The bedroom is one of the most fun rooms in a house to decorate. Unlike your family room, living room or kitchen, your bedroom is a place that is meant just for you to enjoy instead of being a public place. It should be a room where you feel tranquil, relaxed at home. When decorating a bedroom you should choose items and colors that you love and that you find peaceful and comforting. Here are some ideas on how to decorate a bedroom to get you started.
When decorating a bedroom, you first need to get an idea of the space so that you have a better idea of what furniture will fit in the room and how it should be placed to make the most of your space. Start by taking measurements of your bedroom. Be sure to take notes on the locations of any windows, doors or closet doors including where they are positioned along the wall and how wide they are. Then, take a piece of graph paper and draw out the floor plan of your room. Draw the perimeter of the room and then mark in any doors, windows or closets. You may also want to include notes on the location of electrical outlets if you plan to run a TV in your room.
Next you will either need to choose furniture or decide how to arrange the furniture you already have. If you are starting with new furniture, take into account the measurements of the room so that you don’t buy bedroom furniture that is either too large or too small for the space. No matter how you try to squeeze it in, a king sized bed probably isn’t a great choice for a tiny bedroom. Decide the maximum size bed that can comfortably fit in the space. Next, see how deep and wide items like dressers and armoires can be to fit well around the bed and still leave room to walk in the bedroom. Take your notes with you when shopping for furniture to be sure that everything you select will work in your room.
If you are using your existing furniture you will need to determine if you have too much furniture for the space or if you need to buy an additional piece or two to supplement what you have.
Whether you are using your existing furniture or buying new, the next step is going to be to figure out how to arrange the furniture in the room. A really easy way to do this that doesn’t involve actually scooting large furniture around a room is to make paper cutouts of your furniture to scale and then arrange them on your graph paper floor plan that you created in the first step. It’s much easier to move and reposition a tiny paper bed than to move the real thing! Be sure your measurements of your furniture are fairly accurate and that you take them down to scale correctly. Once you find pleasing layout on paper you can then transfer that to your actual room.
Before you actually place furniture in your room you will need to decide on a paint color for your walls. When choosing a color scheme for your bedroom it is a good idea to choose something that you find relaxing. For most people blues and greens are calming and make nice bedroom colors, however, just about any color that you really enjoy will work well. You can either paint your wall in pale shades for an uplifting feeling in your bedroom or in darker tones for more of a comforting, warm feeling. If you have trouble deciding on a color scheme for your room try hitting the local fabric store and looking for a printed fabric that really catches your eye. You can then use the colors from the fabric to inspire the colors for your room. This is a great way to find colors that work well together and to put together a palette that you love.
You may also want to put up your window treatments before moving the furniture into the bedroom. Blinds are a great option for a bedroom since they give you a lot of privacy. If you choose curtains try layering sheers and solid curtains so you can get light with the sheers, but can still have privacy at night. Browse decorating magazines for ideas on window treatments that might work in your room.
After the walls are painted and dried and your window treatments are up you can move your furniture in and arrange it how you planned on your graph paper. This should be relatively quick and hassle free since you have already thought everything out well in advance.
Finally, the fun part of decorating begins where you get to choose your accessories, bedding and accents. Try to keep the items you select within your general color scheme to create a cohesive feeling to the room. Also look for interesting or unique items to display that just plain make you feel good. If you have a small space you may want to consider placing a large mirror on the wall to help your bedroom feel bigger.
Candles and lighting accents work extremely well in bedrooms and create a relaxing atmosphere in the evenings. For task lighting consider installing reading lamps either on the wall or the headboard above the bed. If you don’t want to do that, buy a beautiful lamp or two to place by your bed so you can kick back and relax and read a good book or the newspaper.
Try tucking TV’s, electronics and computers away in armoires to help the room feel less cluttered. It is nice to be able to close the door and have a beautiful room when these items are not in use.
Plants or a small tabletop or indoor wall fountain are often nice additions when decorating a bedroom since they can really help to heighten the feeling of relaxation and tranquility in the room.
The most important thing you should keep in mind when you are decorating your bedroom is that you are creating a sanctuary and private space for yourself so you should only put things that speak to you in the room. If you love everything in your bedroom then it will be a place where you enjoy being and can relax and unwind after a stressful day.
