Furnishing your bedroom: our tips

21.02.2022

Your bedroom is the key to a good night’s sleep. So give some thought to designing your bedroom and gather some ideas before you take the plunge. After all, we spend roughly a third of our lives asleep. And that time should be as cosy and relaxing as possible.

1. The colour concept

If you have free rein to completely redecorate your home, it’s a good idea to design your bedroom according to a uniform colour concept. When furniture, pillows, walls and accessories match, it creates a calming visual impression and looks great.

The following wall colours are particularly well-suited for bedrooms:

Blue: has a relaxing, calming and harmonious effect.
Green: is fresh and lively, but also relaxing.
Brown: natural earth tones make the room cosy and radiate warmth.
Yellow: the colour of the sun is warm and invigorating. You’ll start the day in a good mood and full of energy.
Pink: this romantic colour is regarded as positive and sensual. It puts you at ease and promotes tranquillity.
Cream or beige: natural beige tones are a good alternative to pure white. They are just as refined and subtle, but also create a cosy atmosphere.

These wall colours are not as well-suited for bedrooms:

Pure white: although white works with almost anything and you can’t really go wrong, white rooms can often seem cool and uninviting.
Red: the signal colour red is highly energetic and spirited and tends to have a stirring rather than calming effect.
Purple: a rich purple has a stimulating effect, so it’s not the best for relaxation. A soft lilac can be a good alternative here.
Dark colours: if you paint only one wall and go easy on the accents, a dark colour can make an elegant impression even in the bedroom. But if you have a small bedroom, we advise against overly dark tones because they make the room seem even smaller. In small rooms, restrained colours are the better option.

Ultimately, it’s up to you to choose the colour that suits your taste. But once you have decided, stick to your concept and choose furniture and decorations to match the wall colour. A mood board can help. Take a large piece of paper or cardboard and cut out photos of various pieces of furniture, colours and accessories from magazines. Place them on your board and see which colours and shapes work well together. This will help you ensure that you choose elements that really fit with your concept.

2. The bed

No question about it, the bed is the heart of every bedroom. Beds come in all sorts of shapes and colours, so you’re sure to find one that suits your taste. As for the size, use the dimensions of your bedroom as a guide. If your bedroom is on the small side, you might not want to get a two-metre wide bed, which could make the room seem very small indeed.

However wide your bed, pay close attention to quality, materials and good craftsmanship. Test the mattress thoroughly before you decide. Some manufacturers even allow you to test mattresses at home and sleep on them for a few nights before buying them. The key here is that the longer you lie on the mattress, the better you will be able to judge whether it is comfortable.

Once you’ve decided on a bed, see where you plan to put it in the room and test if it works well there. According to feng shui principles, there are a few things to bear in mind when it comes to positioning the bed in the bedroom:

The bed should be positioned against a wall rather than ‘floating’ in the room. This heightens the sense of security and cosiness. In small rooms, this is generally not a problem. But if it is, a high headboard can create the desired cosiness.
The door should be clearly visible from the bed.
But the foot of the bed should not point towards the door.
The bed should not be positioned between the door and window as too much energy is flowing there.

If you’re not interested in feng shui or it’s simply not possible to position the bed according to these rules in your apartment, you can easily determine the best place yourself by placing a blanket in different places in your bedroom and lying down on it. This way you can simulate the possible positions and choose the one in which you feel most comfortable.

3. Storage space

Whether you have your wardrobe in the bedroom or somewhere else in the apartment, make sure you can really unwind and recuperate in your bedroom by hiding your clothes behind closed doors. Open shelf systems make a hectic, messy impression and attract dust.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be the classic from Sweden (though there’s nothing wrong with that). If you have a large room at your disposal, you could, for example, partition part of it with sliding doors between the floor and ceiling and work with shelves and hanging rails behind it. This would be something like a walk-in wardrobe.

A real classic and eye-catcher in the bedroom is the bench with a chest option. If you place it at the foot of the bed, you visually extend the bed surface. The chest has space for bedclothes, towels or bags.

And your bedside tables can also offer storage space. Here you can get creative and re-purpose objects: a small wooden ladder, a fruit crate or a swing hanging from the ceiling all make great bedside tables. You can find ideas and inspiration on the internet.

4. Seating

Do you have a free corner in your bedroom and don’t know quite what to do with it? A small, comfortable chair might be just the ticket. It creates a cosy atmosphere, inviting you to retreat to the bedroom during the daytime. With a small reading lamp and a good book, you can settle right into your comfy cove. But watch out – an armchair in the bedroom attracts not only bookworms, but also mountains of worn clothes. Things soon start looking messy. So take the time to regularly put your clothes back in the wardrobe.

5. Textiles

Bedclothes, curtain, pillows, bedspreads, carpets: choose fabrics and colours that complement each other, fit with your colour concept and also harmonise with the wall colour. Pillows are great for creating colour contrasts without overdoing it. Here you can be a little bolder with colours and patterns since they’re easy to replace.

Make sure that your bed linens are of good quality; after all, you spend a lot of time in contact with them. High-quality fabrics make for healthy, relaxing rest.

If you don’t have shutters or blinds in your bedroom, special blackout curtains are a great way to keep the light out. You can get them in different colours.

With a nice bedspread, you can make your bed in no time and create a neat, inviting impression. Who wants to climb into yesterday’s rumpled, unmade bed at night? So shake out the bedclothes, pull them taut, put on the bedspread and pillows and look forward to bedtime.

6. Decorations

Carefully selected accessories lend accents to your bedroom for the perfect ambience. As with other rooms in your home, vases, flower pots, candles and picture frames should match your colour concept and be grouped unobtrusively. Here, less is often more – give individual accessories enough space to breathe. Cluttered window sills create a restless and stressful effect.

7. Plants

Plants in your bedroom? Yes, absolutely! As long as you’re not allergic to them, plants create a fresh and lively atmosphere. There are even plants that are particularly well suited for bedrooms.

Aloe vera: it not only looks beautiful, but even releases oxygen at night and purifies the air.
Dragon tree: this tree is easy to care for, brings a rich green into the room and is also a great air purifier.
Lavender: the soothing fragrance has a calming, relaxing effect. Banish stress and brighten your mood.
Jasmine: it’s not for everyone, but for anyone who loves that special jasmine scent, it’s a lovely addition to the bedroom. Jasmine is considered to promote sleep and calm and soothe aggression.

8. Light

There is probably no better interior element than the right light. So it’s a good idea to really think about the lighting when you’re designing your bedroom environment. Ultimately you want the space to be cosy and relaxing. No need for bright light here; even a ceiling lamp can radiate cosiness. In addition to the main light, we recommend restrained, indirect light. A floor lamp by the armchair, soft reading lights by the bed – turn them on before you go to bed and look forward to a snuggly bed and a relaxing night.

Sweet dreams!

The following articles on furnishing might also interest you:

Furnishing your apartment: tips and tricks
Furnishing your living room: nice and cosy
Designing your kitchen: what to keep in mind
Designing your bathroom: our ten tips
Furnishing guest rooms: feels like home
Safe, age-appropriate living
Furnishing your first apartment: our tips