Guest blog by Randal Whitmore from Home Luv

Living with a small bedroom can be tough, especially when it has to multi-task and contain your bed, your clothes, and quite often your paperwork. Good news: there are a number of design principles that can help make it appear bigger than it actually is to help loosen up the claustrophobic feeling that small bedrooms can impose. Whilst these “design rules” exist as a guide to opening up smaller interiors, some homeowners can follow them too closely and end up creating a completely contemporary look that loses the personality and cosiness that a bedroom deserves.

To overcome this problem, we are going to provide some useful bedroom design tips that will make your room appear spacious yet maintain its cosy features.

Twist leg small solid oak bedside table

Tip 1: Few, big multi-purpose furnishings beat many, small storage items

Over time you can easily accumulate plenty of little items that hold things, such as boxes for jewellery or shoes. The combination of all these little pieces can make an area appear cluttered, even if they are arranged or ordered some way.

By storing such items in large units with built-in dividers, a room can instantly look like it has more order, plus there are less spaces for dust and dirt to hide in!

You can create even more free space by purchasing multi-functional bedroom furniture, such as a bed frame with slide out drawers beneath it or a wardrobe with drawers also located at the bottom end.

A blush pink bedroom featuring our Maple wooden Malabar bed and Air bedside table

Tip 2: Lightly toned colours visually push the walls out

Think of how free and out-in-the-open you feel when you look at a cloudless sky in broad daylight. This natural feeling of freedom can be imitated in your bedroom by using a lighter colour scheme such as pale blue, light green or even a mild pink.

Another colour tip is to paint your ceiling and its plaster edges in white or a very light tone of cream which makes the room feel much taller.

Summer fresh bedroom with our British made Low cherry wood bed - the Pimlico

Tip 3: Add fabric throw pillows to furniture

Whilst the room is gaining some extra visual space, the addition of fabric soft furnishings add cosiness to your key items of furniture.

The bed is most commonly decorated with throw pillows, and your choice of fabric is key to determining the feeling it conveys. For example leather is shiny and contemporary so will add formality to your room, whereas linen, cotton and wool look rustic and warm.

What pattern you choose is down to you, however the principle of colour blocking could technically be used which uses one block item of colour in the midst of lighter colours to make a space feel larger. In this case, you could have neutral bed sheets and a set of throw pillows from the deeper shade end of the colour range you are using on the walls.

Tip 4: Flooring considerations

The basic rule for floors when making the illusion of space is: the more you can see, the bigger the room appears. In a small bedroom, more floor space is often difficult to get so the best thing to do is present as much of what its already got as possible.

One way of doing this is by using a bed frame with taller legs and a lattice headboard. The gaps in between its structure prevent it from blocking out the parts of the room that it would otherwise hide.

Another tip worth trying is changing the type of flooring in your bedroom. If you prefer to have carpet, be sure to use a light or neutral one because this will reflect natural light better than dark carpet which will absorb any light cast on it.

If you have the budget for it, light-toned hardwood flooring is recommended because of its naturally reflective surface (far more reflective than carpet). In the evening, wood looks warm and cosy too so you can still feel snug.

Written by the editor of Home Luv, Randal Whitmore. His unfathomable passion for home design and preference of country style living helped construct this simple 4-step guide.

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