image: BH&G
Decorating Your Bedroom
Tips for Creating An Escape from Every Day Life
I look forward to the day I get to really spruce up my bedroom in this house. So far I’ve been too distracted by other projects and my bedroom has not received the attention it deserves.
The master bedroom should be the most significant room in the house, even though it is usually the most private space. I definitely want to devote time and energy towards making our room a place I enjoy being — a place my husband and I can reconnect and retreat to at the end of every day.
I think it is important to have an escape from the world, a place to experience a sense of peace and calm in the home, a room to rest and recharge your energy and of course, a place for reconnecting and dreaming!
The awesome thing about bedroom decorating is everyone can have a different idea of what that “retreat” will look like. There is no right or wrong decorating style for a bedroom! The important thing is that you (and your spouse) LOVE your room, and find it a comfortable escape from the hard work and harsh realities of life!
Q. How do you get started decorating the bedroom of your dreams?
A. Picture a room that would make you feel like you are on a dream vacation.
Here are the first steps in imagining the bedroom of your dreams:
- Imagine a hotel that you (and your spouse) think would be the most restful, romantic environment for a weekend getaway. Start by closing your eyes and imagining you are packing your bags right now for the weekend! Where would you LOVE to go? What would the hotel look like?
- Would the hotel be quaint and charming? Fancy and frivolous? Would the room be colorful and happy? Peaceful and serene? Would the bed be piled high with fluffy pillows and a down comforter or would it be a sleek modern room with lots of sparkle and glam? Is your dream hotel at the coast? In the city? In a foreign country?
- You can take design cues from THAT dream vacation getaway and begin to pull together appropriate elements to recreate a similar feeling in your home (working with what you have and the limitations of your own space and budget, of course!). Make a list of all the key words you came up with from your “dream escape” to help you to keep on track with your favorite design elements.
- Here is a place I think would be a dreamy escape, maybe you’ll find your dream escape style by finding a lovely hotel or room online that sets just the right mood for your own bedroom decorating!
- You can find links to lots more bedroom inspiration photos and decorating ideas here, as well as links at the bottom of this post. Gathering inspiration photos and ideas is a great way to begin to figure out what you like and what would work in your own space! In addition to magazines online, there are also many online sources of inspiration photos such as Pinterest and Tumblr!
- Start by looking at the inspiration rooms as a whole, then go through each one again, looking specifically at bedding in each photo, the shape and material used for headboards, then look at what is on the walls in each room, how many pillows are used, what combination of fabrics you like best, then focus on the paint colors, what lighting is used, etc. Zeroing in on specifics in a space can help you see how a room is put together and the elements you like.
Related bedroom Decorating Posts:
Master Bedroom Room Tours: Decorating Inspiration from Blogland Bedrooms!Creating The Feel of a Bed & Breakfast in Your Own Room
Oh, Melissa…my head is spinning with dreams and ideas!
I’m trying to structure online time to soaking in beauty in words, pictures, creativity and inspiration; yours is a lovely spot for that very thing.
Won’t you be my neighbor?? :)
Thank you Robin! Yes, I would love to be YOUR neighbor! You make me smile!
My husband and I recently recreated our master bedroom by building a balcony on the back of our house (sort of a cabin style balcony), which looks out over trees and a small lake. Then we moved our master bedroom into that bedroom (it’s the middle-size bedroom). We call it “The Treehouse.” It holds only the bed, two side tables, adjustable lighting, and a gorgeous painting of a path through a forest. It’s quiet, calming, and very cozy. We can walk right out onto our balcony for morning tea or a sunset chat. We love it! Thank you for all your great ideas and links! Love your blog!
That sounds like the perfect escape! I love that!!!
i couldn’t agree more. it is so easy to have the master bedroom be the last room that gets decorated. especially for mothers, who tend to put themselves last by nature/necessity. also because it is the most private room in the house, it is the one we get to “show off” the least . . . it really is just for us.
that is wonderful advice to imagine your dream getaway . . . i think it is an investment in your marriage!
Yes, it really is an investment in your marriage. I think that is why I love the idea of making it your dream escape room, it is a space you want to enjoy just as much as if you were on a weekend getaway to a favorite (or dreamed of!) boutique hotel!
What a fantastic post, Melissa!!! I would never, ever, in a thousand years, have ever thought to create my sleeping room based on where I would love to retreat with my husband. And…this would get him to be more intimately involved in joining in the creative process and the room would definitely be OURS!! (Not my design idea.)
Wow!! You knocked this one out of the park!!!
Thank you for the inspired inspiration!!!
:-) Glad to help!
The whole “close your eyes and starting packing now!” truly is an inspiring way to picture my dream room! I’m not sure why I never thought of that before! Thank you for the inspiration =)
LOVE all of these pics! and all great tips! It is sad to say that most of us tend to leave the bedroom decorating last. I did that for years and finally decided to change that and now my bedroom is my most favorite room in my house! AND it stays clean! (it use to be the dumping ground for the “i dont know where this goes” things) Its amazing when you put a little effort and love into your space you have a tendency to want to keep it beautiful. Great post!!!!
We’ve just moved into a rental home, lovely little place but our bedroom is terribly uninviting: drab paint color, hardwood floor needs softening w/an area rug, mismatched window sizes, and no closet! Being the very visual person that I am, I’m finding it hard to sleep well in there so far because it’s so uncomfortable for me. It really needs a tasteful revamp; but as we are renting I can only do so much. Thanks for posting this so I can get some inspiration & ideas.
This is an extremely good idea. My master bedroom, right now, I’d say is the least finished room in the house, and this is really saying something!
My bedroom is a disaster right now! I really need to use some of these ideas. Thanks for the inspiration!
As I was putting on fresh, line-dried sheets on my bed, I was thinking that I’d like to add a little zing to my bedding for summer. This article gave me some inspiration.
Thank you!
Awesome ideas! Definitely a great way to get my husband involved :) Looking back through the older bedroom posts, I saw that you really like your sheets. What kind are they? I’ve been looking for a replacement. Thank you!!
Melissa–I am moving into my new apartment in a few weeks and I am starting completely from scratch. This is my first apartment that I am decorating completely on my own since it’s my first apartment since college! Do you have any tips on home decor on a budget? I am meeting with my new landlord tonight to sign the lease at the time of your Twitter Party so I can’t join in on the conversation. Any tips you could give would be so helpful!
Leslie
adventuresofoldandnew.blogspot.com
I think you can look back over the chat later, even if you are not around during the party! By being there you can ask questions, but if you aren’t able at least you can read what happened! I’ll be doing more bedroom posts in the future too, as decorating on a budget is all I do and I have more tips to share! :-)
Enjoy your new apartment!
I love all the ideas and I must admit that in 15 years in this house I have done almost nothing to decorate the master bedroom, but…. Who actually spends time in their bedroom awake? Other than sleeping, dressing,undressing, and maybe collecting and putting away laundry, we spend 2 minutes in the master bedroom/day! The kids’s bedrooms are right across the hall so once they are down for the night we are downstairs. We would have to be SILENT to not wake them. Gorgeous pictures but I have always wondered who spends time in a bedroom!
I actually sleep better in a room that is not only clean but pretty and peaceful. I wouldn’t spend more than 2 minutes in a room if it didn’t make me happy! Having a room I love is so important to me, I would retreat early to my bedroom just to read! No words needed, just a peaceful quiet and relaxing evening in my own room!
I love peaceful and relaxing :-) I think I would embrace decorating the master more if it were in a different part of the house. After the children go down is the only time of the day dh and I have to talk sans enfants and decompress. Not being able to converse even in a gorgeous space would be counter productive. Great topic though!
I completely understand that, it is nice to be able to talk at the end of the day! I would still maybe consider making your master bedroom a place you love to pass through now and then to fold laundry, get dressed, or retreat to even at the very end of the day. Decorate on a budget or with things you might already have, so it doesn’t feel frivolous or like an unnecessary expense to you. You don’t have to go crazy, just make it pretty enough and have nice bedding so you can enjoy it. Maybe it will even create a more relaxing mood for you, just knowing it is there, all pretty and ready for sleeping. Or maybe that is just me, HA!
Oh my such inspiration- I was just saying the other day that I need to “re-invent” my cv bedroom….it needs some help….plus it doesn’t help that it has been used as a “recovery/hospital” room for the last month. This post was just the kick that i needed.
Thanks
Yes, I think a little reinvention is a great idea after an illness, absolutely! Have fun with it!
I’d lovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvve to spruce up my bedroom someday!
<3 Traci @ Ordinary Inspirations
I enjoy our master bedroom. I redecorated it a couple of years ago and I think it is very restful, but like Marjorie, we do not spend alot of time in the bedroom. Only sleeping and getting ready for the day, (not even a TV in 37 yrs. of marriage!) The bedroom is right next to the living room so it is one of the first rooms guests would see. Thank you for the wonderful pictures and conversation.
Our bedroom is, like many others, our most neglected room. It’s full of clutter, baskets of clothing that has not been put away. Not so peaceful. Thanks for the tips and the fun twitter party tonight!
Thanks for being there and participating! :-)
i need to give mine a makeover but have to think on a cute concept like the ones in here!
Oh me oh my…I’m lovin all this lovely inspiration! :) I just did a post on my bedroom re-do-beach cottage style! love your posts…I know I can always find something on here to trigger my creative juices!
Melissa – the “ideal vacation stay spot” is a great idea. What happens when I want to go on vacation to 10 different places a month though? One day it’s the country, the next the beach and then later to the mountains. Let’s hope I have a HUGE design budget
what amazing photos and inspiration! thank you so much for a great post! I am bedridden most of the time now, and having a peaceful sanctuary like bedroom is on my wishlist now for a couple years. I long to make it into a retreat… I believe the visual is as important to the soul as is a good nights rest. Having bedrooms that beckon a person in to relax and be renewed should be part of every persons home… My hope and dream is to one day have that in my room … Some of my bedroom walls are starting to look like the virtual pinterest boards… it encourages me to have hope for the future. Again, thanks for sharing so many great bedroom makeover tips.
Cathy B
pbprojecthope at yahoo dot com
Thank you so much Melissa! I’m just thinking about re-decorate my bedroom now, your ideas and photos are so helpful. Actually I love the BH&G blue one very much.
Thanks, Melissa, for this post and tips! We are currently redoing our master bedroom. We finally agreed upon a paint color so we are headed in the right direction. :) Can’t wait to put your advice to use in this space!
oh, i’ve got plenty of inspiration and direction…and my husband has his own ideas as well…we’re quite different, i’m more of the vintage beach house eclectic, and the is drawn to formal warm and cozy like a library/den…hhhmmmm…
My thought was similar to yours, when it comes to decorating bedrooms, what better way to get inspiration than from nice, comforting, and relaxing hotel rooms or vacation destinations. I am glad to have read your blog because you helped me fortified my guess into reality.
I think the biggest mistake I have made in decorating my master bedrooms has been not putting enough of myself and my husband in our rooms. We try to make it a peaceful retreat, which it should be, but as you somewhat indicate, peaceful for one person be colorful and a bit lively. When I was a child, I had all my things around me when I went to bed, but when we are adult, we scatter our stuff in our living rooms and other rooms (it’s our taste of course), and our bedrooms don’t say enough of who we are. I didn’t realize how much “relaxing” for me means looking at my things until I had a child and sat in bed with him in his room. His room is neat at the end of the day (I still help clean up), but it has shelves of his stuff, evidence of “him,” and I feel so cozy laying in his bed looking at the interesting objects and books, and the lively colors. It made me realize that, for me at least, I want my room to show who I am. I think the word “master” throws us off. It suggests that the room must be serious or something. Maybe reserve serious and a bit sterile for a guest room if you have one, but put yourself in your room. Sterile bland walls and bedspreads make me nervous…haha!
Hello Melissa
I have been visiting your lovely blog for a while and getting bathed in your beautiful ideas. I love to organize and to decorate as well, but I am still a grad unmarried student who lives with her parents..and my family doesn’t get my passion for home-love. So my bedroom is the only blank slate I got..
While I love my ‘inspired room’, I want to decorate it as prettily as you do. And I am born introvert and so I hate to travel, so its hard for me to get cue from a dream retreat.
But I love to read, so my room is full of books, and studying is the thing my life revolves around.
That being said, do you have any directions for me?
Yes, even if you haven’t yet traveled or don’t enjoy it, certainly books could be your “escape” inspiration! Books are certainly like travel in the imagination. I would think about your favorite book, if you have one that especially “takes you away” to another time, another place, a faraway land. Picture that in your mind. Or imagine the most wonderful place you could dream of to read a book and design a room for that experience! Think about the colors you love, where you love to read (in your bed? Propped up with pillows? In a chair with a foot stool? outside at a park? In a cafe?). Do you listen to music while you read? Do you curl up with a blanket? Do you have the perfect reading light? Create the mood for the perfect spot to curl up with a book and I think you’ll find inspiration for your room. Have you seen my daughter Courtney’s room? She lives in one room as well, her bedroom. It’s tiny but she enjoys making it her own. If you haven’t seen it you might search for her posts on my blog and maybe you’ll be inspired as she’s been thinking about her room too! Good luck and enjoy creating your little escape.
Wow! I really liked all the bedroom ideas! The third one caught my attention. I really loved its simplicity and the choices of color. Thanks for the inspirations.