you into the queue. You can listen to the show while you wait, and then hopefully we can put our heads together. We'll figure it out. And if we do all of this right, we're going to bring some light into your morning, and we're gonna make you feel glad that you were here. Speaking of being glad that somebody is here, Elmer is

on the board. Good morning, Wilmar, Good morning Dean. Thanks for having me morning now doing good. Yeah, I'm up and I'm not tired, and I am happy to be here. There you go. That's those are the three keys of the process. Awesome. And like I said, producer Richie is standing by, not near his mic right now. That's fine because he's busy. Oh look at that, he's busy taking call. Hey, I totally jelled. I did not look around the corner. Who is sitting at the news desk, who's hiding in

the booth. This is Eileen Gonzalez Live twenty four hour Newsroom. Wow. Wow, there's a lot of energy coming out of there right now. I'm faking it. I'm tired. I'm not gonna wine. Okay, why did you have a You have a big Saturday, Eileen? Just working, you know. Yeah, it's here till seven yesterday and yeah, and came back bright and bright eyed and bushy tail this morning. Well you sounded, you sounded, and I'm glad you're faking it. They continue, you make it.

But it's all working out great, all right, that's the team. Oh oh and also now, you know, if you heard the yesterday's show, you heard me kind of getting on the case that at this moment, at this moment in yesterday's show, I looked across the table and who was there? My dog, Sammy the beagle. That was it. Tina was taken. You know. We're just back from spending a couple of weeks in Vermont, just sucking in autumn in a big way.

And Tina has extended her vacation time apparently, but today she has a legit excuse for not sitting across the table from me, because I'm looking at just an empty sofa right there, a mic just hanging out there, no

one wearing the headphones. Why because today is Tina's birthday and exactly also, by the way, earlier this week on Wednesday, my daughter in law, Christie's birthday, and so the two of them are headed out to get some special pampering right now before we have a little get together for them this afternoon. Also Elmer's birthday this week, So you know what, three of my favorite people all lined up in a row. Part of what makes autumn a very very special time. So anyway, here I am sitting on

my own. We're gonna dive into bedrooms. Let me pull up my special bedroom notes here because I had a couple of things. Oh, somebody asked yesterday, how was how was Vermont? And you know what, what can I say? Vermont is amazing? Just amazing? Did now we almost almost

hit peak color? And let me tell you, if what we saw wasn't peak, then I can't even imagine what peak is because you know, born and raised in southern California, and I've gotten around the planet some you know, But never It's always been kind of a bucket list thing. I've never been at ground zero for autumn in the United States at the exact right time, and man, we were there. Autumn is a blaze in the state of Vermont.

And Vermont is such a cool, cool place. I'll tell you more about it as times go, but yeah, we we just had a blast. Just suffice it to say that I rediscovered how fun it is to drive, to drive, like on highways and stuff. Wasn't expecting that, wasn't expecting to feel relaxed driving, But you know what when you're one of only like three cars on the highway and everything around you is just gorgeous. And by the way,

here's a reason to love the state of Vermont. They have a law that forever in today they do not allow billboards. Billboards are illegal in Vermont. There's no such thing. Why because they don't want anything block in the view. And rightly so. It is rural. Their biggest city, Burlington, not the capital. The capital's Montpellier. But but Burlington is their biggest city. And we're talking about metropolitan Burlington, bustling with like forty five thousand people. That's it. It's literally

I think it. I think Burlington has the record of being the smallest largest city in a state of all the states, because it is the largest city in the entire state of Vermont, with forty five thousand people in the immediate downtown Burlington area, and then outside of Burlington, it just keeps getting smaller and smaller. I think most of the villages and it's better to call them villages than towns. I think. You know, we're talking like fifteen

hundred to three thousand people population. It's just so nice, and everybody had the same vibe, and I came back full of maple syrup. There's a good amount of maple syrup in my veins right now, which might explain my energy level and the fact that we had two weeks of rest. So anyway, there you go. Those of you who are always annoyed that I spend the first segment talking about personal stuff, I don't care.

number one more time, eight three to three two. Ask Dean A three three the numeral two. Ask Dean. We've got some calls on the board, but you know what, I picked calls at random, so we got room for you. Give us a call eight three to three two, ask Dan. All right, the bedroom. It seems like a pretty straightforward idea. And by the way, can I just say that I'm thrilled to get back to some design talk. It's been a little while, been taking care of nuts and bolts,

fire season talk, roofing talk. You know, I love the contractor side of things, but even more or just as much, I don't know, Yeah, probably even more. I love the design side of things. So happy to be giving you design advice today. So it seems like a pretty straightforward idea, the bedroom. But it's really more difficult than most people

think to design a truly great bedroom. Now, how can I express to you the level of importance for design in the bedroom from this perspective, From my perspective, and again my perspective on your home is that it is a beautiful place that other people appreciate, but it's your home. It's for you. And of all the places in your home that are for you and probably least for everybody else, bedroom, right, I mean, let's face it doesn't mean that it isn't part of the tour when people come over and want

to see your awesome house. But your bedroom is for you. It's your experience. This is a kind of you know, ground zero for you, and getting that right is something that you got to get your head in that this is my space for me kind of place. And it starts with asking the big question, and that is what is your bedroom for? Now that may seem super obvious to you, there are strong opinions amongst most designers about bedrooms.

I would say the majority of designers that I know and their approach to the bedroom is very simply that bedrooms are primarily about the three s's. The three s's. What are the three s's sleep, sex, and sickness and you know that's justifiably probably accurate. Right, These are the three things most likely to take place in the bedroom, and some of you are like, well, maybe two of them, but I don't know about that third way. All right, I get it. We're not going to get that personal

with you. But the bedroom is where we spend a lot of time when we are sick and otherwise recreational activities like sleep and other things. So here's the thing that as a given, my view is that a bedroom should be whatever you want it to be. Okay, it's the twenty first century, and you know we live in a post COVID world, and really the sky is the limit when it comes to what you want and need your bedroom to do. And of course all of this depends on the space that you have for the bedroom.

But it's often in the bedroom where we yield the most to other people's stories. And that's what I want to bring to an end. I want it to be your story in there. So, uh, this is the question, the big question you put yourself in the bedroom, and we need to ask at least four questions of this space. Okay,

Number one, what is the dressing experience? Okay, now you're like, yeah, I get up, I get my clothes out, and I get dressed in Yeah, But I want you to think in terms of what is the optimal dressing experience that you want to have in your bedroom space, assuming that the bedroom is where you get dressed. Okay, what's the dressing experience? Two? What's the waking experience? And I don't mean being awake, I mean when you wake up. As you are waking up, what is your experience in this place?

Is dark? Is it gloomy? What is And here's something really important. One of the and I'm going to get to this in a bit, but one of the primary angles from which the bedroom must be judged is not not the magazine shot right, which is usually like from the entry door in right, that's what you see in

the design magazines. That's a secondary angle as far as I'm concerned, because where do we spend most of our time in the bedroom, in the bed, and where should you evaluate how your room looks and functions from your bed? Starting with what's right above your head? Right? So when you wake up, your eyes first open up. Do we have morning light coming in through windows? Is it dark? Is it inclosed off? And when you look up at the ceiling when your eyes flicker open from your pillow.

Is there anything there to greet you? Some folks have you know, popped into and maybe I can get a shot of this. I'm not gonna show you everything, but you know, we've got a ceiling treatment on our ceiling in our bedroom. It just goes along with the motif

of our room. But we've put kind of a molded and wallpapered ceiling treatment along with a really cool light fixture that hangs in our bedroom ceiling over our bedroom, over our bed, and you know what, it's just a really pleasant It's the thing I want to see when I lift my eyes in the morning. That's what I mean by what is the waking experience? Okay, the third

question is what is the sleep experience? And then we have to talk about the bed, and we've got to talk about fresh air, and we've got to talk about lights in the room or the absence of light in the room and so on, and finally the fourth question is your bedroom a sanctum? Right? Is it a retreat for you? Is it a place where you just sleep and then you're out? Is it for show, which in my book is a little weird. I always put that at as the last priority. Or is it all of

the above or a combination of the above. So these are the essential questions that we've got to warm our brains up to in order to get into this subject of how to design a bedroom best.

And you know what, You've got to celebrate every single one that comes our way. So I hope you got plans for today. Not yet, though, you stay right where you are because we're talking about your bedroom. You know how important that is. So anyway we are. Oh and that was R two D two in the background. There gotta shut that guy up. We're talking about your bedroom. Also, let me throw out the number right after the break, we're going to be going to the phones as we do.

Eight three three two, Ask Dean eight three to three the numeral two. Ask Dean. All right, let's get back to it. Where'd I leave you? We've asked the big questions, the four big questions. You know, what's our dressing experience in the bedroom, what's our waking up experience? What's our sleep experience? And is your bedroom a sanctum just for you? Is it for show? Is it both?

It's relative to the function of the whole house, by the way, right, So, so is it a place for just sleep or romance? Is it a media room? Is it a standalone retreat? Now, people who have a little bit roomy or bedrooms. This is a concept that that's an awkward concept. And what do I mean by awkward. I mean that for a long long time, higher end homes have classically had huge bedrooms, which coming from a guy who not only, you know, during daylight hours, designs

higher end homes, but also lives in a small cottage. Right, my bedroom is dinky by just general standards, but it's everything that we need it to be, okay, And so the idea of the huge bedroom. What that does is it provides a space for not only the bed and of course dressers or whatever, but also theoretically a sitting area.

Now Here is where this gets really important. I have to say that the vast majority of sitting area bedrooms that I have encountered in consults and designery work and so on, when I interview the owner the client, I find out that, yeah, yeah, we never use this. I mean we put a chair there, because if we didn't put a chair there, this room would just be enormously crazy, stupid big. But I find that the vast majority of quote unquote sitting areas in bedrooms, at least in the past,

go unused. They are just what they are, Okay, they're just they're kind of taking up empty space. That's kind of a shame. Well, during a major remodel request from homeowners, will I asked that question right off the top, and

I'll tell you why. And you'll appreciate this, because if if we've got a large area in the master bedroom or excuse me, primary bedroom that is going unused as a seating area, and we're thinking about doing some major changes on the house, then hey, how about we shrink that area down and how about we slide a wall a little bit and enlarge the bathroom? Yeah, or a closet or both, Okay, because these are the kinds of things that people really really really love having more closet

space and enlarging the bathroom. So the question of is the bedroom a retreat for you, I'm being very very I want you to be very specific about that. Is the bedroom the retreat for you? It's a given these days that more than ever, bathrooms are amazing spalike retreats for people, and they have grown and grown and grown in that role. And I would say, I would argue

that that's just a natural that's unnatural. You've heard me say this before, and I'll say it again that in some ways we are culturally trained that the bathroom is going to be a retreat. Okay, now you want to hear this quick, the psychology of the bathroom as a

retreat from your very earliest year. Think about this when you're just a little toddler, Okay, as you start to develop your potty skills, right, there is a landmark day that comes in which your parents, instead of going in with you and handling all of that, they encourage you, I mean encourage you go into the bathroom alone with

the door closed. In fact, I would argue for most of us, the bathroom is the very very first room in childhood development that your parents actually tell you, oh yeah, please go in that room, be alone, close the door, and have that privacy space. I think we all carry that with us. We carry it with us because even as adults, let's face it, you're at a party, you're at a restaurant, and the conversation lags or whatever, you know, whatever the case may be, and you need a little

space for yourself. What do you do? Yeah, You're like, oh, you guys, excuse me, I'm gonna go use the restroom. Even if you don't have to go why Because once you're in there, that is your space, right, even if it's a public space, it's your space while you're there. So I would argue that that is ingrained in us from day one, that the bathroom is a retreat space. But the question of whether the bedroom, the actual room with the bed in it, is that a retreat space.

Is there a bed and a desk? Is there a bed and a chair and a place to read? And if there is, do you use it? That's a question that has to get very very homeowner specific. Now I may sound like I spent a lot of time on that, but and probably most of us don't have bedrooms large

enough to have a seating area in them. But I I'm you know, I'm here for everybody, so I'm trying to cover the entire it's a moot point if your bedroom is like mine and you barely have room for the bed, Okay, Nevertheless, you know, I just want to cover this for everyone, so that whatever the degree of space you have in your bedroom, we're really thinking through are we using it this way or could we use

it a different way? Okay, all right, we're going to get into some bigger specifics and some very specific advice on buying furniture and closet orientation and so on when we return to the subject. But when we come back from the break, guess what it's time to go to the phones.

feed him for a lifetime. Yeah, I'm all about to teach somebody to fish thing, right. I just want to equip you so that you can approach all of the design for your home in a way that just goes and goes and goes and works for you instead of just like, oh, that that picture in the magazine looked pretty good. Maybe we should try to do that. You know, it's just you know, sometimes you luck out. Sometimes it works most of the time, trust me, does not does not.

That's not the way to go about designing your own home. It's learning and giving yourself permission a little. I think I'm going to share in just a bit, little bit more about what I shared yesterday in terms of permission about designing your place. But that'll be coming up. Here's a quick thing, just so you know, a lot of

stuff happening now that the holidays have hit. Yes, for those of you who are wondering the Sunday before Thanksgiving, which actually is not that far away, the Sunday before Thanksgiving, we will we are confirmed, we are booked. We are doing yet another House Whisper holiday home show with a live studio audience right here on the fifth floor Honda Theater in our studios in Burbank, sponsored of course by

Aldick Home. And yes, we will be giving away another fully decorated Aldi Christmas tree, which is awesome to a lucky audience member. And yes, we're going to have some special guests with us and tickets are going to be available soon. So just no, that's coming up market calendars. And then the Sunday after Thanksgiving a live pre Pastathon broadcast from a Smart and Final in Orange County. We're going to be doing the entire show live at Smart

and Fine which Smart and Final don't know yet. I will let you know as soon as I know, you'll know, and then you can plan on coming out doing some shopping at Smart and Final and supporting Pastathon and then you know, coming out and seeing the show there as well. So a lot of stuff coming very very soon. All right, it is nearing the top of the hour, which means it's time to go to the phones. Let's do it. I want to talk to Judy. Hey, Judy, welcome home.

to have the can of roofsaver coding. And by the way, what we're talking about here for everybody else is let's say you've got an asphalt company position roof and it's kind of getting up there in age, but it's not fallen apart on you, and you're approaching the time when you need to consider roof replacement. The question is, can we extend the life of that roof. Well, if we've caught it before it has begun to seriously deteriorate, then the answer, in my opinion, is yes. And we've had

some really really good success with these new coatings. They don't change the color of the roof, they don't. It's not paint anything like that. But I also have noticed, Judy, that it's best usually when it's applied by professionals who know what they're doing. They get up there, no risk to you or to any family members up on the roof. They spray it on. It's a one day process and it could easily extend the life of a shingle to

asphalt comp shingle roof five years. And if you get successfully that five year, you could recode it and maybe get another five years. So most of the coding specialist companies will tell you that you could do this in theory up to three times three codings, which extends the life of that roof another potentially fifteen years. Now that's a real stretch. But you know what, these coatings they work really well. And the coatings differ. The one that I trust the most, Judy, just to say, and they

are not a sponsor of the show. Although when you call them, please tell them who gave the recommendation and say why are you not a sponsor? Why are you not a sponsor of Home with Dean Sharp? Because he loves you guys. And that here in southern California is roof Max Roof maa XX roof Max. Right, these guys

are great. They have a fantastic reputation. They're actually a nationwide company, but they have individual franchises, so they're all over southern California and they specialize in the application of exactly this coding. So you're going to save yourself potentially, and they'll come out and go. They'll give you a fair evaluation, but they could extend the life of your roof for several years and push off that very very expensive reroof at a fraction of the costs. So yeah,

I you know what, I'm a fan. I am a fan of good quality roof coatings. But not every roof coating is made equally. I don't like ones that are caustic. I like ones that are that are more environmentally friendly. But the Roofmax coating I find is not only more environmentally friendly, but at the same time the best one performance wise that I've seen. So that's the recommendation I'm going to give to you, Judy.