5 Bedroom Decorating Ideas From Experts

Your bedroom is your most personal space so it makes sense to decorate it to reflect your personality and style. Stuck for ideas? Here, we seek expert advice on how to style your bedroom to create your perfect escape.

1. Introduce touches of navy.

Navy is a beautiful bedroom hue. It adds depth and helps lull weary bodies to sleep. Even though it’s a dark color, it is not as harsh as black and has more warmth than charcoal. Navy is also a beautiful accent shade against neutral patterns. If you dare, decorator Anna Spiro even recommends letting navy envelope the room.

“I love dark walls. I feel they really contribute to a restful, peaceful space. I like a bedroom that feels like it wraps itself around you and protects you from the outside world,” she says.

2. Create interest with texture.

When creating a serene bedroom, Justine Hugh-Jones likes to start with a soothing color palette and then gets to work selecting soft coverings, wallpaper, and rugs that work within the palette. The designer’s deft touch has brought many a period home into the 21st century.

Hugh-Jones also loves using curtains or soft Roman blinds to make the room feel dressed and welcoming. “There is a coziness and touch of ethnicity achieved through the layering of Moroccan rugs and hand-blocked Indian textiles,” she says.

3. Create views to wake up to.

For Prineas, bedrooms are made for rest and relaxation, and creating a space that entices us to our bed for much-needed sleep is important. All the elements need to be there, including a solid bed frame, comfortable mattress, beautiful bed linen, and good lighting. If a bedroom has a nice space to look out on when you first wake up, it starts the day on a good note.

If you’re not blessed with a particularly beautiful vista beyond your window, then bringing greenery indoors is a good idea. “I like how the lightness and simplicity of a room draws in the greenery,” says Prineas. Adding indoor greenery will also help purify the air in your bedroom, promoting a healthier night’s sleep.

4. Muted tones create quiet spaces.

If you’re not the type who likes to be cocooned by deep colors, then selecting a palette of muted tones will create a sense of calm in the bedroom. This was the strategy Akers employed recently when creating a guest bedroom in a home on acreage, north of Sydney in Australia.

“I would always recommend a carpet under the bed if there are hard-floor surfaces as it helps create comfort underfoot,” she says.

Ensuring that there is enough storage in the room is imperative too, she says. “When a space is clutter-free, it assists in providing a ‘quietness’ in the room.”

5. Minimalist Moment

In rooms where natural light needs to be maximized, architect Eva-Marie suggests opting for a crisp white color palette and a minimalist design aesthetic. The end result will be a contemporary bedroom that cleverly uses memorable accessories to stand out.

One of the great benefits of painting a room white is that you can use accessories to change the mood instantly at different times of the year. For example, if you want to make your bedroom more cozy in the cooler months, just add rich accent colors such as a quilt cover in a deep, inky blue — a beautiful bedfellow for white. Eschewing a bedhead in favor of stacked pillows in contrasting colors makes the room more versatile, too.

Keeping all the other bedroom accessories and lighting white against a white wall allows the blue details to have extra impact.