9 Bedroom Design Tips for a Beautiful Bedroom

9 BEDROOM DESIGN TIPS FOR A HIGH DESIGN BEDROOM LOOK

Use these 9 tips to create a bedroom design that is gorgeous, relaxing and sophisticated. Hint- Don’t Buy the Set.

I’m going to spill all of my favorite bedroom design tips to help you create the bedroom of your dreams. There are some things that weigh heavily to work together to create a sophisticated, calm space, and will have you refreshing your bedroom with designer skills in no time.

Read through the list and apply each of the suggestions one at a time to create a relaxing haven with high style and designer secrets.

1. SYMMETRY

First up in the list of my bedroom design tips is creating symmetry. By adding things in twos and balancing the room with equally sized pieces of furniture, you create symmetry.

Now, let’s talk about ways to apply that to your bedroom.

First, you can opt for matching nightstands and lamps on each side of the bed. (We will talk more about the proper size, so keep reading).

The next tip is if you have a large dresser on one side of the room, balance it on the opposite side of the room with another piece- a chair, floor mirror or floor lamp, or large piece of art.

Other ways to add symmetry are with two pieces of same sized art, two x benches, matching mirrors, or use coordinating fabrics on multiple pieces of furniture, drapery and pillows to increase the impact of the print.

While going for symmetry and buying 2 of the same items helps by cutting down on your design decisions, it’s also a great way to balance the room for a collected, well thought out look.

Finally, it creates a sense on calm, even if you use bold colors and pieces, because your eye can rest on the pairs of similar things.

2. DON’T BUY THE SET

DON’T BUY THE SET. I’ll say it louder for the people in the back.

What do you mean I can’t buy a bedroom set. Why would they sell a set if you aren’t supposed to buy it? This may seem like the most counterintuitive bedroom design tip yet, but it’s not and here’s why.

Before Pinterest and Instagram the way to shop for furniture was to go to the GRAND BIG BOX store of your choice and pick out a bedroom suite from the floor selections. It was either brown and boxy or cherry toned with scrolls.

You come home with a bed frame, dresser, chest and chair all in the same wood tone with the same shape. Perfect right? It matches, how can that be wrong?

Here’s why it’s wrong. Well, I won’t say it’s wrong if you are guilty of this design crime, but there is a much better way to do it.

The goal is to add interest to the room. You want to pick pieces individually that have different shapes, colors and tones.

By choosing pieces with different tones and shapes, the room will look professionally designed. You can achieve this look by buying the bed and dresser from different stores. You can choose similar color schemes not all from the same place.

Let me give you a few examples of a style and pieces that coordinate, not match, to achieve that look. Then I will give you a roundup of mix and match pieces for the creating the bedroom style.

Coastal Bedroom Design Tips

In this example, we will pull together furniture pieces for a coastal bedroom. We’ll need a bed, nightstands, dresser, and lamps. I have put together 3 inspiration pairings to help you learn how to mixed bedroom furniture.

Because the bed is the largest piece in the room, I started there and then chose furnishings around the bed frame.

For the nightstand, you will choose another wood tone, painted, white, natural, gray or a stained wood. Then when you choose the dresser, you will pick a third tone.

If you add more furniture than these three large pieces (which is fine to do), you can stick within the tones you have chosen without it being too matchy- matchy. If the piece has small legs, don’t worry too much about it not coordinating.

Lastly, use lamps to pull in another color or finish, gold, silver or black depending on the hardware on the dresser and nightstand.

You will use a rug, artwork, or wallpaper to add the finishing touches to the coastal bedroom design.

Bedroom Design Tips + Inspiration for Coastal Bedroom Furniture Pairings from StampinFool.com

Here are a few examples of pieces that will coordinate, but are not from the same set. I have used the same pieces from the graphic above. You can play around with the pieces to create your own room scheme.

Remember, choose slightly different, complementary tones, not all the same wood or paint color for all of the pieces of furniture.

Bedroom Design Tips + Inspiration for Coastal Bedroom Furniture Pairings

NIGHTSTAND SIZE GUIDE

Lastly, when choosing your furniture pairings, you should consider scale. When picking out nightstands use this formula.

Choose a stand within 5″ (higher or lower) than the mattress. The 24″- 28″ range is a starting point for height.

With a king bed, you should opt for a fuller nightstand, whereas with a twin, keep it smaller so that the nightstand doesn’t look as large as the bed.

3. WINDOW TREATMENTS

Next, window treatments are an important part of any room. In a bedroom especially, they soften the room as opposed to the hard furniture. They create a place for the eyes to rest and see the comfort of the space.

Do you know how to properly hang curtains?

To properly hand curtain panels, place the curtain rod 3-4″ from the ceiling. Spaced the end brackets 8″- 10″outside of the window trim. {You may have heard this called “high and wide”.} Make sure the curtains are sitting just at the floor or slightly above (1″).

Skip the 84″ curtains which float 12″ up the wall. Depending on your ceiling height, 96″ or 108″ are usually sufficient for standard rooms.

Make sure the panels are fully enough. Measure the width of the window in inches and multiply it by 1.5. That will be the width of panel inches you should hang.

Example: If the window is 60″ wide, most panels are roughly 54″ wide, you would need 60″ x 1.5 = 90″ of fabric, so you will two 54″ panels.

4. TO BEDSKIRT OR NOT TO BEDSKIRT

Now we have reached the great debate. There’s no right answer here. This depends on personal preference and style.

If you have a beautiful bed frame and you want to show it off, skip the skirt.  However, if you don’t have a bed frame or you use the under bed for storage, opt for the bedskirt and boxspring cover.

Tips for choosing the perfect bedskirt- (1) keep it neutral (2) keep it tailored and not see through (3) add interest with contrast trim or a scallop detail layer.

via BallardDesigns.com

5. CHOOSE THE PROPER SIZE LAMPS

Choose shades that will keep your lamp height (including the shade) around 29″ to 30″ inches. You can read more about choosing the perfect bedside lamps here.

Measure for size. The shade should be 1/3 to half the height of the base.

Shape. A drum shade works well for a modern space, while a sloped shade is best for a traditional room.

6. ADD WARMTH WITH A RUG

A great way to warm up a room or add a pop of color and texture is to place a rug under the bed. Beware! The number one mistake in rug buying is choosing one that is too small. Here are a few guidelines to help you pick the proper size:

  • Full = 6′ x 9′ rug
  • Queen = 8′ x 10′ rug
  • King = 9′ x 12′ rug

7. COMFORT OVER APPEARANCE

While you want the space to look beautiful, don’t sacrifice comfort for looks when it comes to the bedroom. Keep the bed luxurious and inviting with soft bedding.

My go to affordable option for bedding is Casaluna for Target, from sheets to duvet covers. West Elm organic cotton is another great bedding resource- wash them a few times and they become so soft.

8. LIGHT FIXTURE

Ditch the fan. While this may be a highly debated topic, swapping the fan out for a chandelier (10′ ceilings+) or a semi flush mount (for 8′ & 9′ ceilings) will take the room from builder basic to custom.

See this post all about choosing the right size light for any space.

There are thousands of styles to choose from to match your personal taste.  A few of my favorite retailers are: Hudson Valley Lighting, Perigold, Shades of Light.

If you must have a fan, choose a fan that will fade into the background (i.e., same color as the ceiling).

9. DON’T OVERCROWD

Lastly, but definitely not least important is to not overcrowd the room. Keep furniture to your needs, leave room to comfortably walk around the bed and furniture. This also relates to the scale of the furniture.

If the room is large, go for larger furniture. You can buy the King size bed and two nightstands a chair for the corner and a bench at the footboard.

If the room is on the small side, don’t buy overstuffed, heavy furniture. In the smaller room, opt for an upholstered headboard, nightstands with visible legs and open space in lighter colors to make the room look larger and less full.

BEDROOM DESIGN TIPS RECAP

We’ve gone over some ways to create a perfectly collected bedroom that meets all of your needs and creates a place of respite. Let’s go over a recap of the tips for designing your bedroom.

  • Symmetry
  • Don’t buy the set
  • Window treatments
  • Bedskirts
  • Lamps
  • Rugs
  • Comfort
  • Lighting
  • Overcrowding

Start shopping & happy decorating!

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