Bedroom

Bedroom Window Treatments and Curtain Ideas

It is a bit surprising how much windows play a role in the overall design and feeling of a room. The range of bedroom window treatments and curtain ideas below will have an effect on the styling of the space, how spacious the room feels, and how much privacy you have.

Hanging The Curtains

How you hang your curtains has a big impact on how the bedroom will feel. If you hang the curtains up high, and have curtains that reach down to the floor, you will create a tall feeling room – just like in picture (1). If you hang them across a wide area, you will create a wide and more spacious feeling room. Another benefit of hanging them wide is that you can open them up completely, allowing as much day light in as possible without blocking the sides of the windows.

Different Styles

If you want to create a modern look then go with hookless bedroom curtains as they create a more minimalist look and won’t need tiebacks – seen in picture (2). Black out curtains, which completely block out light from the outside, are popular in high end hotels and a lot of people like using them in their homes. For me I like waking up to a bit of sunshine in the bedroom.

For a more traditional and decorative look, use cast iron curtain rods, valances (3), cafe curtains, and ruffled or patterned curtains. Have a look at my mood board here for other ideas: Window Treatment Style: Shabby Chic Curtains, Rods, and Tie Backs.

Since curtains take up a large amount of visual space in the bedroom, the style and color of the fabric you use will play a big role in the color design scheme of the bedroom. If you use blue curtains for example, you are adding blue as a main color to your room’s color palette. Or if you use cowboy window curtains in your kids room, you are creating a cowboy theme in the space. When you are looking at bedroom curtain ideas and design styles, you will want to choose curtains based on the overall style you want to create in the bedroom. Have a look at my mood board here for different bedroom color schemes: Bedroom Color Ideas: Paint Schemes and Palette Mood Board.

If you have a small bedroom and want to make the space feel large and spacious, you are going to want to hang the curtains high above the window and wide as talked about above. Also, look for a fabric color that blends well with the wall color. Say you have white walls. Then go with white or off white curtains. Blending the color of the curtains with the walls creates a more uniform look in the bedroom – making it feel larger. Avoid using patterns on your bedroom curtains, solid colors work best for smaller spaces (Design Tips: Small Bedroom Ideas).

A Relaxing Space

A window seat makes for a relaxing space in the bedroom, just like the one in picture (4). This can be a great place to relax during the day, for reading and looking out of the window.

Privacy Options

If your house is built close to another one, or your bedroom is on the ground floor, then here some bedroom window ideas for adding privacy.

One simple idea is to hang a curtain rod half way down the window, or where your head height is (5). This lets you close off the window, but still keep natural light coming in from the top during the day. Short cafe window curtains are great for doing this.

If you get a double curtain rod, you can hang up sheers to use in the daytime. And on the second curtain rod a thicker curtain can be used at night.

In my bathroom window treatment ideas post (Light and Privacy: Ideas for Bathroom Window Treatments), I showed some examples of frosted windows. You can get decorative window panes, even stained glass, or you can simply buy frosted film that can stick over your existing windows (6).

Another way of closing off your windows, while still letting natural light in, is to use shutters. You can get ones that have slats that can be adjusted. Or there are more decorative shutters, seen in picture (7). Bamboo blinds also look great, and let slivers of light through. 1/2/3/4/5/6/7

Spicing it Up: Bedroom Ceiling Ideas

Here are some bedroom ceiling ideas to help transform your space. If you have a low ceiling, be careful not to over do it with the ceiling design. It can end up being a bit overwhelming and in your face. Whereas if you have high ceiling, you have more freedom to play around with the design.

Painting, Wallpaper Decor and Ceiling Design Styles

For some people, painting the bedroom walls in a color can feel a bit overwhelming. This isn’t the case if you just paint the ceiling a color. If you have plain white walls, then painting the ceiling can add some color to the space. You could also go for a decorative pattern, just like in picture (1).

For more fancy bedroom ceiling designs have a look at Anaglypta wallpapers. It is the 3D textured wallpaper that can be painted over to suit the color scheme of the room. And it can be used on the ceilings. You can get full patterned designs, or designs that mimic tiles.

A Egon Floral: $3 Wayfair | B Alfred: $4 Wayfair

C Spencer: $6 Wayfair | D Victorian: $3 Wayfair

To create a traditional feeling room, look to fit bead boards on the ceiling. Another design option is to have exposed beams (2). These beams will create a rustic and charming looking bedroom.

Ceiling coffers are popular in modern homes and master bedrooms. They add a subtle style to the ceiling. In picture (3) you can see white coffers. But you can mix it up and paint the beams or the flat ceiling portions to suit your design style. Another idea is to use decorative ceiling trim, just like the ceiling in picture (4).

Finishing Touches

Once you’ve decided on the ceiling style you want to go for, there are some finishing touches that can add to the design of the room. One of these is crown molding. You could go the simple route. Or there are fancier options such as creating a coved ceiling, where the wall and ceiling are rounded – seen in picture (5). Other crown molding design options include: multi level crown molding/tray ceiling (6), or using anqitue style crown molding (7),

Another thing you can do, this time to create a whimsical and romantic bedroom, is to hang drapes down from the ceiling. Over the bed you can create your own ceiling canopy.

Lighting Design

There is a lot that you can do with lighting to create different ceiling designs.

In most modern homes you will see recessed bedroom ceiling lighting. These are lights that are fitted into the ceiling, and since everything is hidden away you create a clean, minimalist and modern look. To do this you are going to need to have a drop down or false ceiling to fit them into.

This false or drop down ceiling can take on different forms to create different designs. You can have multi level drop downs. You can create shapes with the ceilings. There are also cove lighting (8), where the ceiling lights are hidden away in side pockets, softly lighting up the bedroom. Then there is also dome ceilings, which can be combined with lighting.

A bedroom chandelier adds a formal, and shabby chic style to a bedroom. A chandelier can be combined with a decorative ceiling rose – seen in picture (9). Or if you want to go really creative and unique, why not use fiber optics to create a constellation sky in the ceiling.

For more bedroom lighting ideas, have a look at my mood board post here: Relaxing Bedroom Lighting Ideas.

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Design Tips: Small Bedroom Ideas

There is a lot that be done to make a small space feel larger, brighter, and cozy. Everything from the walls to the lighting and storage solutions play a role. Here are small bedroom ideas that will make the most of your space.

The Important Areas

The color of your walls will play a big role in how spacious your bedroom feels. For a small bedroom, go with light paint ideas like white seen in picture (1), cream, or pastels. This will make the bedroom feel bright and spacious. While darker colors will make the room feel cozy and smaller which also works if you want that (Bedroom Color Ideas: Paint Schemes and Palette Mood Board).

Try and keep bold colors out of the bedroom – like bold colored pillows. Bold colors will dominate the look of the space, and attract the eye. You want everything to blend in as much as possible – this way the eye keeps moving around the space just like the bedroom in picture (2).

Making Smart Use of Lighting

To make a space room more spacious with lighting, you want to use as much ceiling lights as possible (recessed lights are best). The opposite is true when you want to create a cozy and romantic space – use lights such as table and floor lamps that are closer to the ground.

A lot of people like having a bedside lamp. One way to free up table space is to have a bedside lamp fitted to the wall by the bed, just how they do in hotels.

Decorating and Hacking a Small Bedroom Space

Here are some basic ideas on how to decorate a small bedroom:

Curtains

The way you hang your curtains can impact how the bedroom feels. By mounting the curtains high up, say near the ceiling, you’ll make the space feel taller. Try and use a long curtain rod. This way you can fully open up the curtains letting in as much natural light as possible.

How To Make A Small Room Look Bigger: Creative Design Ideas and Tips

When it comes to the curtains, avoid contrasting them with the color of the walls. If you have white walls, try and get off white, cream, light tan curtains – a color that blends well with the wall just like the curtains in the bedroom in picture (3). Also avoid using heavy patterns on the curtains as this will dominate the look of the room. In a small space you want pieces to blend together.

Mirrors

See if you can get a mirror or a group of small mirrors up on the wall. A mirror is always a good way of making a room feel larger than it is – as they add depth and reflect light (4).

Beds

A lot of beds take up extra floor space than they really need – with their headboards and footboards sticking out. Look for designs that are really compact. One good idea would be a platform bed. The good thing about platform beds is that they don’t need to have a box spring, which allows for storage under the bed. And because platform beds are low down, this makes the bedroom feel larger.

Organization and Small Bedroom Storage Ideas

For a small bedroom, you’re going to need to be creative and resourceful when it comes to storage space:

Under the bed is one area that can be used for storage (5). IKEA has storage boxes that have wheels which can be rolled under the bed. To do this means having a bed that doesn’t need a box spring.
Hooks can be fitted to the back of the bedroom door – to hang up clothes and other items (6).
The inside of the closet door is another place that can have hooks fitted to hang up things like belts, ties, etc. (Smart Small Closet Ideas and Storage Organization Tricks)
Built in closets are ideal. They make the most of the space available. And because they are built into the space, they blend in with the look of the room – take a look at the cabinets above the bed in picture (7).
Floating wall shelves and wall cabinets free up valuable floor space just like the shelves in the bedrooms of pictures (8) and (9).
Fitting lights inside of your closets will help make each shelf more usable and convenient when looking for items. It can be as simple as using a battery powered and motion censored puck lights. Have a look at my post here for ideas: Closet Lighting Ideas: From Wireless to Walk In.
For any furniture pieces you use in a small bedroom, try and go for transparency. Take a side table for example. One with a glass tabletop works best as it takes up less ‘visual space’.
For furniture pieces that you can’t get transparent, an alternative would be to find pieces with raised legs. This makes the furniture pieces float, allowing you to see below, which helps in making a room feel larger.

For a step by step plan on how to declutter your bedroom, have a look at my post here: Stress Free Living: How To Declutter Your Bedroom

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February 4, 2014 in Bedroom, Small

Color Choice: Teal Bedroom Ideas

From an all out teal bedroom to a more toned down color palette. Here are teal bedroom ideas and design tips to style your bedroom just the way you want it.

The 3 Wall Paint Options

In all of my color specific posts, I talk about the 3 options you have when you want to decorate a room with a color. Here they are:

Paint all the walls in the color of your choice (teal) – just like the bedroom in picture (1).
Some people might find painting all the walls in the same color, such as teal, to be a bit overwhelming. A toned down alternative would to create a feature wall. This is one wall in your bedroom that you paint teal – usually the wall against the headboard. The rest of the walls are painted in a neutral color like white, off white, cream, or light grey. The one teal wall will become a focal piece and sets the color scheme for the room.
An even more toned down option is to paint all of your walls in a neutral color (white, cream, light grey). Now you have a blank canvas of a bedroom – a room that you can ‘paint’ teal through decor pieces such as pillows, bedding, art – an example being the bedrooms in pictures (2) and (3).

To really style a bedroom in teal or any color, you’ll want to take out all other colors in the room. Having a red pillow, or purple art piece can really take away from the color scheme you are going for. You want teal to dominate the look of the room – and this could mean taking out pieces.

You can always add in a color to the mix. But it needs to be purposeful and focused. Some good combinations include: grey and teal, teal and yellow, teal and black, brown, purple (like the bedroom in picture (4)), red, or orange. Once again if you pick teal along with another color, say yellow, then you’ll have to get rid of the other colors decorating the room to create a strong color palette.

The Focal Points

Once you have decided on the color of your walls, let’s move onto the main focal point of the room. In a bedroom this will be the bed area since it takes up the most space, and is the area the eyes are drawn to. The best way to add teal here is through the bedding and the pillows – just like the bed in picture (5).

Other ways of adding teal to the bed area include having a teal colored upholstered headboard (6), using teal bedside lamps (7), or having a teal area rug under the bed. Mix the teal colored pieces with neutral colored ones if you want a more toned down look. For example, if you get an upholstered teal headboard, then you could go for neutral colored bedding.

Decorating the Walls – Curtains

Curtains also take up a large part of the visual space in a bedroom. If you went with neutral colored walls, then teal colored curtains will help add color to them just like in picture (9). Even if you went with teal walls, you can always have teal curtains. If you have a small bedroom, try and find curtains that blend with the paint color as this will make the space feel larger. For larger bedrooms you can go with a more contrasting and dark curtain color.

Other Teal Bedroom Decor Pieces and Accessories

Some other teal colored decor pieces that can be added into a bedroom include: a teal painted mirror frame and abstract teal art designs.

Having a mood lamp is a good way of adding some teal to your bedroom. You can find ones that change colors, or you can set it to a color of your choice. Put one up against a white wall and it will bathe it with color. Check out the Yantouch Jellyfish mood lamp below.