Bedroom Decorating Colors

Bedroom decorating colors to get you in the mood: Create your dream bedroom with the help of these bedroom color schemes.

How do you want to feel in your bedroom?  Do you want this room to be ...

... a haven of tranquility?

... a glamorous, seductive boudoir?

... a cool, sleek, minimalist space?

... a warm, inviting retreat?

... a chic multi-purpose room for work and rest/play?

... a place where your dreams come alive?

The series of illustrated bedroom color schemes below are all based on the same, simple blueprint.   This is so you can compare the effects of each set of bedroom color ideas without being distracted by room details.

Bedroom Decorating Colors
For a Haven of Tranquility

You can get the most tranquil bedroom color schemes from by using

• neutrals (black, white, gray)

• earth colors

• blues (water colors)

• and greens.

Even if you mixed all of the above bedroom decorating colors in one room, you could still end up with a relatively calm bedroom color scheme.

To create the best color scheme for a tranquil bedroom,

• use as few colors as possible,

• use minimal pattern and

• keep the contrast between light and dark colors low.

In the illustration above, there are no dark color values: The darkest colors cushions & carpet) are mid-tones, and there are only very few white highlights.  The carpet picks up and 'grounds' the bolder blue tones of the picture on the wall.

If either your carpet, or your bedspread, or the wallpaper has a conspicuous pattern, it's best not to use much pattern elsewhere in the room - it would lead to visual clutter.

Keep the walls a light color, and the ceiling white to maximize light.

Pictures can help soothe the mind: land-, sea- or 'skyscapes', or abstract art prints can contribute stylishly to an effective bedroom color scheme for a haven of restfulness.

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Bedroom Decorating Colors
For a Glamorous, Seductive 'Boudoir'

Purple bedroom color schemes can look utterly gorgeous and very sophisticated.

In the European tradition, purple is the color of kings and princes.

Imagine your bedroom with a silk velvet bed spread in deep, complex hues of purple, snow white bedlinen peeking out from underneath, against a backdrop of flocked luxury wallpaper (hung by someone who knew what they were doing) - it's the ultimate in seductive luxury.

Unfortunately, purple bedroom color schemes can have a few drawbacks.

• Men generally don't seem to go for purple ...
• Some dark shades of purple can make your bedroom walls look grungy in the morning sun ...
• Synthetic fabrics in purple can look garish under some light sources.

Should it turn out that, regrettably, a purple bedroom is out of the question, there are some alternative bedroom color schemes that

• can create a similarly gorgeous effect, but
• don't come with the pitfalls of purple, and
• appeal to both sexes as well.

Check out these two combinations for their bedroom color scheme potential:

Indigo & Ochre

Dark indigo combined with muted, earthy orange and/or deep hues of ochre would make an effective color scheme for decorating a sexy, masculine bedroom:

• the mix of indigo and earthy reds looks strong and beautifully balanced;
• you can go for a somewhat 'rugged' look by using denim and linen instead of silks and velvets
• you could paint the walls with suede-effect paints rather than using glamorous, flocked wallpaper.

Coffee, Chocolate & Cream

These popular bedroom decorating colors make for a modern color scheme that appeals to men and women alike. Here, too, the look hinges very much on the paints and fabrics you use:

• For a chic shared bedroom, try suede, baby cord, linen and cotton.
• For a more feminine take on the same bedroom decorating colors, combine brown velvets with cream-colored (silk) satin bedlinen, mirrors, and lampshades trimmed with Swarovski crystals - you'll have a winner.

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Bedroom Decorating Colors
For a Sleek, Minimalist Space

In current minimalist home decorating trends, dark woods (floors and/or furniture) are often played off against white (or gray) walls and fabrics.

Color is kept to a minimum, and reserved for a few 'statement' pieces of furniture or art.

If you're creating a clutter-free, minimalist bedroom color scheme, lines and contrast are the main issues to watch:

• For maximum contrast, combine dark furniture with white walls (or vice versa). All shapes and lines will stand out strongly against a contrasting backdrop. Big dark wardrobes might 'tower' over you if they're too close to the bed.
• Gray walls can reduce the contrast and soften the visual impact of dark objects.
• To free up wall (and breathing) space, keep storage low to the ground; that will widen the room and 'lift' the ceiling.

Introduce soft or vibrant bedroom decorating colors if you want to add interest to the space while keeping the clean, pure lines. That is what I've done in the bedroom color scheme above:

It's a modern color scheme of gray, dark purplish blue and deep fiery red (the cushions are in two different hues of red to jazz the bed up just a bit).

The headboard is attached to the wall; it could either be painted with deep blue, high gloss paint, or upholstered with the fabric of the bed spread - which would soften the lines somewhat and make Sunday morning coffee in bed just that little bit more comfy ;-)

Other Modern Color Schemes

If you're not into the purple/vermilion color mix, you could use some of the following bedroom decorating colors to create alternative modern bedroom color schemes:

• aubergine, taupe, and mustard
• chocolate and powder blue
• deep burgundy and olive green.

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Bedroom Decorating Colors
For a Warm, Inviting Retreat

Warm, peachy pinks 'hug' you when you enter a room. They make the walls feel a little closer than they really are.

But unlike orange and red, pink bedroom color schemes won't turn up the emotional heat (or your heart rate, for that matter).

In this illustration, I have added low shelving and a row of pictures to "stretch" the back wall and make up for the 'advancing' effect of the wall color.

Soft (warm or cool) pink bedroom decorating colors are generally very calming and comforting, but if you don't want to go for outright pink, you can create a similar effect by mixing yellow into the pink to produce apricot hues.

The red bed spread adds a bit of visual energy to this bedroom color scheme. Alternatively, you could

• use a lighter tint of red, or red-biased terracotta, to reduce the contrast in color values, or
• add a few tones of blue to the mix (for example a patterned bed spread in sky blue, pink and red) or
• stir in some green - it is complementary to red, and some of the best color schemes in interior decorating history have used this combination to great effect.

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Bedroom Decorating Colors
For a Multi-Purpose Room

If you're using your bedroom during the day, for example as a home office, you're likely to want some brightness and maybe also a bit of 'wake-up' color in there.

In the picture to the left, the bedroom decorating colors are a combination of sky blues and a yellow-biased, zesty lime green.

This works well for bright, sunny rooms; it may not work quite so well if your bedroom is north facing or very dark.

In that case, light-reflecting, slightly warmer colors will serve you better - for example bedroom color schemes of

• pale yellow combined with warm blue pastels, or
• a composition of pale apricot and light, chalky greens.

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Bedroom Decorating Colors
to Kindle Your Dreams

Almost everyone dreams of "a place in the sun" where they'd rather be, or where they hope to retire to one day.

Which is it for you?
A Caribbean island?  A lakeside villa in the Italian Alps?  A log cabin in British Columbia?  A bungalow with ocean views?

Whatever it may be - you can use bedroom decorating colors, images, crafts and antiques to conjure up the place of your dreams in your current home.

For many people here in northern and central Europe, that magical place is the Mediterranean - so the illustration above shows a room design made up of Mediterranean bedroom decorating colors.

It's another red-green color scheme, with some neutrals thrown in. The walls are ragged to produce a rustic, slightly aged look.

The lower part of the wall has an undercoat of earthy, muted red - the same color as the "chair rail" stripe and the "headboard" (both are painted onto the wall!)

You could put an ornament above the 'headboard' as a token of your dream - I've used an antique piece of ironwork from the South of France.

Here are some more ideas to choose from:

• an old photograph
• framed bits of antique fabric from the place of your dreams (which might also serve as a cue for your bedroom color scheme)
• decorative trims from an original piece of furniture
• an ornate piece of woodwork
• or anything else that keeps your dream present for you.

Your bedroom decorating colors could reproduce original bedroom color schemes from your 'place in the sun', or just remind you of the landscape, the colors of earthenware plates and bowls, floor tiles or fabrics.

And the best bedroom color schemes often include an element of surprise - an unexpected, exotic, strange dash of color that will add a bit of mystery to your nights.

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