How To Decorate a Bedroom in 10 Easy Steps

Your bedroom is one of the most satisfying rooms to flex your interior design muscles in. If your room feels cluttered, uncomfortable, or perhaps not quite “you,” follow these easy steps to make your bedroom design more of a pleasure than a snooze. 

1. Ask Yourself, “How Should My Bedroom Feel?”

Before embarking on a complete bedroom overhaul, take a minute to think about your personal style and how you’d like your bedroom to feel. Create a mood board on Spoak with all of the images and products you have been loving, rooms you’d love to curl up and read in, or just photographs that invigorate you. Get it all in place and start looking for running themes.

Find Your Personal Style

Take a look at your mood board. Maybe the appearance of natural fibers, baskets, and California style is beginning to paint a boho picture. A mood board would make it clear that you’re interested in Mediterranean neutral tones with a boho flair, for example. Understanding common themes in your mood board will help you source the home decor items you’ll need to complete your vision.

With Spoak’s interior design visualization tool, begin placing these items in a mock-up of your space to see which ones harmonize and which you can live without.

2. Consider Visual Weight In Bedroom Decorating

As your mood board grows, you will see some things stand out as perfect focal pieces for your bedroom. That tall four-poster walnut bed frame is a showstopper, but if you crowd it with dark, large bedside tables and a love seat along one wall, it may be too much. 

Don’t Let Things Get Heavy

Does your room layout seem too heavy? We aren’t talking about actual weight here, but a piece’s ability to hold your attention. Pieces that are “heavier” or command more attention are wonderful for grounding the room, but they must be balanced with “lighter” ones. Otherwise, your room may become overwhelming with all its incredible pieces. 

Some Tips for Balance:

• Balance larger pieces with smaller ones.
• Don’t place “heavier” pieces too close together.
• Balance eye-catching shapes: don’t make everything linear or everything curved.
• Pieces that sit on the ground look heavy, so add floating nightstands or a desk with slim legs to balance it out.
• Darker colors tend to carry more weight in a space, so add some crisp white linens or gauzy curtains to lighten things up.
• If the impact of symmetry (two nightstands, two lamps, etc.) won’t fit in your room, embrace asymmetry as a tool for creating visual weight and pair paintings of two different sizes together or hang one pendant beside the bed.

3. Clean Up Your Bedroom

Before adding any pieces, take an inventory of items you already have that fit your vision. Remove anything you don’t need or love. Editing is essential for a breezy flow in your bedroom. You don’t want to have to slowly inch your way around a too-large bed or trip over that ottoman you never use when you get up at night. 

A well-designed room, even in a small space, needs good flow and negative space to give your eyes (and brain) a break. Editing is a healthy habit to practice every few months to keep your makeover feeling uncluttered.

4. Try Out These Decorating Ideas for Your Walls

We’re sure you noticed repeated colors popping up in your mood board; consider this your personal color palette. Place them side by side and weed out the ones that do not blend well with the others for your bedroom color scheme. 

Wall Paint

The option you choose as your wall color should give your room a quiet, restful feeling. You may prefer a neutral paint color or something dark and mystical, like moody green wallpaper. 

Accent Walls 

If you simply don’t have a complete bedroom makeover in you, create an accent wall behind the bed. Add shiplap or board and batten for texture. These can be equally stunning when painted a milky white color or a deeper shade, like dusty mauve. 

Mirrors

If your bedroom is on the smaller side, create a deficit of visual weight by using a big mirror to reflect light. Your space will appear to have doubled, and the whole room will be brighter. 

Wall Art

Choose wall art consistent with your preferred color palette that’s sized appropriately for the wall. Sprinkle it around for balance so that the art and furnishings aren’t all on just one side of the room. 

A staple of Victorian architecture, a gallery wall is an excellent way to adorn an otherwise blank canvas. It can add visual weight, balance your color palette, and introduce symmetry (or asymmetry) to the room. 

Windows

Window treatments amp up the softness of your space with options ranging from ultra-heavy velvet drapes to lace sheers for a lighter look. Extra long panels that puddle on the floor add a glamorous softness to an otherwise austere room. 

5. Give Your Bed a Makeover

A large bed frame creates impact and draws the eye. Go for a taller headboard to emphasize vaulted ceilings or create the feeling of vertical space. Choose an upholstered headboard for a hint of softness — make it tufted to add texture.

Balance out that streamlined bed frame with a comfy, quilted bedspread. No matter your color scheme, you can cozy the bed with a plush cashmere or fluffy down duvet. If your room already has plenty of luxury to spare, choose a simple washed linen with a couple of pillows and a bolster to subdue the space.

6. Be Choosy With Excess Furniture

Even though you purged some of your things, you will still need storage. Let your square footage determine how much excess bedroom furniture you use. Thoughtful home decor pieces, like an antique armoire for storing clothes or your TV, are visually stimulating solutions that keep jumbled items behind closed doors. 

Here are some additional pieces of furniture to consider for your bedroom:

• A built-in bookcase can be a great accent wall while corralling your books and art. Who says a side table has to have legs? Install smaller floating shelves to give a feeling of more floor space.

• Plush pieces of furniture, like two matching loveseats, create an instant sitting room in a stately space. Colorful chairs, an ottoman, and a vibrant throw blanket help bring energy to an otherwise white bedroom. 

• If those chairs would infringe on your morning yoga spaces, place a slim bench at the end of the bed for the ultimate minimalist bedroom. 

7. Layer Your Lighting

Multi-layered lighting is never more important than in the bedroom, particularly if you work there during the day. Don’t rely on overhead light fixtures alone. You need softer, eye-level lighting from table lamps and wall sconces to create a sense of calm and set the stage for restful sleep.

Try a luxe chandelier for drama above the bed, but balance that overhead light with mid-level wall sconces and a soft desk lamp. Once you invest in room lamps and turn them on, you may never use overhead lighting again. You can thank us later.

8. Don’t Forget About Your Floor Space 

A soft, warm area rug under the bed is a simple luxury. Look for unusual textures, even if you will keep them neutral. Traditionally, an 8x10’ or 9x12’ size works best under a queen-sized bed. You may also place a runner rug (maybe faux fur) along each side of the bed, which can work just as well. 

Hint: Think about whether the texture you choose is one you’d love to feel underfoot first thing in the morning.

9. Add In Greenery

Why do people forget plants in the bedroom? Maybe it’s the lack of light, but there are plenty of low-light varieties that add texture and beautiful color to your space. 

The spider plant is hard to kill and is a space saver when hung from the ceiling beside a window. Spider plants grow with minimal natural light, making every space feel more zen without worrying about a more temperamental orchid. 

10. Last but Not Least, Use Accessories for Fun

Take a look at your bedroom. Any design gaps you see may be an opportunity for a well-placed accessory. If you’re like the rest of us, you fight the urge to leave decor stores without at least one basket or throw pillow, so this is your opportunity to use them. 

Pops of Color or Texture

Choose a throw pillow in a color that contrasts your room’s palette, and you now have a focal point that adds a bit of weight to that reading chair. Drape a throw blanket over the bed or stack a few tartan wool blankets on the bench to add texture. 

Fun Collections

This is where you add quirky pieces that bring you joy, whether functional or not. Maybe set a trio of vintage glass perfume bottles in a tray on the vanity. These pieces add the finishing touch to a well-designed space — and they can also make your bedroom look uniquely you.

The Bedroom of Your Dreams

Whether it’s your own bedroom or the guest room, you can choose from any or all of these bedroom decorating ideas to create a space you don’t want to leave in the morning. Spoak makes bedroom design a creative joy with custom mood board capabilities, layouts, and a community discovery feed for tips. It’s time to take your bedroom to the next level and make it the room of your dreams.

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^Sources:

^{The Best Air-Purifying Plants for Your Home | Healthline}

^{Why Do We Get So Much Pleasure From Symmetry? | HowStuffWorks}

^{A Guide to Getting Rid of Almost Everything | The New Yorker}

^{Board and Batten: Everything You Need to Know | The Spruce}