How to Decorate a Bedroom Simply and with Style

Are you intimidated, frustrated, or apathetic when it comes to decorating your bedroom? The bedroom is one of the least public spaces in a home, and yet it is one of the most important rooms to “get right” in terms of decorating. This is because, as a private retreat, a well-decorated bedroom will display personality and preferences along with great style. This article will showcase a variety of real-life bedrooms, each of which has a unique style.

How To Decorate a Bedroom tips
How To Decorate a Bedroom - Pillows
How to decorate a bedroom - dresser

The beautiful thing about spending time decorating a private space well is that you’re doing the decorating not to impress anyone but yourself. Your goal is to create a space that YOU enjoy, that YOU want to hang out in, that YOU feel comfortable, relaxed, and everything good in. A bedroom has that power.

How To Decorate a Guest Bedroom
Guest bedroom decoration tips

Check out the following bedrooms that have been styled to suit the lives of real people. It is our hope that you’ll find inspiration in figuring out how to decorate a bedroom in your own home.

How to Decorate a Basement Guest Bedroom

From the doorway, this basement bedroom appears inviting. This is largely due to the warm mustard yellow duvet on the bed, as well as the natural wooden furnishings.

Guest bedroom wooden end table

A wooden end table rests against the wall nearest the foot of the bed, tastefully decorated in equally colorful, warm pieces.

Decorating the guest bedroom end table with different accessories

Notice the variety of shape and height; the flat bowl is both artistic and a convenient resting spot for phone and/or keys by any visitor.

Nigh Stand honey-toned wood with drawers

The nightstands are of a warm, honey-toned wood with drawers. Each nightstand houses an identical contemporary lamp, which helps to offset the sweet-feeling color aesthetic.

How to decorate a bedroom - nightstand houses an oversized animal

In fact, one nightstand houses an oversized animal (perhaps an armadillo?) in bold color and outline. Nothing too precious in this space, no matter how sweet and yellow that bed is.

Bedroom with large artwork above bed

Large artwork above the bed completes the bed wall proportionately and beautifully.

Guest Bedroom interior Design

How to Decorate a Universal Guest Bedroom

From the doorway of this well-lit guest bedroom, the feeling is fresh and crisp with its contemporary palette of whites and greys. Two large windows give the small corner room a decidedly airy feel.

Full-sized bed is comfortably furnished

A full-sized bed is comfortably furnished with a bedding set that kickstarts the color scheme. A few mixed patterns among the bed’s throw pillows give the space a personalized feel.

Guest Bedroom Nighstand Decor

A single nightstand is tucked next to the bed with a slim, visually lightweight glass lamp and a few other small accessories and photos. Clocks are always welcome in a guest bedroom, and this small round one is sweet.

Guest Bedroom white IKEA bookshelf

Opposite the bed is a white IKEA bookshelf. The bedroom is given some warmth with natural fiber boxes, which helps to coordinate the cubbies’ components as well.

Guest Bedroom Kids Books

Any room, even a guest bedroom, should include at least something beloved. These children’s books, for example, are ready to be read together at any moment.

Similar Guest Bedroom Design

This guest bedroom is similar to the last, with a few alterations in decorating. A curved headboard gives the room a slightly more feminine feel.

Guest Bedroom with scalloped-edge mirror vanity

A scalloped-edge mirror vanity also looks sweet at the foot of the bed. Notice how the simple thought of placing a chair in the corner provides any visitor here with a nice seating option (that’s not the bed). That’s an excellent decorating idea.

How To Bedroom - black-grey-and-white buffalo

However, the black-grey-and-white buffalo checked bedding balance out the femininity to make this guest bedroom comfortable for anyone.

guest bedroom sweet detail of this bedskirt

I love the sweet detail of this bedskirt, which touches the floor and therefore could very well be hiding any number of unsightly storage items (but we’d never even know it).

Decorate the guest bedroom nighstand

The nightstand is decorated sweetly and efficiently, leaving plenty of horizontal space for a guest’s personal belongings.

Bedroom decoration ideas with personal touch

Again, small personal touches – but not too many! One or two is just right – help to complete the space.

Master Bedroom with Red Headboard

How to Decorate a Modern Master Bedroom

From the doorway of this small, light-filled master bedroom, you can sense the owners’ love for order. But it doesn’t come across in a stilted, uncreative way. In fact, the opposite is true.

Red upholstered headboard extends to nighstand

An oversized (length-wise) red upholstered headboard extends the length of nightstand to nightstand, which serves to visually simplify the arrangement despite the bold color.

Master Bedroom Pillows

Pillows are stacked three deep with a few smaller throws; plenty to be comfortable, but not so many that it becomes a nuisance to deal with them every night and morning.

Master bedroom clear nighstand

The nightstands themselves are kept cleared of everything except a single item and a modern arm lamp. The two drawers of each nightstand help to maintain this organization.

Nighstand Warm wood grains

Warm wood grains (running horizontally, which matches the vibe of the room) pair nicely with cool grey nightstand tops.

Master Bedroom Phone Charger

And a phone charger has been considered into the design at each nightstand, coming up through a space near the back of the nightstand. Great decorating tends to involve great design with regard to functionality.

Wall Flat Screen for Master Bedroom

From the doorway to your left, you’ll find a flat screen TV and a couple of long floating shelves.

Master bedroom decorated with Statue

This statue is the closest piece to you as you enter the bedroom, and I think there couldn’t be a better welcome. Notice how the unique piece is given plenty of space, so one can actually appreciate it individually, even within the overall space’s decoration.

Media shelves for Master Bedroom

This is what you’d see from the bed itself. The shelves are a great minimalist, modern design that matches perfectly the aesthetic of this bedroom (and the rest of the house, frankly).

Master bedroom red chair

A red chair in the bedroom’s corner provides a perfect pop of coordinated color as well as an intuitive spot for putting on shoes or whatever.

Media shelves and wall art

Notice how a large piece of artwork is positioned at the same level as the TV. This helps to minimize the impact of the television (which, frankly, are not inherently attractive things no matter what) by providing a similarly sized, colorful object with equality in mind.

Master bedroom filling the shelves

If you struggle with filling shelves in an appealing way, here’s a tip: layer. Here is how the art canvas is overlapped by some smaller framed pieces in a cohesive way.

Master Bedroom Retreat Design

This bedroom is a perfect retreat for someone who loves clean lines and beautiful functionality.

Feminine Master Bedroom Design

How to Decorate a Cozy Master Bedroom

Not every master bedroom is large. From the doorway of this cozy master, you can see that there’s tons of light…but not tons of space. Which is what makes its sweet decorating so key. 

Ikea Bookshelf for Master Bedroom

Walking into the room, you’ll find a white bookshelf on your right. This is filled with natural baskets inside and a few beloved objects on top.

oversized frog bookends holding

I can’t help but love the oversized frog bookends holding up a few favorites in prime decorating real estate. This must be a room for the lover of all literature.

soft textured caramel-colored throw

The bed itself is decorated simply and tastefully – a soft textured caramel-colored throw rests folded at the foot of the bed, while the pillows for a comfortable night’s sleep hang out at the top.

Displaying artwork in matching frames

Displaying artwork in matching frames helps the pieces appear to be more than they are individually. This line of Normal Rockwell prints is the only wall art by the bed; the horizontal display seems to wrap itself around the room, heightening the cozy, intimate feeling of the small space.

Small Black Nighstant

A small nightstand rests pragmatically against the side wall, leaving a space between the bed and the nightstand for the drawers to open. This is an excellent option for decorating in a room with tight quarters around the bed.

Bedroom with white vanity

In the opposite corner, a white vanity sits between the two large windows on adjacent walls. White is a good color here, because it doesn’t detract from the natural light streaming through. A mirror and easy-to-maneuver bench make getting ready in the morning convenient, especially in a master bedroom without an en suite.

Rocking chair in Bedroom

And, despite the room’s tiny footprint, priority has been made for a rocking chair. There is loads of love emanating from this room, simply from its design.

How to Decorate a Large Master Bedroom

Large Master Bedroom Design

In the larger master bedroom, plenty of decorating possibilities are available. But this doesn’t mean that more stuff is better! Just because the space is there doesn’t mean it should be filled to the brim.

Large Nighstant with Drawers

Nightstands in this large bedroom are matching white with multiple flat drawers – an ideal shape, really, for nightstand-type stuff. Flowers sit on one side of the bed, and matching lamps are on both.

Master Bedroom with Walk in closet

One wall of this bedroom (the wall opposite the bed) is comprised of a huge window. Another wall opens up into the walk-in closet and bathroom, and the third wall is the head of the bed. That leaves the fourth wall open for decorating.

Framed wall Pictures

When decorating a large space, like this master bedroom, it makes the most sense to keep the decorations fairly proportionate to the space itself. So a single piece of artwork (which includes several black and white 8×10 photos, but it still reads as a single piece) works well aesthetically.

Master Bedroom with a old wooden sewing desk

An old wooden sewing desk with a simple plant on top provides a necessary warmth and charm to this cool, grey bedroom space.

Small master bedroom interior design

How to Decorate a Minimal Master Bedroom

From the doorway of a small master bedroom, you can fully appreciate the sense of taste and stylistic editing. Fewer “decorations” make the bedroom feel larger and more open and inviting – a perfect bedroom retreat.

Wall decoration and mirrors

Wall decorations are sparse and, therefore, strategically chosen. A large round mirror rests slightly behind the main door, covered only just when the door is open but fully exposed when the door is closed.

Combining form with function

Combining form with function, a couple of round hats carry the circular softness onto the next wall, directly adjacent to the bedroom’s only window. Sheer white curtains on a minimally visual curtain wire maintain the open, airy feel.

Bedroom small accents decoration ideas

Other small accents are chosen with care and good humor, like this brass narwhal “hook.”

Wooden hamper

Other than a small white woven laundry hamper, which blends into the walls anyway, the bed is the room’s only furnishing.

classic navy and white bedding

Simple, classic navy and white bedding maintains the bedroom’s classic aesthetic. Wood floors are left exposed, which helps to keep things feeling warm and natural.

Bedroom with large oil painting

In lieu of a headboard, a large oil painting hangs above the bed. This serves the same visual purpose of a headboard and carries with it the room’s color palette – pieces that serve double duty in a small space are an effective design tool.

Narrow pictures ledge

Narrow white picture shelves hold beloved photos and artwork, all housed in simple frames of white or natural wood. The layering here is cozy, and white space is used effectively to maintain an airy, natural feel.

single brass ball sconce

A single brass ball sconce serves as the bed’s reading light. This continues the round touches we’ve seen previously, adding cohesion throughout the space.

The bedroom’s main lighting brass

The bedroom’s main lighting – a brass globe pendant ceiling fixture – lends elegance, timelessness, and style in a visually lightweight way. This space shows what excellent decorating can do for even the smallest of master bedrooms.

Metallic bed frame for master bedroom

How to Decorate a Vintage/Eclectic Master Bedroom

In this master bedroom, a fresh blend of vintage and contemporary creates an absolutely lovely and inviting bedroom. Wall décor is kept to a minimum, allowing the colorful accessories to speak for themselves.

Mix colors in a master bedroom

The mix of color and neutral is a large part of what makes this master bedroom’s décor so charming. While a vintage aqua duvet and round orange pillow could potentially feel gaudy, they are beautifully balanced here with a warm aged bronze metal bed frame and pale neutrals.

sweet embroidered lampshades

The sweet embroidered lampshades work well with the vintage feel of the bedding, and the lamp is given a contemporary touch with its cornflower blue paint color. Wisely, the color of the lamp base matches the nightstand below it, which simplifies the view overall and makes the pieces read as one. This is a great decorating tip in a bedroom where various colors are involved.

Vaulted bedroom ceiling

And, though the bed is the colorful highlight of this space, lots of neutral pieces help to complete and ground the space overall.

kid-centered guest bedrooms

How to Decorate a Guest Kids Bedroom

There’s no shortage of highly decorated kids’ bedrooms online, and no doubt you have seen them. These two bedrooms are meant to serve as examples of simplicity. The rooms themselves are kid-centered guest bedrooms.

Kids guest bedroom shelves

While shelves have yet to be filled to make these beds truly inviting, the built-in kids’ beds are inspiring. In a tiny kids’ bedroom, where space is at a premium, combining both beds plus shelving plus dressers (as is done in these beds’ design) truly makes the most of the space.

drawers on the foot of the upper bunk

Wasting not one inch of space, these drawers on the foot of the upper bunk are simply narrower versions of the main dresser set, which opens up toward the room itself.

identical built-in bunk bed setup

In the second bedroom, there is an identical built-in bunk bed setup. This shows the craftsmanship of the main dresser set, which is located under the foot of the upper bed.

Kids bedroom rocking chair

You can see, in this small bedroom, how the use of space with built-ins makes it possible to have an actual play area. This space would be greatly decreased if there were a dresser or two along the walls.

Galvanized pipe serves as an industrial-flavored railing

Galvanized pipe serves as an industrial-flavored railing to the upper bunk.

Kids bedroom lighting

Each bunk, both upper and lower, has a reading light at its head. The small size of these reading lights is pragmatic and charming – practical, because it stays out of the way and has less of a chance to get bumped, and charming because, hey, a small light for small readers!

Guest Kids Bedroom rocking chair

A rocking chair is always a good idea for a kid’s bedroom, whenever possible and no matter how old the kid gets. That’s what this bedroom says. When priority is made for an object in a tiny bedroom, one must determine that that object and everything it stands for is important.

Low furniture for kids bedroom

Of equal importance is a place to store toys and to play. This is made possible almost entirely because of the well-thought-out built-ins.

Baskets and toy catch-alls

Baskets and toy catch-alls can look great as well as function. In fact, they should do both quite easily.

Modular guest bedroom for kids floor tiles

Floor tiles is an excellent flooring option for a kid’s bedroom, where spills and accidents can happen unexpectedly. The Flor tiles allow for easy cleaning and/or replacement altogether as the need arises, making this a stylish and cost-effective solution for kids.

Cork board for kids room

There you have it. Multiple examples of how to decorate a bedroom. We hope you’ve enjoyed these “real-life” examples and have been inspired to create beautiful bedrooms of your own.