Choosing Bedroom Colour Schemes

Get The Right Mood
Getting Started

Your bedroom is the one space that you - or you and your partner - don't have to share, so find out how to get the colour scheme you'd love.

By Sarah Warwick

How Colour Affects The Mood Of A Room

Colour can transform the look and feel of a bedroom.

Reds & Pinks
For a fun and even passionate feel, feminine pinks and reds are ideal. They also help warm up cold, north-facing rooms. In rooms where natural daylight is poor, go for lighter shades of pink or violet, or stick to smaller amounts of deeper shades as part of a pattern or in accessories. Keep the room contemporary by matching deep reds with brilliant white.

Greens & Blues
Soft greens and blues - associated with nature, and growth - make a room feel relaxing, ideal for a bedroom. However, they add little energy to a room if they are pastel shades, so if you want to brighten the room, choose turquoise or a yellow-green. Or, if you want to add drama, choose a petrol blue and match it with white, deep red or golds for a sumptuous look.

White
White is soothing, too, but consider also off-whites and creams, which actually have a small amount of colour that can result in a warmer atmosphere. Match these with other neutrals and earthy tones for a warm, welcoming feel that's ideal for a room with poor natural daylight.

Yellow
Yellow can add some zip to your bedroom, and can look great on walls, or as part of the patterned fabrics in the room. However, it's not a relaxing colour, so avoid brighter shades, especially in rooms that get lots of sunlight in the mornings.

Consider The Light

How Will It Look At Night?

You have to take into account how natural daylight will affect your choice of colour - but you should also bear in mind that the majority of your time will be spent in the room with electric light on, so make your choice based on what it will look like when the room's lit at night, too.

Will It Look The Same In Your Room?

The amount of light - whether natural or electric - a room receives has a profound effect on how a colour appears to us. This means you can never assume that a colour you love when you see it in a photograph - or in someone else's room - will look the same in your bedroom.

Put Tester Pots In The Room

Always test using paint sample pots or wallpaper samples, and do the same with flooring. Put them in position, too. Just holding up a carpet sample won't let you understand how it will look on the floor.

Can You Improve The Light?

Always remember that the combination of colour with the light in your bedroom can help you cheat the dimensions. A small bedroom can feel larger with a light, reflective colour on the walls, and a space that feels cavernous rather than cosy can feel more intimate with a dark wall colour that will absorb light and make walls feel closer to you.

Include A Colour That Doesn't Work

Don't discount a colour that you love if it doesn't work well with the light levels in your room. Adding it as part of a wallpaper, bed linen or window fabric pattern, then teaming with a few matching accessories is a great solution.