Simple bedroom decorating ideas
Sometimes space in a bedroom can be very limited. It might be a spare room in the corner of your house that cries out for attention.
It could be that small room that you use as a junk room with the vacuum cleaner majestically placed in the center like an art form? We have all been there, so keep reading for some small bedroom decorating ideas and transform that unwanted space into a cozy spare bedroom.
How do you make a small bedroom look nice?
A question that baffles many, but hopefully I can answer it in this blog.
Follow our 7 simple steps and let’s get going.
STEP 1. THE FLOORING – do I replace or keep what I have?
You should decide on what you are going to do with the flooring prior to picking out the paint. Obviously flooring is an important part, so if you cannot afford to replace it take into consideration what you already have. Try to incorporate that look and feel into the design as well.
Let’s say the carpet looks a bit worn and I am looking to replace it.
What am I going to choose? Carpet or an alternative?
Bedrooms are a place for relaxing and getting a good night’s sleep, personally I would opt for the carpet. Who hates jumping (not literally) out of bed and feeling a cold floor on bare feet? If wood flooring is your choice in the bedroom don’t let me stop you, again it is personal choice.
I am pulling together an example, so I will opt for a pale grey carpet, reasonably thick in pile as I like something nice under my feet first thing in the morning – if not a cup of coffee in my hand before I speak! Remember you are dealing with a small bedroom so new flooring might not break the bank.
STEP 2. COLOR IDEAS FOR THE BEDROOM
Do you have a blank canvas, or a room that resembles an explosion in a paint factory? Or even something that is so historic Shakespeare would be happy taking a nap in there.
Going through the fundamentals and starting from scratch is what I am going to show you. Dealing with a blank canvas is great but very challenging when you need to cover up a variety of colors. Be aware that you need to give the walls a good primer coat before using your chosen color.
Avoid colors that are too dark
What you do have to bear in mind is that you are dealing with a small bedroom, so let’s not paint all the walls dark blue. Dark colors bring the walls in, so we don’t want to make it look any smaller than it already is.
Now don’t start rushing off down to Dulux or Sherwin Williams to purchase paint, let’s get the basics in place. What do we have that we want to keep? Any particular items of furniture? Mmm, no. Okay nothing at all? Not a problem, we can get inspiration from other sources.
Most rooms are much more attractive with a piece of art on the wall. It might be photographs of the family, it could be something that you picked up from the art gallery. Or even a piece of material that you absolutely can’t live without and need to incorporate it into the scheme to help with the bedroom color ideas.
Let me give you an example, here is a bedroom color idea
This particular piece of material encapsulates a few colors that I would like to feature in my bedroom color ideas. The fabric could be used for a duvet cover if you are handy with a needle. It can be stretched across a frame as a piece of art, made into cushions, or even to cover an accent chair.
Again, we are trying to make a SMALL bedroom look nice, let’s use this as a cushion cover.
The bedroom color IDEAS are in place, what next?
STEP 3. WALLPAPER IDEAS FOR THE BEDROOM
Visit any large DIY store in the UK and you are guaranteed to be offered a wide range of bedroom wallpaper to choose from. This side of the pond is a very different story. My local stores have very little to choose from but you can get some great bedroom wallpaper ideas online.
Yes, wallpaper can be an absolute pain to remove but STOP, hammer time – sorry going off the thread there – don’t panic – you can buy wallpaper now that is a lot easier to remove if you change your mind a few years down the road.
Feature walls can be very attractive and detract the eye from a variety of issues in the room. Wallpaper can add pattern and texture to a small bedroom – so think outside of the box – why be like Mrs. Jones next door?
Below is a curvy effect wallpaper, print design by Graham and Brown
This bold, textured patterned wallpaper would make a perfect feature wall. Not just bedroom wallpaper but you can put it in a lounge, a hallway etc, but let’s focus on our bedroom design.
Consequently, we now have a feature bedroom wallpaper in white (not enclosing the room but adding some dimension).
What do we do with the rest of the walls in this small bedroom?
STEP 4. PAINTING IDEAS FOR THE SMALL BEDROOM
Drum roll please….. now for the paint. Pick out a color that features in our material. Personally I will be opting for the light grey. Too cold? Don’t worry we can warm this whole bedroom up with accents – I am getting there – so keep reading.
A silver / grey color to cover the rest of the walls would be perfect – picking it out from the material and ‘popping’ against the textured bedroom wallpaper.
This particular color is by Sherwin Williams and is called Monorail Silver. Don’t worry if you are a little nervous with color, pop down to your local paint store with your material and they will help you match it up.
If you are feeling a little confident ask for a sample tester and check out the color when it is on the wall, both during the day and the night – colors do look different at different times of the day depending on where the sun is.
Major items are now covered – obviously I am assuming you have a bed. If the headboard does not match – don’t panic – if funds allow buy a new one – again pick out those colours from the material.
You have the perfect blank canvas as a back drop – the beautiful white textured wallpaper. Grey – possibly, purple – stunning if you can get hold of one. Black, silver – you are pulling it altogether now.
STEP 5. COLORS & ACCESSORIES
Now for the fun part. I love the accessories. You might not find everything you want at once. It might take some shopping around, be patient, don’t rush this process. Dealing with a small bedroom by adding small accessories makes the room more interesting and functional.
Soft furnishings play an important part to finish up the bedroom colors. I like to start with a blank canvas like a white duvet cover and pop the colours with pillows, throws etc.
Again, going back to your piece of material – stunning as a cushion cover – you only need two or three – so let’s use this to decorate the bed with. Not only does the material add color to the bed but also pattern, which is a very important part when working in interior design.
I am of the opinion that you can never have enough pillows, well not in our home and I have at least four or five scattered on a bed at any one time. Get pillow happy and pick out some amazing contrasting ones.
Rivoli Damson Decorative Pillow by Designers Guild
Storm 18″ Outdoor Pillow in Grey design by Surya
Finally, the bedroom is coming together, we have the bedroom wallpaper, bedroom paint, possibly new carpet, duvet, pillows (my favorite), more soft furnishings and accessories can be added.
Curtain Call
Curtains are a must, they soften the walls, they add texture and color. In this case we are going for a white, not much color as we are going to bounce right off of those grey walls. Again, I cannot stress enough, we are dealing with a small bedroom, let’s keep this uncluttered, clean and simple.
Blocking out the light during the evenings can be an issue, especially if you have a room that faces the sun when it is setting. If so, then you can opt for a blind, or alternatively pick out a heavier curtain fabric rather than the sheer material that I have shown here.
A beautiful strasbourg dot patterned faux linen sheer curtain
Throw it on the bed
A few more accessories can be added so moving on. Adding a bit more ‘oomph’ to the bed will bring in the warmth and include even more color. There is nothing like snuggling up to a warm, cozy throw. Now you can drape this over an accent chair like the one shown, or lay it on the bed. It will look great on the bed against the white duvet. So get creative.
STEP 6. SMALL BEDROOM DESIGN FURNITURE
These steps are obviously additions. I don’t know how much room you have in your bedroom but I can still make some suggestions and you can either take them on board or look for an alternative.
Beside cabinets are a pretty good accessory to have when it comes to furniture in the bedroom. To put your book down on, placing a cup of coffee on, but especially to add some accent lighting on like table lamps. Again, keep it simple and not cluttered.
Although the feature wall is white you still have a variety of options. A headboard should really coordinate with what you already have. I always find it is best to pick out neutral furniture as you can always change your color scheme at a later date and it won’t involve replacing the most expensive items like the bed and cabinets.
I have picked out this pale grey headboard.
If you have the room it would be a good idea to invest in night stands and a couple of accent lights. These night stands have a material textured finish, not expensive and are perfect within our color scheme. They don’t take up too much space either and are handy for storage in a small bedroom.
Now referring back to our original material sample, notice we have a touch of blue in it as well, we will incorporate some of that, but very subtly in the base of the lamps. You can also find some great lights in our What’s Hot page and our Beach Retreat mood board has some appropriate bedside lighting as well.
COLORS & PICTURES
Finally, we bring in a little more color from the material using the blue. The walls are pretty bare still but adding just a subtle picture, again nothing too busy, will add some interest.
These are the very basics items that I have shown to put in a small bedroom. Links are there if you want to get further information on items I have featured. If you have a larger room than obviously you can add maybe extra pieces of furniture, an accent chair, or two.
STEP 7. SNEAKY AREAS FOR EXTRA STORAGE
With a small bedroom you need to utilise the space in a way that it helps with your storage, but you do not want to make the room look overcrowded. Check these out –
- Quite obvious but if your bed doesn’t come with drawers buy some underbed storage. You can buy those that fit under the bed on coasters. Just roll them out and you have easy access to whatever you need to store under the bed.
- You have a few spare walls that could do with some decoration so add some floating shelves. Don’t over clutter though.
- If you have a built-in wardrobe organise it to get the maximum space. There are so many cost saving storage ideas for wardrobes now and you will be amazed at how much space you will save.
- Shoes take up so much space in a wardrobe. If you have space add some tension wires and hang the shoes, all that vacant floor space can be used for canvas boxes to store clothes in.
- Floating cupboards – similar to floating shelves but with doors, geometrically positioned on a spare wall. Looks great.
So there you have it all the items have been grouped together below in a Mood Board so you can see how it comes together. I hope that has given you some insight into small bedroom decorating ideas. If you need some advice on lighting you can visit our blog Lighting Design which helps on where and how to position lighting. Happy Decorating.
