Bedroom Layout for a Bed in the Corner of a Room

Does a corner bed layout bring up images of the bedroom you shared with a sibling as a teen, bed-in-a-bag sets, and poster-covered walls? Don’t let flashbacks of designs past turn you off of this layout. (Also, don’t tell us we’re the only ones who miss vintage poster walls…) Sometimes placing the bed in the corner is the only logical solution to a spatial dilemma.

Whatever you do, don’t push it into the corner, cry, “Uncle!” and treat your bedroom as a purely utilitarian space. A corner bed can be a layout solution, but it can also be charming on top of it all. Here's how to design the perfect bedroom.

Make Your Corner Bed a Feature

It may be tempting to distract from a corner bed because it seems against normal design rules, but if it has to go in the corner, “own it.” Use the room layout tool in Spoak’s Design Suite to experiment with plans that work in your space.

Create a Focal Point With Your Headboard

You want all eyes on your corner bed, and you want to minimize the boxy look of your room with the bed there.

• Add visual height to the corner with a tall headboard that kills two birds with one stone.
• Choose a headboard that doesn’t extend very far from the sides of your bed, and you may still have room for nightstands. 
• Set a tall folding screen behind the bed. Its folding design lets you get away with any size. 

Make a Dual Headboard Feature

Sometimes, having a corner bed that follows the 24” rule, allowing enough room on each side of the bed for you to maneuver when making the bed, isn’t an option. If your bed is completely pushed against one corner wall, play it up with a dual headboard.

Follow a simple DIY tufted headboard tutorial but do it twice, making one for the head of the bed and another for the side. A dual headboard is a fantastic way to create a daybed for rooms doubling as guest rooms/offices or living rooms. Plus, your guests will be very impressed when they learn you made it yourself!

Use Canopy Curtains for Drama

If you already have a canopy bed, particularly a slim one, hanging curtains creates a striking feature. It makes the eyes move to the bed and keep climbing upward — the sky’s the limit (or rather, the ceiling is). 

If you don’t have that sort of bed frame, fake it by running a curtain track along the ceiling. Make sure the edges of your curtains kiss the floor for a luxurious look.

Make the Bed Part of a Built-In Feature

If you are ready to go all the way with the corner-bed-pushed-against-one-wall layout, take a cue from a captain’s stateroom by fashioning a wall of flat paneled built-in cabinets that runs along the wall to the head of your bed, then bridge up and over it. You’ll have the functionality and the coziness of an alcove bed.

If a wall of cabinetry sounds a bit much, opt for cabinetry that rises from the headboard to the ceiling. The height downplays the horizontal length of the bed running against one wall.

Frame Your Bed With a Gallery Wall

A quick and classic way to “frame” your bed in a bedroom corner is to design a gallery wall on the adjacent walls of the corner.

Go bold: Try wrapping vintage bird study prints from one wall, around the corner, to the next to give your bed the feeling of a quaint sleeping nook. Take these prints up the wall to create height or keep things a bit asymmetric for a whimsical look that says “High (Audubon) Society.”

“Fill” in the Corner With Light

If your bed is placed diagonally, you may regret the loss of that space in the corner behind the headboard. Take it as an opportunity to introduce depth and emotional warmth to the room with a tall floor lamp, especially a torchiere-style lamp that directs light upward behind the headboard. 

If you’d rather your light aim down for nighttime reading, hang a wicker pendant just above the head of the bed for a cozy canopy that fits into your bedtime ritual. 

Add Height With Plants

Turn that recessed can light into a spotlight, and place a tall potted plant behind your bed to add height and multi-dimensional lighting. If you aren’t a plant person, consider setting two symmetrical, very tall, rustic branches in the corner. It gives the feel of living things, adds height, and (against the right boho color palette) evokes rustic drama.

Solve Your Nightstand Dilemma

Typically, when you feel forced into a corner bed layout, there’s a good chance you are dealing with a small bedroom that may make having too much bedroom furniture seem unrealistic. Small spaces get a bad rap but are perfect for quality sleep with minimal distractions.

Try these tips, and you might not need nightstands at all.

Use Cocktail Tables As Bedside Tables

If your bed is sitting diagonally in the corner, you won’t have room for large, traditional nightstands. Instead, try a pair of mid-century burnished bronze cocktail tables with geometric bases. They should be large enough for a glass of water or reading glasses. 

Let’s be real: You don’t need/want a place for your laptop and devices if getting a good night’s sleep is your aim. But a place to hold your glass of water (ahem: or late-night cocktail)? Sign us up.

Float a Petite Shelf

A slim, floating shelf may do the trick in a small room as long as it is far enough from the bed that you won’t bump into it during the night. You can mount one with a small drawer as a storage space for your phone, eye drops, etc., and still have room for a water bottle on top.

Mount Retractable Sconces

With a bed in the corner and no room for a piece of furniture beside the bed, you can still have bedside lamps. Attach sleek conical sconces with hinged arms to each wall. When you’re not reading or journaling, push the lamps back to the wall. Then, when you are in the middle of a good book, swing them closer for a cozy reading session on a rainy day. 

Ground the Bed With a Rug 

If you thought having the visual weight and tactile surface of an under-the-bed rug was impossible with a bed in the corner of the room, think again! You can absolutely delight in those bold textiles. In fact, when rugs extend from the corner, they have more impact than in the usual bedroom layout. 

Use the Rug To Balance Out the Corner Bed

Beds that run along a wall tend to have a long, narrow appearance: Balance this by placing the shorter end of a large rectangular rug against that same wall, extending well past the other side of the bed. 

Place a Rug Partially Under a Diagonal Bed

When a bed extends diagonally from a corner, it’s hard to run the rug all the way under the bed. Keep the rug under ⅔ of the bed with 24” on each side and plenty extending from the foot of the bed. It won’t run under your nightstands (which you may not even have), but it will still anchor your bed and draw the eye toward it. 

Enjoy the Geometry of a Circular Rug

If your diagonal bed isn’t eye-catching enough, add a large circular rug beneath it. Place the edge ⅔ of the way under the bed and let the visually pleasing curves of the rug offset the straight lines of the corner.

Make That Awkward Bedroom a Fantastic Feature

Hopefully, you see that a corner bed is a design feature that can spice up a blah bedroom with limited space. Even if you don’t have a corner bed, you may snag one of these ideas for a bedroom with design impact. 

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^{Sources: Designer Tips on Placing a Bed in a Corner | SFGate, 10 Space-Saving Ideas to Steal from Houseboats | Bob Vila, Lighting a Room, Simplified | The New York Times, How to Make a DIY Upholstered Headboard | This Old House, How to Convert a Recessed Can Light to a Spotlight for a Painting | SF Gate}