“Spring birds in love” print
When it comes to interior design, sometimes it’s all in the service of fun and creativity, and sometimes it’s about creating a space that will affect us every day of our lives in a variety of ways. Your lounge room design can be just about anything – as crazy or conservative as you like – and your family will still enjoy the space either because of or in spite of the design choices. But a room like the kitchen lives or dies by the design you choose, so it’s vital to ensure your creativity has a practical side that keeps the space functional as well as beautiful.
Your bedroom is also one of these spaces. The bedroom has to be a retreat, a place for rest and rejuvenation – it can’t be a mixed-use space where you work at a desk, play video games, and eat dinner every night. People who try to make their bedrooms multi-purpose spaces usually discover they have a hard time sleeping, because their brains are wired to think of the room as a place of activity and can’t shut off. That means your bedroom design has to be conducive to rest – but that, of course, means different things to different people. Here’s our lowdown of some common strategies and art ideas for bedroom design.
Create a sense of calm with”Pink Balloons”
Adults
The Hotel Experience
A great way to design your bedroom is to go full Hotel. High end hotel rooms combine utility with comfort and at a certain point in our lives we’re almost programmed to sleep in their environments. A high-end hotel also feels luxurious and satisfies even the most posh sensibility.
To get the high-end hotel look and feel, start with neutral colours on the walls. Hotels know their business: Busy, bright colours stimulate while quiet, neutral tones calm you down.
Next, use high-quality linens and other materials so the textures feel rich and inviting. That means high thread counts and lots and lots of cushioning and stuffing.
Finally, when it comes to bedroom design art ideas, the hotel style is abstract. Start with the colour palette and then look for pieces that don’t convey a realistic image, but rather a mood – and a mood that is naturally quiet and soothing.
“The sandy desert” print in Aboriginal style dot painting
The Natural Retreat
Another approach for a bedroom design that works well for the grown-ups is a more natural approach – rustic and personal. While some folks like the idea of their bedroom being upscale and ‘cool’, others prefer to feel like they’re in their own home and their own space.
In that case, it’s often helpful to start with the wall art instead of ending with it. Choosing art pieces that speak to you and inspire a sense of rest and calm will give you both your colour palette and shapes and lines to work from. Starting with wall art that speaks to you will also allow you to come up with a unique design for the room that you might not otherwise think of. For example, if some pictures of horses seem to call to you, you might end up with a country theme in your bedroom that you love, but would never have planned.
Go natural with “Intertwined branches”
Children
Kids, of course, have to be managed when it comes to designing their bedrooms. Kids are generally stimulated enough as it is, so the rule about their bedrooms being a peaceful place is even more important. But these days kids’ bedrooms also commonly double as study areas, play rooms, and gaming stations – so getting that sense of calm can be a challenge.
You also want the design to last, so going too literal with their current obsessions can be a big mistake requiring a complete redesign just a few months after you finish. Instead of going literal with the robot, unicorn, or sports theme your kids want in their bedrooms, use those basic images as a jumping-off point for finding the right decor for the room. The key here is twofold: colour and whimsy. Even paintings of robots can be soothing and restful with a soft, pastel colour palette, and the more whimsical and fairy-tale-like the art is, the more likely your kids will be able to sleep in the room.
Whimsical “Hippo and Bird” print
Designing a bedroom should be a rewarding and fun experience, with the ultimate goal of creating a retreat for you, your children, or your guests. That retreat needs to be comfortable as well as visually interesting, however this can often be achieved just by purchasing new bedding and furniture for the space. Adding visual interest is as easy as hanging a couple of new prints on your walls and a little thought goes a long way. If you’re stuck for ideas, check out our collection of beautiful bedroom art – guaranteed to turn any room into a sanctuary.
