Bedroom Decorating Colors:
Bedroom Color Schemes That Always Work
Bedroom decorating colors to get you in the mood: Create your dream bedroom with the help of these bedroom color scheme ideas.
This page shows 21 bedroom color schemes (5 more here), plus tips on how to use bedroom colors to create ...
- a haven of tranquility
- a glamorous, seductive 'boudoir' (includes bedroom colors for men, too :-)
- a cool, sleek minimalist space
- a warm, feminine retreat
- a chic multi-purpose room for work and rest/play, or
- a place where your dreams come alive.
The series of illustrated bedroom color schemes below are all based on the same, simple blueprint, so you can compare the effects of each set of bedroom colors without being distracted by room details.
- As a supplement, check out these photos of bedroom color schemes (link opens in new window),
- and/or this selection of bedroom decorating styles & colors.
Bedroom Colors
For a Haven of Tranquility
You can get the most tranquil bedroom color schemes by using
- blues (water colors)
- and greens.
Even if you mixed all of the above bedroom decorating colors in one room,
you'd likely still end up with a calm bedroom color scheme.
More Ideas For Restful/Neutral Bedroom Color Schemes:
a) White, grey and pale blue are among the best bedroom colors for a clean, pristine, restful bedroom. Incredibly popular from New England to the Mediterranean, these are very easy bedroom colors to get "right".
b) For a warmer feel in the room, increase the amount of warm neutrals, e.g. natural grey (the color of unbleached linen). Use dark colors in blocks rather than as busy patterns.
c) Duck egg blue and sepia (or a warmer, reddish ocher) make great bedroom colors. Use pale neutrals for the background, and freshen the composition up with an 'edge' of crisp white.
Tips, Tricks, Accessories:
To create the best color scheme for a tranquil bedroom,
- Avoid visual clutter, e.g. large-scale pattern and/or stark contrast between light and dark colors.
- To maximize light, keep the walls a light color, and the ceiling white.
- Cheap and effective wall art idea: Take a photo of a beautiful sky ('cloudscape') and have it turned into a large-scale canvas.
Bedroom Decorating Colors
For a Glamorous, Seductive 'Boudoir'
In the ancient world, purple was the color of kings.
Purple always carries with it a sense of luxury.
A purple bedroom, though, is a delicate matter and can easily be overdone (as this 'borderline' bedroom illustration shows :-)
Colorways For Purple Bedrooms:
a) With a purple bedroom, it's good to err on the side of desaturated color: compare how much more understated and elegant this grayed purple looks than the crimson of the room above.
b) Camel/manilla beige is a wonderful color to pair with purple. Play with light and dark lavender hues, and add white for freshness.
c) Brighter purples are great for throw pillows and other accents; lime green/pistachio adds freshness from the opposite side of the color wheel.
Tips, Tricks, Accessories:
The secret to creating elegant purple bedrooms lies in the combination of sophisticated, deep color and seductive materials:
- Luxurious flocked wallpaper or suede-effect wall paint;
- Silk/velvet bedspread in complex, deep purple hues (beware of anything garish; test the color under all lighting conditions!)
- Elegant white or grey satin bedlinen;
- Silk lampshades with Swarovski crystals (of course ;-)
Bedroom Color Ideas For A Sexy Masculine Bedroom:
- Few men tend to go for purple bedrooms, but a similarly sexy effect can be created with 'soft blacks', e.g. deep inky blues, charcoal, or espresso.
- Tactile and luxurious materials could include suede, velvet, fine linen, and soft (21-wale) corduroy.
- Here are three bedroom color scheme ideas:
a) dark indigo, grey & ochre
b) espresso, chocolate & cream
c) charcoal, white & ivory.
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 grey) walls and fabrics.
Color is kept to a minimum, and reserved for a few 'statement' pieces of furniture or art.
Issues to keep an eye on while creating a clutter-free, minimalist bedroom color scheme:
- Dark-light contrast.
◊ Use contrast to draw attention to shapes and lines, e.g. by displaying dark furniture against white walls, or showing off light pieces against walls in midnight blue, espresso, or charcoal.
◊ To soften the visual impact of very light or very dark objects, use mid-tones (e.g. gray walls). - Add interest through soft or vibrant colors for special items and statement pieces (e.g. that lipstick-red chair).
A Few More Modern Bedroom Colors:
a) aubergine, taupe & mustard
b) chocolate & powder blue
c) 'vintage' colors like grayed blues, warm grays, bright reds & bronze.
Bedroom Decorating Colors
For a Warm, Feminine 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 are generally very calming and comforting.
Here are a few:
Bedroom Color Scheme Ideas With Pink
a) A happy, 'sweet pea' color scheme that mixes pinks, light blues and green accents. Makes a great color scheme for a sunny bedroom.
b) This is almost a light terracotta, paired with turquoisy blue and a bit of grey/white for freshness. Looks great with vintage decor.
c) The best bedroom colors for an understated yet summery, fresh bedroom color scheme with pink: Combine several pinks with different shades of cool and warm neutrals (cool grey, warm grey, cream).
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.
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.
More bedroom color schemes here!
Check out the room color schemes page for additional color inspiration.
- Check out five more bedroom color schemes!
- Finding paint colors for the bedroom - learn how to discover the ones you really like.
- Create bedroom color schemes that always work - study Interior Design Colors 101!
- How to come up with (bedroom) color ideas and bedroom color themes.
- How to combine the right paint colors for the bedroom - and make sure the paint color scheme really works.
- Analyze your bedroom color ideas with color psychology.
- Would neutral color palettes work as bedroom decorating colors?
- Check this overview of creating room color schemes, and find new ways to generate bedroom color ideas!
- Neutral Color Schemes - The
Book:
Learn about using neutral color palettes in your bedroom (and everywhere else in the house, too!) Understand what makes neutral color schemes look their best, and what happens when you inject 'real' color into neutral color palettes. It's FREE!!
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