MASTER BEDROOMS

 


In 1982 I, with 7 other chaperones, accompanied a high school students’ history trip back east.  This was Martha Washington’s bedroom at Mount Vernon.

Betsy Ross’s bedroom in Philadelphia.

Mrs. Alice (husband, Cornelius) Vanderbuilt’s bedroom in “The Breakers” mansion in Newport, Rhode Island.


Cornelius Vanderbuilt’s bedroom in The Breakers.

Mrs. Alva Vanderbuilt’s bedroom in the “Marble House” mansion in Newport.  She was married to William Kissam Vanderbuilt, son of William Henry Vanderbuilt and Maria Louisa Kissam.

Mr. William Kissam Vanderbuilt’s bedroom in “Marble House”.

Getting a little more ‘down to earth’ is our master bedroom when we lived in Soulsbyville, Calif.  Like Alice Vanderbuilt’s bedroom in “The Breakers” our bedroom also had a rounded bay with three windows at one end and was rather large at 14 x 24 feet with 10 foot ceilings, but we didn’t have such fine elaborate furnishings to fill it.  Then again, she didn’t have a television in her bedroom! 

Our master bedroom when we were living in Groveland, Calif.  It didn’t normally look this neat.  This was taken when we were in the process of selling the house so we could move to Soulsbyville.

Much earlier, while living in Gasquet, Calif., our so-called master bedroom doubled as a nursery.  Our eldest daughter is in the bassinet.  We were living in a four room log cabin at the time.  Our son slept in a very small bedroom just big enough for his crib, a changing table, and a small dresser.  Daughter slept in our bedroom during the day and at night we rolled her bassinet around the corner into the living room.


Eighteen months later we had moved into another, slightly bigger cabin.  Our son and eldest daughter occupied one of two bedrooms.  It was big enough for a twin bed, a crib, and a dresser, but not much else.  Fortunately this cabin had a large master bedroom – 11 by 18 feet – which we divided off with a folding screen to form a semi-separate nursery for our second daughter.  Too bad I never took a picture of our semi-separate master bedroom on the other side of the screen as it actually looked quite nice.

One of our summer rental cabins at Lake Tahoe had a rather fancy master bedroom.

I loved the king size log bed and knotty pine walls in another of our summer cabin rentals.

This was a sweet cabin rental bedroom.

And finally we come to one of my favorite master bedrooms – the one in my dollhouse.  It has an attached balcony with a little table & chairs and two Irish Cream lattes from Schnoog's Coffee Shop waiting.  At the far end of the balcony, barely visible, is a free-standing cushioned bench swing with a throw pillow.  J


The master bedroom balcony.

And now, for some reason, I’m feeling rather sleepy.  I think I’ll take a nap. 

Wouldn’t this be a wonderful place to take a nap with a light breeze fanning you gently on a lovely warm afternoon as you catch a few ZZZZs?  And at my age, I'm entitled!  The 28th is my birthday and I'm turning 86! :)

 :->

La Nightingail

Comments

  1. Barbara RogersFebruary 28, 2026 at 2:49 AM

    Happy birthday, dear Sepia blogger friend! I loved seeing all these beautiful bedrooms, and especially the doll house! May you have many more happy days and years with beautiful bedrooms!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. La NightingailFebruary 28, 2026 at 11:20 AM

      Thank you for the birthday greetings. I won't actually be a year older until 2 minutes after 11:00 tonight. I was born in a leap year, so if Mom had waited just 58 minutes more I could have been a leap year baby. When I was young & understood about leap year & the 29th of February, I asked her why she didn't wait so I could have been born on the 29th? She always just said she didn't want to wait. When our first child was born after 19 hours of labor, I called to tell my Mom she was now a grandmother. "And Mom", I added, "now I know why you didn't want to wait 58 more minutes so I could be born on February 29th!" She laughed & laughed, & rightly so! :[]

      Delete
  2. Monica T.March 1, 2026 at 7:43 AM

    Happy Birthday! And what a collection of bedrooms!! ... I have a Swedish friend who actually sleeps outdoors on her balcony during the warmer half of the year and loves that. (She lives in the countryside.)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mike BrubakerMarch 3, 2026 at 9:04 AM

    I offer my belated best wishes on your birthday, too. Hope you enjoyed a nice cake :–) This was a lovely compilation of bed chambers large and small. Stories of olden times in my family tell of how the top drawer of a huge bedroom dresser served as the cradle for my grandmother and her sisters when they were born. My son quickly out grew a repurposed antique trunk (relined by my mother and grandmother) which we used briefly. My favorite naps are now taken on my front porch in a c1936 aluminum chaise lounge which was once my grandfathers nap bed. Very restful.

    ReplyDelete

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