Tiny Bedroom Ideas with Huge Amounts of Style

With the right design, a small bedroom can have loads of character and flair, so embrace the creativity that comes with spatial limitations.

By Andréana Lefton | Published Jul 20, 2020 05:52 PM

Tiny Can Still Be Beautiful

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Small Bedroom Design

Your bedroom is like a jewel: With just a little polish, it can really shine. This is especially true of smaller bedrooms, which require visual clarity—clean lines, less clutter, and a sense of harmony the minute you walk through the door. This means getting the color palette right and investing in creative storage solutions. But with a few crucial adjustments, your decor, architectural features, and spatial flow can work for you, not against you. All it takes is a vision of what you want and some DIY tips from home and style bloggers. So, take a look at these small bedroom design ideas and make your room the crown jewel of your home.

Related: 12 Space-Saving Solutions for Tiny Bedrooms

istockphoto.com

Build Storage Into Your Bed

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trundle bed built in drawers tiny bedroom

Small spaces sometimes have awkward shapes. If a bedroom has a window nook, consider optimizing storage with style, like this built-in bed with trundle drawers by Simplicity in the South for Ana White. The designer used stock kitchen shelves in white, ordered from a local home improvement store. Her key tip: Always measure twice before ordering shelves.

Simplicity in the South and Ana White

Transform Wasted Space

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finding space in alcove tiny bedroom

Owners of small bedrooms must use every bit of space to its fullest potential. That’s the takeaway from this office alcove by Sarah Richardson Design. What was once just a gap between two doors has become a built-in home office, complete with a tiny desk. The designer created balance and an uncluttered look by using white shelves and a white chair. Once the bones are in place, it’s easy to accessorize to your heart’s content.

Related: 21 Ways to Make a Small Bedroom Big

Sarah Richardson Design and photographer Stacey Brandford

Embrace Big Bold Lights

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Statement lights and floating furniture tiny bedroom

When Cristina Garay of Remodela Casa decides to renovate, she goes big. Statement lighting in a small bedroom design—especially hanging chandeliers and lanterns—free up tabletops and add a sense of grandeur. Of course, simplicity also helps, which means opting for neutral colors and sleek shapes to prevent a sense of clutter and to keep furniture and other items in proportion.

Remodela Casa

Layer Textures and Patterns

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Layered rugs add visual interest tiny bedroom

One of the benefits of a small bedroom design is its coziness factor. Coziness amps up by layering complementary patterns and textures—on the floor. Take a leaf out of this lookbook, courtesy of The Inspired Room, and keep in mind the rules of pattern mixing: Use at least three different designs; vary the scale of the patterns for visual interest; and add a solid for calming, clean lines.

The Inspired Room

Reinvent Home Essentials

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Use bins at foot of bed instead of clothing hampers tiny bedroom

Furnishing a small bedroom requires some ingenuity, like reinventing home essentials to better suit the room’s size and needs. Case in point: the laundry hamper. Instead of big, space-hogging hampers, Jennifer at The Craft Patch Blog decided to maximize space and functionality with a trio of small hamper benches instead. Now, she can stow dirty laundry—and have a place to sit and put on her shoes.

The Craft Patch Blog

Use Black to Your Advantage

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Anchor bold patterns with a black wall tiny bedroom

Rethink what you’ve been told about black paint. Instead of making a room feel smaller, black can trick the eye into a sense of depth and spaciousness. The key, of course, is application. Ariel at PMQ for Two offers the right technique. She painted the wall behind her bed black. This makes the wall recede from view and adds visual clarity to bold colors and patterns (like leopard print and pink checks).

Related: 14 Tips for a Cozy Basement Bedroom

PMQ For Two

Work With Unusual Angles

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Work With Unusual Angles tiny bedroom

If a bedroom feels disjointed by odd angles, take heart! Work with the angles instead of against them and make the room itself the focal point of furnishings. For example, position the bed to show off a strange architectural feature, like a corner jutting into the living space. This makes the room feel intentional, rather than accidental.

Paintzen via Flickr.com

Go Monochrome

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Use a monochromatic color scheme

A neutral white or light gray palette can add lightness and airiness to even the most cramped quarters. And monochrome doesn’t mean mundane. Instead, using plenty of neutrals that have a touch of warmth (red rather than blue undertones) blends airy with cozy. Add punchiness with accessories: photographs, curtains, pillows, throws, and some eye-catching blue or orange accents.

Related: The 8 Best Paint Colors for a Restful Sleep

istockphoto.com

Repurpose Bookshelves

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Use a bookshelf as a headboard

Instead of storing books, use them as functional decor, like with this bookshelf headboard. Inexpensive and beautiful, the white shelving unit stocked with books also serves a practical purpose: It encourages reading before falling asleep, which research shows is better for deep sleep than scrolling or reading on an electronic device.

Related: 11 Budget DIYs for an Instantly Better Bedroom

istockphoto.com

Accent with Wallpaper

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Accent one wall with wallpaper

Any small bedroom design can drown easily in a sea of patterned wallpaper. But the same wallpaper can work wonders when applied to a single accent wall. With this look, the surrounding ambiance complements the wallpaper. The ornate pattern is offset by pared-down furnishings, a pure white palette, and minimal accessories.

istockphoto.com

Go Minimal—with Warmth

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Neutral and uncluttered with sparse decor tiny bedroom

Minimalist design strikes some people as sterile, but it’s easy to warm up a clean look. By layering natural textures such as wood, linen, rattan, and cotton, a Scandinavian style bedroom exudes warmth and luxury. This means choosing pure lines and tonal shades of white, gray, and black for linens, light fixtures, and furnishings. A bouquet of eucalyptus leaves adds just the right touch of Mother Nature.

IKEA

Love Your Plants

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Plants as accents tiny bedroom

With just a little loving care, a tiny bedroom can be a breath of fresh air. Literally. Plants recycle the air we breathe, purifying the boudoir daily. Fragrant flora like lavender can aid sleep, too. It helps to consider allergies when choosing greenery and, for best success, to choose plants that fare well in the room’s light and humidity levels. The folks at Urban Jungle Bloggers have plenty more ideas for using plants as tiny bedroom accents.

The 8 Best Plants for Your Bedroom, and Why

Urban Jungle Bloggers

Focus on Vibrant Bedding

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Make vibrant bedding the focal point tiny bedroom

Hopefully, most people spend at least eight hours a day in bed, so why not make it the focal point of a tiny bedroom? In fact, going for bold, vibrant colors and patterns makes the entire bedroom pop and cuts down on the overall decorating budget, especially with a duvet like Stjärntulpan from IKEA. A small bedroom won’t need much else to become a beautiful, restorative nest.

IKEA

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