In a small room at Patnem the bed fills most of the photograph, and a headboard is what makes that bed look finished. It then has to live with the coast. Guests lean on it with salty hair and sunscreen, the air is damp, and a beach-facing wall is never quite dry. Go for leatherette, or a close man-made weave, patterned or medium in shade, fix the board with a small gap to the wall for air to move behind, and have the wooden backing sealed on both sides. A plain panelled shape re-covers easily when marked. In the seasonal huts, fix the headboard to the bed, so it goes into store with the frame before the rains.
- Boutique rooms: a patterned synthetic weave on a panelled headboard, wall-fixed with a gap behind, sized to the bed.
- Beach huts: a light upholstered board bolted to the bed frame, unbolted and stored dry through the monsoon.
- Villas among the trees: a wider wingback or wooden-framed headboard in leatherette, on an inner wall away from the spray.
Patnem is a small beach just south of Palolem, across the headland at Colomb. It is calmer and more spread out, with beach huts and cafes in season, yoga schools, and guest houses and a few villas among the trees behind.
Accommodation is mostly small: huts, rooms above a family home, and a few boutique places. Owners look for furnishing that photographs well and survives a season of guests.
Like the rest of this coast, Patnem is salty, sandy and very wet in the monsoon. Buildings close to the beach take wind-blown spray.