A bedroom should be a sanctuary for relaxation, sleep and intimacy. Whether you’re decorating the master bedroom, a guest bedroom or the kids’ room, the color that you choose to paint the walls will have a huge effect on the overall feel of the room.
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There are several things that you should take into consideration to work out which colors are good for your bedroom. This article will prompt you to consider the right things and guide you to choosing the best color for your bedroom walls.
How to choose bedroom colors
When choosing a color for the bedroom, it’s quite common not to know where to start. So here are four simple steps that you can follow to narrow down your bedroom wall color options…
- Seek inspiration
One of the best places to find home decor inspiration is Pinterest. You can use it to search for photos of bedrooms and save any that you love.
When you have saved around ten to twenty images, review them all to see if there’s a common theme among the ones you like best. You’ll probably find that half or more of the photos you’ve saved have very similar tones.
Other places to find inspiration are Google images or good old fashioned home magazines. If you prefer to work with physical magazines rather than looking on your laptop or tablet computer, cut out the pictures you like and glue them on to a large sheet of paper or card.
- Match colors to your furniture
Look at your wardrobes, drawers, carpet, curtains and bedding. What color are they? Would these match well with any color schemes you have in mind?
If not, is it about time you bought new bedding? Could your furniture be painted to match your new color scheme? Decide which pieces of bedroom furniture you’re able to upscale and which must stay as they are.
If you have bright furnishings which you love and want the focus to be on them, you should opt for a neutral wall color like white or cream to avoid making the room look too busy.
On the other hand, if all your furnishings are neutral, you could go for bolder wall colors to prevent the room decor from looking boring.
- Think about what mood you want to create
Wall colors can be really powerful when it comes to affecting our psychology. Whilst dark gray walls may seem appealing, they can actually have a negative impact on our mood, making us more likely to feel depressed. Sunny yellow colors will have the opposite effect.
The bedroom is a place where you spend a lot of time and the colors will be the first thing you see in the morning and the last thing you see at night. It’s therefore a good idea to choose bedroom colors based on the positive feelings that these colors inspire.
The best bedroom colors are soothing and relaxing. But, of course, bedrooms aren’t only used for sleep, so you may also want to consider colors that will ignite a little romance or passion!
- Consider who will use the room
Personal preferences should be taken into consideration when choosing a bedroom color scheme. In mixed-sex relationships, home decor often falls to the woman. But, that doesn’t mean that her partner shouldn’t be consulted.
Even if your other half doesn’t show an interest in the color of your new bedroom, you should at least give them the chance to take a look at your ideas before you go ahead and paint the walls in your favorite shade.
Kids can often be quite forthcoming about their preferences, but may need some help being steered in the right direction. If your child begs you for a red bedroom, you might want to consider directing them towards a red feature wall or some red accessories before leaping in and covering every wall in their favorite color.
The best bedroom colors for sleep
Whether you struggle to get to sleep, or just want to create a calm, relaxing ambience, choosing a bedroom wall color that promotes peace and tranquility is always a smart idea.
The most tranquil colors are pale and neutral tones. Anything too bright and lively will make you feel energized, which is not necessarily what you want when it’s time to sleep.
What are the most relaxing colors for a bedroom?
The best bedroom colors for sleep include:
- Light green
- Pale blue
- Lavender
- Pale yellow
- Pastel pink
The best bedroom colors for passion
Deep, warm and dark tones can be used to inspire passion in your bedroom. If you get plenty of sleep already but would like a little more of the other ‘S’, then perhaps a romantic bedroom color is for you.
If you’re worried that bold colors will be too overwhelming or are concerned about making a small bedroom look boxy, then consider painting a feature wall with paler colors on the other walls to soften the effect.
What are the sexiest colors for a bedroom?
The best bedroom colors for couples include:
- Deep orange
- Scarlet
- Soft black
- Deep pink
- Royal purple
The best colors for small bedrooms
Dark colors absorb light, which makes a room look smaller. So if you’re struggling with square footage, or have a regular-sized bedroom which is dark due to a lack or natural light, then you’ll probably want to opt for pale, neutral tones.
Whilst a bright white color will do the best job of making a small bedroom look bigger, it’s not your only option. There are a huge range of off-white shades to choose from, and you could also try cool pastels like icy blue tones.
Of course, you may wish to embrace the small size of your room to create a cosy den. In which case, a darker color could be just what you need.
What color makes rooms look bigger?
The best bedroom colors for small rooms include:
- Bright white
- Magnolia
- Light blue
- Pale gray
- Soft beige
Small bedroom paint ideas
As well as choosing the right color, there are some neat decorating tricks that you can use to create the illusion of space in even the smallest of rooms.
Here are five of our top painting tips to make small bedrooms look bigger:
- Use a light-reflecting paint
Each can of wall paint has a Light Reflective Value (LRV) of between 0 (black) and 100 (white). The LRV is a measure of how much light is reflected from a surface.
Whilst white paint will naturally have a high LRV, there are also specialist colored paints which have light-reflecting particles that reflect up to twice as much light back into your room.
- Choose a silk finish
Paint comes in a variety of finishes. Matt paint has a dull, flat finish, whereas gloss paint is super shiny and best used on woodwork like skirting boards and door frames. In the middle, you’ll find silk, satin and eggshell sheens.
Silk paint reflects light, which will make your room look larger and brighter. However, shiny paint does have some downsides, such as showing up imperfections on the surfaces of your walls so it may not be suitable for every room, unless you also plan on doing a lot of filling and sanding.
- Paint your ceiling the same color as the walls
Thought that ceilings always had to be white? Think again! In fact, painting your ceiling to match your walls is a great idea and one that can actually make your room look much bigger.
Why? Well a colored ceiling creates the illusion of height. The eye doesn’t notice where the wall ends and the ceiling begins, which makes it feel as if there’s more space up there.
- Paint stripes
Just like how stripy dresses can make you look taller or wider, the same goes for striped walls. Vertical stripes will make a low ceiling appear higher, whereas horizontal stripes can make a wall feel longer.
Our eyes naturally follow lines of color. You can use this to your advantage by painting stripes in a clever way that disguises the edges of a room.
For example, if you ensure that you don’t change colors in the corner, then the corner of the room will be less apparent, making it look larger.
Trendy bedroom colors
When you’re painting your home, you might want to think about what colors are trendy and which are falling out of fashion. On the other hand, you may just prefer to choose something that you love. Unless you plan to redecorated every year or so, you’ll never be able to keep up with the latest trends anyway.
What is the most popular wall color?
Each year, ConsumerReports.org asks color experts from major paint manufacturers such as Benjamin Moore, Behr and Sherwin-Williams to pick out their most popular colors.
Here’s what the experts chose as the most popular wall colors:
- Benjamin Moore’ First Light – A soft blush pink
- Sherwin-Williams’ Romance – A blush pink with a hint of apricot
- Behr’ Back to Nature – A soothing earthy green
- Valspar’s Grey Brook – A stone washed pale blue
- PPG’s Chinese Porcelain – A mix of cobalt and navy
Any of these colors would look beautiful in a bedroom. So, if you like your decor to be bang on trend, then make this your shortlist.
What is the best color to paint a guest bedroom?
Guest bedrooms should be welcoming, homely and clutter-free. As they aren’t used every day, your paint job will likely last a lot longer than it will do in high-traffic areas such as the kids’ bedrooms.
With this in mind, you should probably steer clear of trendy colors and choose something classic that won’t go out of style.
Having guests to stay can be quite chaotic, especially during the holiday season. For that reason, you’ll do well to choose mellow shades like neutral earth tones, pale yellows and greens or pastel pinks and lilacs.
Conclusion
Choosing the best color of paint for your bedroom requires some thought. Pinterest is a great place to gather ideas, but you’ll also need to think about what colors will work well with the furniture and soft furnishings in your room.
One of the main purposes of any bedroom is to sleep. So choosing soothing and tranquil colors which promote relaxation is a good idea. Pale colors are a good choice as they reflect light, which will make your room look larger, brighter and more airy.
Whilst you may take inspiration from the decor trends of the year, the most important thing is that you choose a color that the people who use the room most will love. And one which puts them in a great mood to get a good night’s sleep.
