Bedroom painting or bedroom wallpaper?
The choice is yours. Bedroom painting is generally thought to be easier than hanging wallpaper (unless you're quite skilled at it). But because wallpapers can provide a softer effect than paint finishes, they're often used in bedrooms.
If you decide on bedroom painting, you can use all the usual paint effects, such as dragging, ragging, grisaille, stippling and so on.
Don't forget stenciling, which gives you the opportunity to achieve a very personal finish. You can buy stencils and use your own colors. It's an ideal way to pick out dominant colors from a bedspread or drape fabric, and put them in a restrained way on your walls.
If you use wallpaper, remember the usual guidelines:
- Dark papers will usually make a room look smaller
- Vertical stripes will make a room look taller
- Horizontal strips will make a room look wider
The wall in this bedroom has been painted a pale cream/yellow to give a soft and restful background. It's lightness also contrasts with the deeper colors of the bed.
Small patterned wallpaper can be a good choice in bedrooms. Linear prints, small floral's, small stripes or geometrics all work well. If you want something a little different, use a modern abstract paper, or a traditional French toile paper (generally a single or two-tone eighteenth century country scene).
Striped wallpaper gives a touch of elegance to this bedroom.
Of course, you can also use paint effect wallpapers successfully in bedrooms, especially if you want a more traditional bedroom.
You can also use wallpaper borders as a way of breaking up the walls, especially if you have high ceilings. These can be used about a third of the way up the wall, as well as at the top.
The wall behind this bed has been given a panel effect. The panels have then been painted to match the colors used in the soft furnishings.
If you have an item of furniture which has seen better days, you could give it a new lease of life by using the wallpaper or paint on it, set in the door panels for example. You can also use (link opens in a new window) which can add a special feature to your bedroom.
