Bedrooms can often be small rooms. They are, after all, places many of us just go to sleep. We don’t hang out in them, so they remain quite functionary.
There are ways to make smaller bedrooms feel less cramped, however.
A solid block of dark colour on the bottom half of a room with a lighter colour on top can elongate a room.
Top half of wall in Resene Helix (try Resene Ravine), bottom half of wall in Resene Artemis (try Resene Streetwise), floor in Resene Poured Milk, bed base and pendant light painted in Resene Green Meets Blue and shelf in Resene Bokara Grey. Artwork from Blackbird Goods.
Use light colours for the walls. Or conversely, use a very dark colour to accentuate the smaller dimensions and make the room feel like a cosy cocoon. Painting the ceiling the same hue as the walls can help to visually increase the size of the room as it’s hard to tell where the different surfaces start and end. A white ceiling against a darker wall appears to shrink a space and draw the walls inwards.
Use vertical painted stripes up the wall as these trick the eye into thinking the ceiling is higher. Conversely, horizontal stripes will visually lower a very high ceiling to create more intimacy – a great trick for a small room in an old villa with high ceilings.
Let in as much natural light as possible. Make sure drapes or blinds can be opened right up.
Create pools of light from table lamps or wall lights so that at night you don’t register the extent of the room. Walls will visually recess into the shadows. Use mirrored wardrobe doors to visually double the size of the room.
If it’s a guest room or child’s room, consider carefully what size bed you need. It can be a little narrower than normal, as with a divan bed.
Even small rooms can have creative flair. A tall, thin design like a palm tree will draw the eye upwards and create height in a small space
Wall in Resene Olive Green with hand-painted palm tree in Resene Celeste. Floor in Resene Spanish White and bedside stool in Resene Celeste.
An easy way to make pinstripes look less formal and corporate is to handpaint them using a good quality artist's brush.
Wall in Resene Mystic with pinstriped square painted feature in Resene Relax and headboard in Resene Relax trimmed in Resene Quarter Iron. Floor in Resene Mystic with Resene FX Paint Effects Medium mixed with Resene Dusted Grey, bedside table in Resene Dusted Grey and lamp base in Resene Astronaut with line details in Resene Zephyr.
Go without a headboard which can soak up space, use one with a lighter appearance or paint a headboard design directly onto the wall or use Resene wallpaper to define a headboard area.
Avoid bulky items on bedside tables such as large lamps – use wall lights or a central pendant light instead. Also avoid large pieces of furniture, like chests of drawers. There are many slimmer, tall chests of drawers to choose from or go for a long low unit. Better still, use the space under your bed for roll-out storage bins, or choose a bed that has built-in drawers underneath.
Replace bedside tables with a shelf set on the wall at table height.
top tip Looking for ideas for your child's bedroom? The colours, themes and clever ideas for kids' bedrooms are seemingly endless… and a whole topic on their own. Pick up a copy of the habitat plus – kids' spaces at your local Resene ColorShop or view online.
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If you have an idea, project or story that you think would suit Habitat plus, we’d love to hear from you. Please drop us an email with your details and include photos if submitting a project.
Habitat plus are not mailed directly. They are available free from Resene ColorShops and resellers while stocks last and available for viewing online.
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