Bedroom Painting Ideas

Bedrooms can be an oasis from our chaotic lives, and our bedroom painting ideas reflect that desire for comfort, calm, and sensuality. Depending on your personality and personal style, that comfort can come from sophistication or simplicity, bright colors or dark elegance.

Because they can be approached so differently, I’ve separated the bedroom painting ideas from the painting ideas for kids' bedrooms. Adults and children usually have very different concepts of what constitutes an “oasis”.

Bedrooms have some unique characteristics that make them different than painting other parts of the home.

For starters, bedrooms are typically at least partially isolated from the public spaces of the home. They are rarely part of an “open” floor plan that limits color choices with shared spaces.

It functions as a single self-contained space that few visitors will ever see. That means your color choices are less restricted than in other parts of the home, and that you are limited only to pleasing yourself (and perhaps your partner!).

Accentuate It!

Bedrooms are spaces where accent walls work wonderfully. Accent walls are a single pop of color in an otherwise neutral room, and they are a great way to add character to a space without overwhelming the viewer with a single color.

Bedrooms have a natural focal point. The wall behind the bed or headboard lends itself naturally as a wall that draws the eye.

Utilizing a strong or dark color on this wall that accentuates or draws out a fabric color is a great option, while allowing the rest of the room to remain light and neutral, leaving the space bright and open while providing character and personality.

For example, if there is a dark blue color or detail you wish to accentuate in your bedspread, pillows, or décor, utilize the same or similar tone on your wall to bring it forward in the furnishings.

Or utilize a complimentary color to your furnishings to bring it forward. For example – red and green are complimentary colors. Utilizing a green tone on your accent wall will help compliment and accentuate the red details in your décor or furnishings.

Contrast It!

The best bedroom painting ideas are built on the concept of contrast.

The impact of any color is directly attributable to the contrast of that color within a space.

If you have red walls, red furnishings, and red curtains the color red loses its impact and overwhelms the viewer in any small space. It is lacking the disparity of color that the eye requires.

Dark or colorful décor works well with muted paint tones. This draws the eye to those colors and contrasts them. The same works in reverse – if you have bright and neutral furnishings, consider a darker or more vibrant wall color, or accent wall, to really pull everything together.

Bedrooms are spaces with lots of fabrics and furnishings – bedspreads, curtains, bedframes & headboards, dressers, pillows, etc… - so the cue for color selection within a room needs to be taken from those.

Allow Your Personality to Determine the Mood

All bedroom painting ideas are relative to the mood, or feel, you hope to accomplish within a space.

Be sure to consider the size of your space and the natural lighting available. More windows or skylights with natural light will support darker paint colors without feeling too dim or cave-like.

Are you hoping for a quiet haven of calm? Do you find nature restful? Are you looking more for richness and elegance?

Here are some other great options for colors and what they can achieve within a space:

Dark blues, charcoal grays, and even blacks can give an urbane sexy feel

Two of my “Best Interior Paint Colors”, Pencil Point by Behr & Gentleman’s Gray by Benjamin Moore are excellent choices for accent walls to bring darker impact colors within a space.

Pale Greens give a soft, natural, relaxing outdoor feel, like sunshine through trees

Soft Grays give a muted, comfortable appeal to the space while allowing the ability to bring in rich colored pillows, fabrics, décor, and furniture tones – such as mustard yellows, dark greens, rich reds

Earthy red tones (used in moderation) in the bedroom call forth sensuality, richness, creativity

Distressed creams and light blues give an airy, open, seaside cottage feel

Medium or dark green walls (or accent wall) with a punch of earthy red fabrics or brown and beige earth-tones creates the feel of a woodland refuge

In any bedroom space, consider incorporating houseplants. These not only help purify the air, but they add a relaxing bit of color to the room.

Suede Paint

Suede paint is one of my favorite bedroom painting ideas. Suede paint is made to look like brushed suede, with a raised texture and variations of color dependent upon the direction of the application.

Many of the different paint manufacturers have their own version of “suede paint”, but all of it is very similar in type.

Since suede paint dries to a sandy, matte texture, it can scratch easily and is not very wipe-able. That doesn’t make it a great fit for children’s rooms or higher-traffic public areas of the house.

But for a master or guest bedroom where this is less of a concern, suede paint can add an entirely different look and feel to traditional paint, and its textured surface and non-reflective matte finish means that it is a great option for hiding imperfect walls.

Plus, it’s nearly as simple to apply as standard interior paint.

Looking Up

If you’re searching for bedroom painting ideas that add color in a non-traditional way, consider adding color by painting the ceiling while maintaining neutral or lighter wall tones.

The ceiling is an under-utilized space in most homes, and a great place to add a splash of color without overwhelming your entire space or causing it to feel “closed in”.

And in what other room do you spend so much of your time lying down, looking up?