How I Designed a Layered, Textural Bedroom Retreat for House Beautiful Whole Home 2025

Hi cuties! I am SO excited to share today’s post. The KKH team and I have been working behind the scenes with one of my favorite publications, House Beautiful, on a very special project for months. I was selected to be a featured designer for House Beautiful magazine’s eighth annual Whole Home project, and it was nothing short of a true honor to be included. Seriously, this is major. This year’s Whole Home project is located in the Deep Eddy neighborhood of Austin, Texas. It’s a modern, three-story house with plenty of room for entertaining (3,800 square feet, to be exact). House Beautiful enlisted a team of all-female interior designers (we LOVE) to bring this home to life, and I was thrilled to design the primary suite. 

"I wanted to create a moody, layered respite—a luxurious sanctuary that instantly invites you in with rich colors, plush textiles, and warm lighting."

With the help of my Kathy Kuo Studio team, I did just that. Today I’m sharing all the details about my design process and how we took this room from concept to reality. Love this look? Browse our complete House Beautiful lookbook.

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All photography by Andrea Calo

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My Design Muse for This Space

I’ve always been drawn to storytelling when I’m designing, and this bedroom is no different. The story of this space all starts with Rupert Penhaligon. You remember Rupert, yes? He’s what one might consider a 19th-century flâneur—someone who enjoys a leisurely pace of life, acutely attuned to the beauty they encounter and the stories that reveal themselves as they stroll through the world. Rupert is also a collector, and he prefers his home to be a living museum of wonders—a place to exhibit all the treasures and trinkets he’s accumulated on his many adventures. Rupert and his love for eclectic, worldly pieces was the inspiration for this primary bedroom design (I even hung his portrait prominently on the wall!).

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Designing a Collected, Layered Primary Bedroom

This bedroom began as a totally blank space—think white walls, clean lines, and all the character of an empty new-build home. Incorporating layered textures, both tactile and visual, was such a key element to making this room feel warm and inviting. We used a sensorial mix of materials to achieve this—cashmere, linen, matelassé, velvet, brass, rattan, and jute, just to name a few. And we brought in items that provide a sense of visual depth to a space, like our Chandi sideboard with mother-of-pearl inlay. The intricate craftsmanship on this piece is just so incredible. Anyone who knows me knows I love designing with a mix of new pieces and antiques. To round out the primary bedroom design (and reflect Rupert’s eclectic style), we sourced decorative accents from The Antique Swan, an Austin antique shop specializing in fine English and European pieces. They have such an incredible curation of fine furniture and found objects—would highly recommend if you’re passing through Austin!

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Natural Elements Bring the Outdoors In

I love incorporating design elements that are reflective of the natural world, whether it’s through natural materials or the print on a fabric. The wallpaper we chose, Vista by Phillip Jeffries, is a perfect example. We scaled the wallpaper up by about ten percent to make sure the clouds would extend to the ceiling. The result makes you feel like you’re enveloped in the most picturesque landscape whenever you’re in the room—it really is kind of magical. Nature is also pulled in through the room’s anchor piece: our king-sized Quade canopy bed, customized with luxe bedding by Peacock Alley and exquisite drapery by AQ Interiors Atelier and Quilting. We upholstered the headboard and draped the four-poster iron frame with a gorgeous wild lotus fabric in rich green tones. This bed is the true showstopper of the room. And if you look up to the ceiling, you’ll see an incredible antique bronze leaf chandelier with a silhouette inspired by oak tree branches. 

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Executing the Vision

Bringing this room to life was an all-hands-on-deck experience. Our incredible logistics team at Ampac consolidated every piece at our warehouse in North Carolina, shipped the entire order across the country with the utmost care, and installed everything in the room with white-glove precision. Seriously, our delivery team is the BEST of the best. 

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In early September, a KKH crew—myself included!—met the Ampac team in Austin and took care of every last detail. We tackled the entire install in a day, from hanging wallpaper and installing lighting to assembling furniture and styling every square inch of the space. After so much time spent dreaming up ideas, planning the vision for this room, and working through logistics, the install day was truly seamless.

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A Room Designed for Living

Picture this: Your eyes open on a quiet, calm Saturday morning. You can hear birds chirping in the trees just outside your window. You feel cocooned in the comfort of your canopy bed, draped in the most gorgeous velvet fabric. You step onto your cozy sheepskin rug, pick up a cashmere blanket to wrap around your shoulders, and walk over to the built-in kitchenette to make yourself a cup of tea. You say hello to your beloved sheep statue, Seamus, while the tea steeps, then settle into your soft velvet swivel chair with a good book. There’s no rush to leave when your bedroom is this lovely.

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That calm, warm, delighted feeling? The one that comes from enjoying the simple comforts of a well-designed home? That’s what I wanted to evoke through the design of this room. It’s a feeling our interior designers strive to bring to every single one of their projects. If you love the look of this thoughtfully layered, timeless space, keep Kathy Kuo Studio in mind for future projects. Every home we design starts with the people who live there. We listen deeply and get to know their lifestyle, routines, and personal taste so we can create rooms that work beautifully for them. Our designers bring a sense of passion, connection, and kindness to every client relationship. Want to know more? Visit our website to get all the details on our design process, peruse our portfolio, and book a free consultation.

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